In the current digital environment, it is vital for learners to develop digital literacy skills. The UK's Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (HE) requires graduates to demonstrate digital literacy. Employers consider these skills essential. With the high cost of HE in the UK, learners themselves also expect university courses to…

Although problem-based learning is being adopted by many institutions around the world as an effective model of learning in higher education, there is a surprising lack of critique in the problem-based learning literature in relation to its philosophical characteristics. This paper explores epistemology as a starting point for investigating the…

This study investigated the advantages and disadvantages of different forms of drills as used in computer assisted instruction (CAI) lessons in phonetic transcription. Subjects (N=44) were students in a course in general phonetics at the University of Illinois. Measurements of student learning, student attitude, and time required for completion…

In order to investigate the effects of sequence and synthesis in the teaching of taxonomically-related concepts, a study was conducted in which 27 students from Syracuse University were asked to examine printed instructions dealing with kinds of sailboats and then to respond to a test based on those instructions. The synthesizing structure…

The effects on reading speed and comprehension of window proportions and page turning in electronic text were investigated in this study. Subjects--61 undergraduate students at the University of Wisconsin--Whitewater--were administered a standardized reading text displayed as photocopied dot matrix print in simulation of electronic text. There…

Investigates effectiveness of advance organizers for teaching functioning and use of compilers to undergraduate students in computer science courses. Two experimental groups used the advance organizer while two control groups did not. Findings indicate that an explicitly concept-directed organizer is effective in providing a framework for…

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the variables found to influence learning in laboratory settings were able to produce effective student achievement when utilized in Venezuelan distance education. Three versions of the same instructional content were employed, and 42 volunteer college students were randomly assigned to three…

The purpose of this study was to replicate the Bentti, Golden, and Reigeluth study (1983), which explored the use of nonexamples to teach common errors as an effective strategy in teaching a procedure. A total of 24 undergraduate students enrolled in the Syracuse University Symphonic Band were randomly assigned to an experimental group and a…

This study evaluated the effectiveness of an expert instructional system used to provide timely and quality feedback about the quality of a variety of visual materials production techniques to undergraduate students in a basic instructional materials production class. One group of students generated its own feedback by using the expert system, and…

Two variables that designers should consider when developing computer-based instruction (CBI) text screens are text density, which manipulates the context of the information presented, and screen density, which is a measurement of the amount of information presented at one time on the screen. A study on text density was designed to identify…

Article describes a method to effectively organize new courses of instruction or reorganize existing courses of instruction in higher education. (Author/HB)

Traditionally, illustrations used in instruction have been concrete in nature with the learning outcome not always considered in the design of the illustrations. This study investigated whether concrete or abstract illustrations were more effective for supporting acquisition of abstract concepts in print media when evaluated by immediate and…

This study compared instructional methods using interactive video in order to test the prototype model of concept acquisition and to assess the kinds of prototypes that learners develop. The subjects were 30 graduate students at two universities, who were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups and completed an interactive video program…

This discussion of the educational potential of audiotape and videotape cassettes in distance teaching considers each medium individually, with examples of how the Open University has tried to exploit them in its teaching, and comments on some major differences between the two media and their implication for education. Characteristics of…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of instruction that is organized in two alternative formats--hierarchical (Gagne, 1962) and elaborated (Reigeluth, 1979)--on learner's recall and application of content-specific principles. Sixty-nine college juniors and seniors enrolled in an education media production course studied one of two…