Using project-based learning pedagogy in EdTc 658 Advances in Educational Technology, I have trained inservice teachers in Southwestern Louisiana with an advanced computer multimedia program called Director[R] (Macromedia, Inc.) [1]. The content of this course focused on modeling the project-based learning pedagogy and researching Acadian's…

There is a nascent literature on the question of whether active learning methods, and in particular simulation methods, enhance student learning. In this article, the authors evaluate the utility of an international relations simulation in enhancing learning objectives. Student evaluations provide evidence that the simulation process enhances…

Interactive Simulated Patient (ISP) is a computer-based simulation tool designed to provide medical students with the opportunity to practice their clinical problem solving skills. The ISP system allows students to perform most clinical decision-making procedures in a simulated environment, including history taking in natural language, many…

The growing interest in the use of games and simulations to support learning is evidenced in the literature, as well as in recent research projects and initiatives. While a focus upon the users of games and simulations is not well evidenced in the literature, this study aimed to highlight key issues and perceptions that inform and underpin how…

This article describes a university-sponsored experiential-based simulation, the NANO SCENARIO, to increase the public's awareness and affect attitudes on the societal implications of nanoscience and nanotechnology by bringing together diverse stakeholders' perspectives in a participatory learning environment. Nanotechnology has the potential for…

Our essential premise in this article is that immersive learning is not new and that, as a practical matter, it is useful to view the relatively new virtual world platforms through that lens. By doing so, the premise continues, developers of learning experiences for these spaces will have a large theoretical base upon which to draw, as well as…

Science and technology, when applied to educational excellence, have become part of the arts and humanities of tomorrow. The interactive multimedia technology tools available to educators today provide an opportunity to build into the distance or traditional course through learning objects, highly interactive experiential exercises that allow the…

Today's fixation on math and literacy testing makes it tough for social studies teachers to deliver a challenging curriculum. But you can overcome those constraints and prepare students to actively participate in a democratic society with the ideas from this new volume in our "Priorities in Practice" series. Firsthand accounts from talented and…

The Association of Small Computer Users in Education (ASCUE) is a dynamic organization for people interested in small college technology issues. Its members include information technology professionals, instructional technologists, and faculty members from all over the world who use computers and technology to support teaching and learning. The…

Part 1 of this two-part document reviews efforts to develop computer-based case management simulations for use in rehabilitation education. It examines both single-case management simulations which concentrate on clinical problem-solving skills required to serve a single client and multiple-case management simulations which focus on skills…

This study aims to report the effort on teaching vector algebra using free open source software (FOSS). Recent studies showed that students have difficulties in learning basic physics concepts. Constructivist learning theories suggest the use of visual and hands-on activities in learning. We will report on the software used for this purpose. The…

This paper reports the current findings in literature on the impact of instructional technologies on teaching and learning environments pertaining higher education institutions. This study investigates the instructional design strategies in terms of (1) the scope of change in design strategies as a result of current school reform in the United…

The techniques used for teaching college economics have remained relatively unchanged over the past few decades. These techniques do not give the students an opportunity to apply, to develop, or to practice the economic theory they read about and hear in lectures. They tend to reinforce student assumptions about the subject's "givenness"…

In response to Congressional direction, a quantitative, analytical review (a meta-analysis) was completed of interactive videodisc instruction applied in Defense training and in the related settings of industrial training and higher education. Over all instructional settings and applications, interactive videodisc instruction was found to improve…

This report focuses on the field testing of a recently developed self-administered microcomputer-based teaching simulation. Training-partner teacher educators from four Virginia institutions used the self-administered teaching simulation at their home sites. The educators used the simulation in a variety of ways: (1) to help education students…