One of the greatest concerns in schools today is how teachers can bring together assessment and learning in a way that is meaningful for students' thinking skills, while focusing on content standards. Better understanding of how different types of technology based thinking tools can be used for improving classroom teaching and learning,…

Many recent models of learning and instruction center learning on real-world tasks and problems to support knowledge application and transfer. Among these models are problem-based learning and task-centered learning, two different approaches to learning that are often mistaken for one another. However, there are important distinctions between…

Technology has been shown to positively influence student learning when students explore technology-rich tasks that simultaneously require them to use higher-order thinking skills (HOTS), such as analyzing or evaluating information or creating new representations of knowledge. Educational technology researchers have posited that in order for…

A discussion of the use of task analysis as a method of determining the need for training. (Author/HB)

Discusses three phases of instructional design (ID)--definition of instructional parameters, analysis and synthesis of instructional alternatives, and implementation of instructional plan--and presents a 15-step ID model. Included for each step are a descriptive name, boxed example, and rationale and (as applicable) current state of technology for…