Learning technologies are now commonplace in education, and generate large volumes of educational data. Scholars have argued that analytics can and should be employed to optimize learning and learning environments. This article explores what is really meant by "analytics", describes the current best-known examples of institutional…

The increasing availability of digital data in higher education provides an extraordinary resource for researchers to undertake educational research, targeted at understanding challenges facing the sector. Big data can stimulate new ways to transform processes relating to learning and teaching, and helps identify useful data, sources of evidence…

Discusses the need for human attention in an information economy to shift from data to information, or information to knowledge, and suggests it be called an economics of attention. Considers implications for higher education and how it will change the history of American higher education. (LRW)

Describes the Personalized Admissions and Advisement System introduced at Triton College, Illinois, to administer student recruitment, admissions, advising, and initial orientation. The article compares the old and the new systems and points out the benefits of the computer-assisted method, particularly as related to speed and ease of data…

Discusses the role of semiotics in instructional systems research, and examines the implications that a semiotic perspective yields for the research training provided to students in instructional systems. Research perspectives and methodologies are described, including differences in qualitative and quantitative research, and data analysis is…

Discussion of basic instructional methods highlights four in particular: didactic, Socratic, inquiry, and discovery. Examples and descriptions of each method are given for elementary, secondary, and higher education; applications of each method are examined; and what teachers can do is considered. (eight references) (LRW)

Describes a study that investigated the nature of hiring criteria in hiring assistant professors for educational technology positions. Data were collected through a survey of recent search committees. Topics discussed include increased competition and the importance of oral presentations and personal interviews. (14 references) (LRW)

Data were gathered through evaluation surveys completed by students in two sections of an undergraduate interdisciplinary course which was taught using an interactive instructional television (ITV) system and instructional style inventories completed by both instructors. Results indicated that students rate ITV systems and instructors separately…

Discusses results of a national survey of teachers and administrators at all grade levels to determine availability and use of audiovisual materials. Results indicate audiovisual material use seems stable between 1982 and 1983, probably due to large expenditures for microcomputers leaving less to spend on other categories of instructional…

Describes a survey of full-time college faculty that was conducted to investigate the advantages and disadvantages experienced by faculty using computer-involved instruction (CII). The pace at which computer technology is being integrated into instruction is examined, and the impact of CII on the realization of learning objectives by the average…

Discusses the importance of student attitudes as a factor in the successful implementation of computer-assisted instruction at the college level. A study that examined student attitudes and achievement when working with computer-assisted instruction in a personalized system of instruction is described. (36 references) (CLB)

Describes tracking tools used by designers and users to evaluate the efficacy of hypermedia systems. Highlights include human-computer interaction research; tracking tools and user-centered design; and three examples from the Interactive Multimedia Group at Cornell University that illustrate uses of various tracking tools. (27 references) (LRW)

A study conducted at the Universities of Haifa and Tel-Aviv to compare two approaches to constructing general multiple choice ability tests--the "classic distractor" test and a new technique, the "fixed-distractor" format test--found a strong similarity between the scores on the two general information ability tests. Seven…

Description of a microcomputer-based instructional strategy used to adapt computer assisted instruction (CAI) to individual learners' needs highlights its use with elementary school arithmetic classes to solve work problems. Experiments with a control group that received conventional problems are described, and applications for undergraduate…

Reviews research studies that involved computer applications in behavior analysis. Highlights include interactive videodisc; teacher benefits of computer applications; studies involving retarded students; behavioral treatment for obesity; multimedia; adaptations of computer hardware and software; automated data collection; reinforcement of…