Instructional technology research and development in a US physics education group

The purpose of this brief paper is to provide insight into the kinds of work being done by an education research group in a US physics department. As will be evident, instructional technology raises many interesting questions and lends itself to a wide variety of studies. References and contacts are provided for readers wanting more detailed information on the research. The paper is based on a presentation given at the Workshop on Best Practices of ICT Use in a University Environment, 24 September 2004, in Zürich.     

Instructional practices of teachers enrolled in educational technology and general education programs

This study investigated classroom practices of 38 teachers enrolled in university masters' degree programs in educational technology and in other areas of education. The classroom practices related to five key concepts associated with educational technology: (a) learner-centered instruction, (b) instructional design, (c) media and technology, (d) assessment, and (e) instructional alignment. Teachers rated their frequency of use of desirable practices in these five areas on a 30-item Likert type survey. In addition, one class of students per teacher rated its own teacher's frequency of use of the practices on 20 items parallel to items on the teacher survey. The mean overall rating across all teachers for the classroom practice items was very close to Often, or 4.0, on the 5-point scale. There were few reported differences between the teachers enrolled in educational technology programs and those enrolled in other education programs. Student ratings indicated less frequent teacher use of the desirable practices on 16 of the 20 common items, with significantly lower student ratings on 8 of these items. However, there was strong teacher-student agreement on several other comparisons.The study reported in this article was conducted as a doctoral dissertation at Arizona State University.     

Instructional design for distance education

Summary The instructional design process provides the framework for planning. It is essential that the instructor take the time to plan and organize the learning experience prior to implementation when engaged in teaching at a distance. The instruction will be at a standard that is acceptable in all venues. The students will be engaged and the instructor will be satisfied. Planning makes the difference in a successful learning environment     

利用现代教育技术优化中学物理课堂教学结构和学习过程

在中学物理课堂教学中利用现代教育技术，应从目前的教学现状和教师的实际需要出发，采用教学实践中成功的教学模式，并研究现代教育技术应用于物理教学应遵循的原则和策略。     

Instructional systems development in a large-scale education project

The Mission of Botswana's Junior Secondary Education Improvement Project is to expand the country's junior secondary education program, which is roughly equivalent to the junior high school level in the United States. An instructional systems design (ISD) model was used in the design of the project. As such, the project has provided an opportunity to study the practical use and implementation of an ISD approach to a sector-wide education intervention within the setting of a developing country. In this article, issues pertaining to sectorwide planning strategies of educational development are explored. Particularly stressed is the importance of conducting a contextual review at the outset of a large-scale educational project. Note: In 1984, USAID began a ten-year project called “Improving the Efficiency of Educational Systems” (IEES) that has provided technical assistance to a number of countries around the world through a consortium of institutions including Florida State University, the State University of New York at Albany, and the Institute for International Research. The Junior Secondary Education Improvement Project (JSEIP) in Botswana has been one of the IEES projects.