The two-stage hydraulic pump is commonly used in many high school and college courses to demonstrate hydraulic systems. Unfortunately, many textbooks do not provide a good explanation of how the technology works. Another challenge that instructors run into with teaching hydraulic systems is the cost of procuring an expensive real-world machine…

Wind energy is an exciting and clean energy option often described as the fastest-growing energy system on the planet. With some simple materials, teachers can easily demonstrate its key principles in their classroom. (Contains 1 figure and 2 tables.)

The cereal box design activity is intriguing both for its simplicity and the resourcefulness that it can generate in young people. Also, it lends itself to a variety of curriculums. It covers both consumerism and Design for the Environment (DfE) concepts broadly and in depth. The activity introduces a wide range of topics. They include graphic…

The Professors of Instructional Design and Technology (PIDT) conference has been successful since 1985 at providing an opportunity for professors and their advanced doctoral students to learn and grow in ways not possible at traditional conferences. This article reports on the 2012 annual meeting and summarizes the history of PIDT, as gleaned by…

Teaching is changing. It is no longer simply about passing on knowledge to the next generation. Teachers in the twenty-first century, in all educational sectors, have to cope with an ever-changing cultural and technological environment. Teaching is now a design science. Like other design professionals--architects, engineers, programmers--teachers…

How do you know when you've made an effective assignment that has strong links to Common Core State Standards? Drawing from over 10 years of her experience as a teacher coach, Eleanor Dougherty answers that question and guides you in crafting assignments that matter. This book will help you to understand the powerful effect that assignments have…

Digital text, changes in textbook adoptions, 1-to-1 computing, Common Core standards, the rise in digital learning objects and online curricula, the push for personalized learning--all of these and other factors are part of an ongoing drama in education today that puts the future of curriculum materials very much in play. But thanks to open…

This article presents a discussion of research and theoretical perspectives on creativity and instructional design, offering a conceptual model of the connection between these two constructs that was originally proposed in the dissertation work of the first author (Clinton, Creativity and design: A study of the learning experience of instructional…

Students love nothing better than personalizing their space--desk, bedroom, or even their cars. This article describes a classroom challenge that gives students a chance to let their spirits soar with the invention of a new form of wall treatment. A trip to a big box store might prove to be most helpful for students to visualize their new product…

The philosophy of radical behaviourism remains misunderstood within the field of adult education. Contributing to this trend is the field's homogeneous behaviourist interpretation, which attributes methodological behaviourism's principles to radical behaviourism. The guiding principles and assumptions of radical behaviourism are examined to…

Since 1950s, teaching machines have changed a lot. Today, we have different ideas about how people learn, what instructor should do to help students during their learning process. We have adaptive learning technologies that can create much more student oriented learning environments. The purpose of this article is to present these changes and its…

This paper uses the example of foreign languages to explore the integration of critical information literacy into the curriculum of various disciplines. By closely examining the practices and values inherent in the foreign language information environment, the paper suggests that a critical vision of information literacy provides the most…

Student affairs educators have an important role in advancing the National Leadership Education Research Agenda (NLERA). This article reviews the "cross fertilization" of student affairs and leadership education by examining strengths, opportunities, and challenges in relation to the NLERA priorities. Student affairs educators'…

Optimizing the usability of e-learning materials is necessary to maximize their potential educational impact, but this is often neglected when time and other resources are limited, leading to the release of materials that cannot deliver the desired learning outcomes. As clinician-teachers in a resource-constrained environment, we investigated…

Analysis, the first phase of the typical instructional design process, is often downplayed. This paper focuses on the analysis concerning a series of e-courses for collaborative adult education in semi-formal settings by reporting and generalizing results from the REVIT project. REVIT, an EU-funded research project, offered custom e-courses to…