Regardless of whether video is used for an online course, or serves as supplemental material in another course format, the videos must be watched by students in support of their learning. If professors give video production their best effort and still end up with undesirable outcomes, how can institutions better support the production of…

The widespread availability of high-quality Web-based tools and content offers new promise and potential for supporting teachers as creators of instructional activities. When coupled with a participatory Web culture and infrastructure, teachers can share their creations as well as leverage from the best that their peers have to offer to support a…

Purpose: The main purpose of this paper is to present how meaningful e-learning units can be created by using an online tool called Meaningful E-learning Units (MeLU). The paper also aims to describe how created e-learning units can be shared by teachers and students. Design/methodology/approach: This tool can help to produce e-learning units that…

Educational games and simulations are excellent active learning tools that offer students hands-on experience. Little research is available on developing games and simulations and how teachers can be assisted in making their own games and simulations. In this context, the paper presents a multi-step process of how to develop games and simulations…

Teachers need to develop the ability to adapt curriculum materials. Two elementary teachers, Maggie and Catie, were asked to write narratives about their use of and changes to particular reform-oriented science lesson plans. Maggie drew on her knowledge of and experiences with students, as well as other knowledge, experiences, and resources, to…

Early years practitioners know what parents are reminded of every Christmas Day--it does not matter how long families spend carefully selecting the presents, the children are likely to spend longer playing with the empty boxes! Children are fascinated with boxes and practitioners can capitalise on this and support early mathematical development…

Program animation systems have not been as widely adopted by computer science educators as we might expect from the firm belief that they can help in enhancing computer science education. One of the most notable obstacles to their adoption is the considerable effort that the production of program animations represents for the instructor. We…

Apple's SuperPILOT is an authoring language that allows teachers to easily and quickly create effective programs for classroom use. SuperPILOT features (such as turtle graphics routines) and commands are described. Several sample program listings (including one for a tutorial on the periodic table) are presented. (JN)

Describes the experiences of 12 Sri Lankan teacher educators as they developed Internet-based study materials while undergoing specialized postgraduate training at the University of Woolongong (Australia). Topics include teaching and learning with the Web; and designing Web study guides, including links to other Web sites. (Author/LRW)

Discusses the experiences of some teachers in developing instructional materials for English as a second language, covering the areas of needs analysis, the planning stage of development, development, class trials, pedagogical layout, restrictions, and guidelines. (Author/CB)

Describes a breakthrough in the use of video technology in higher education that empowers teachers to produce resource-based learning materials. VESOL, Video autoEditing System for Open Learning, developed at the University of Derby (United Kingdom), is shown to have a wide range of applications that build on the presentation skills of lecturers.…

Describes WebQuests as inquiry-oriented activities in which most information is found on the World Wide Web and is designed to engage higher-level thinking skills. Offers suggestions on how to design good WebQuests that will offer quality materials, emphasizing the importance of finding good Web sites to base them on. (LRW)

Arguing that the history of the field of educational technology has been one of glorious promises, many of them only partially fulfilled, this paper presents the premise that desktop publishing (DTP) is just another production fad that will have little lasting effect on the quality of education. Potential benefits of DTP are described as: (1)…

The materials collected here were generated at a workshop in which 16 participants from Afghanistan, India, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Nepal met to examine the subject of developing low cost educational materials. The objectives of this workshop were (1) to exchange experiences in the development of such materials through…

Investigates alternative methods of developing computer assisted instruction (CAI) lessons and concludes that a team effort of experienced educators and highly skilled computer professionals is essential for production of "better" CAI lessons. A model illustrating such a team effort for CAI development is presented and analyzed.…