The aim of this study was to design a digital game that imparts the concept of urban heat island effects to aid in environmental education. Within the play-time limits, gamers must be alert to signs of warning from the environment and keep the balance between economic growth and the temperature of the environment, so they can safely manage the…

A persistent problem in engineering-focused science instruction is the "design--science gap," whereby learners focus on building successful engineering products, instead of focusing on the relevant scientific principles. This research explores (a) whether integrating contrasting cases into engineering activities can impact how deeply…

Purpose: E-learning is part of instructional design and has opened a whole world of new possibilities in terms of learning and teaching. The purpose of this paper is to develop an adaptive e-learning platform that enhances skills from primary school to university learners. Two purposes converge here: a pedagogical one -- offering new…

As calls for student-staff partnership proliferate across higher education, academic development must re-examine and reimagine its relationship to students. Students generally occupy roles with limited agency in academic development. We argue that this needs to change. We propose re-articulating the purpose of academic development toward the…

Nowadays, children and teenagers use technology products in an increasingly passive way. As simple consumers they cannot benefit from the opportunities of designing technology, which has a learning value. Educational Robotics (ER) programs are particularly effective in delivering contents of difficult disciplines: they can re-establish a balance…

This article bridges the fields of instructional design and teacher education, presenting and modernizing the media influence debate and synthesizing it with the technological pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK) framework. Five modern technologies are presented as media comparison studies, analyzed from both the medium-as-variable and…

This study employed interviews and document analysis to achieve a better understanding of the design and facilitation strategies used by online instructors in a department of educational technology at a large university in the U.S. Some distinctions were found with the literature about what strategies and activities can be used in online…

Critical thinking (CT) is being recognized as an essential skill for students to master in the 21st century. Previous studies have suggested that teaching CT through asynchronous online discussions (AODs) can be one of the effective ways to equip students with such 21st skill in the educational settings. The purpose of this article is to review of…

Distance education or learning has been around for a long time and with the advent of mobile devices like the smart phone, it is inevitable that mobility impacts the distance education arena. Mobile learning in this article is defined as the "mobile" state of the learner. In theory, this amplifies the flexibility of distance and online…

A mixed methodology study measuring the usage rates of Augmented Reality (AR) information overlay mapping time-on-task in informal learning environments at a local art museum. This study investigates whether AR systems provide a uniquely beneficial learning context due to AR's native function to overlay information onto physical spaces at an art…

Digital, educational games have many promises (e.g., increasing students' content knowledge as well as competencies like problem-solving, spatial skills, and persistence). However, there are challenges to overcome before using these games more broadly in educational settings. One challenge involves identifying effective, theoretically based…

A growing body of research suggests that the effects of core mathematics instruction on student mathematics outcomes may not be uniform across different skill levels in mathematics. This study investigated the extent to which observed components of explicit mathematics instruction explained why students' initial mathematics achievement was…

This paper describes a half semester long curricular and instructional design project focusing on the design and implementation of a collaborative strategy into a fully online graduate class in adult education. The purposeful group assignment and team building strategy, collectively called the collaborative strategy, represents an instructional…

For too long, education has emphasized a systematized approach designed to maximize efficiency and standardization of curriculum and pedagogical design. Too often, educational practice framed in Anglo-European norms remain unchallenged and place students whose cultural identity does not align with the dominant norms at a disadvantage. In turn,…

COVID-19 saw a number of courses and programs in higher education transition to online platforms. While online learning environments provide novel opportunities for pedagogy and technological integration, it is essential that educators feel they are supported with teaching via a new medium. Introductory mathematics and statistics courses have also…