Does learner participation vary depending on the learning context? Are there characteristic features of participation evident in formal, non-formal, and informal online learning environments? Six online learning environments were chosen as epitomes of formal, non-formal, and informal learning contexts and compared. Transcripts of online…

Three agendas are at work in higher education that threaten the fundamental purposes and values of universities: competition, growth, and accountability. Instructional design and technology contributes to all three agendas through our emphasis on efficiency in teaching and learning, but could make a stronger contribution to the ideals of the…

The purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding of teaching (teacher perspectives) and learning (student perspectives) across the disciplines in ways that can better prepare instructional designers to work with research-teachers in institutions of higher education. The proposed research will build on existing research by Campbell, et…

The purpose of this project was to initiate a program of research to explore how instructional designers around the world use design to make a social difference locally and globally. The central research question was, "Are there social and political purposes for design that are culturally based?" A growing body of research is concerned…

Authentic learning is touted as a powerful learning approach, particularly in the context of problem-based learning (Savery, 2006). Teaching and learning in the area of instructional design appears to offer a strong fit between the tenets of authentic learning and the practice of instructional design. This paper details the efforts to broaden and…

This paper offers an emerging interpretive framework for understanding the active role instructional designers play in the transformation of learning systems in higher education. A 3-year study of instructional designers in Canadian universities revealed how, through reflexive critical practice, designers are active, moral, political, and…

This paper compares how two universities, Iowa State University and the University of Saskatchewan, exploit a service-learning and authentic learning approach to instructional design. Both programs emphasize student engagement and responsibility, as well as projects that have social significance. At the same time, the courses offered by the two…

Describes a classification scheme for multimedia interaction based on the degree of control and type of cognitive engagement in three different learning environments. Three levels of interaction are discussed, and implications for learner control and practice when designing interactive multimedia-based instruction are considered. (Contains 37…

Examines the Relevance-Competence-Desire (RCD) model of training needs assessment to speculate about the instructional design implications of interactions among these components. Ways in which different types of instruction can be designed to capitalize on various configurations of perceptions of relevance, competence, and desire exhibited by…

Social context, reinforcement patterns, and cue salience are examined in field dependent and field independent learners to provide an overview of learner analysis research dealing with cognitive styles. Instructional designers are asked to investigate equivalent alternate forms of instruction for these two polar groups. Nine references are listed.…

Instructional designers regularly engage in a process of professional and personal transformation that has the potential to transform the culture of institutions through faculty-client relationships. Instructional designers promote new ideas and understandings in social contexts that include other designers and clients, among others. This research…

Junior high school and college students participated in three experiments that explored the effects of postquestion treatments on learning from slide/tape presentations. Results seem to indicate that inserted postquestions can increase the learning of question relevant information without impairing learning efficiency. (Author/JEG)

Summarizes the results of literature on color use in multimedia screen design for instructional purposes. Discusses problems and the lack of guidance for instructional designers. Suggests renewed research and the development of a connoisseurial approach to screen design, which values the contributions of both research and aesthetic experience.…

This paper rejects the hardware-based "levels of interaction" made popular in interactive video literature to describe human-machine interaction in favor of a new taxonomy of learner-media interaction based on the type of cognitive engagement experienced by learners. Interaction can be described on three levels, based on the quality of…

Discusses audit trails (i.e., records of learner responses) in interactive multimedia and hypermedia instruction. Topics addressed include four purposes of audit trails, including formative evaluation in instructional design, basic research, usage studies, and counseling and advising; advantages and limitations of the audit trail approach; and…