An analysis of instructional design and technology departments

In this paper we explore the academic productivity of universities in the field of Instructional Design and Technology according to three types of publically available data: (1) publication in 20 leading journals, (2) representation in the Handbook of Educational Communications Technology, and (3) reception of professional organization awards. We then identified five of these programs and analyzed the attributes of these departments to better understand the trends in how they are preparing the instructional technologists of tomorrow. While previous studies have compared leading instructional design and technology (IDT) programs by looking at publication in a single journal, we believe our approach provides a well-rounded perspective. In addition, we hope this study helps IDT departments learn from each other by discussing trends in department curricula.     

An analysis of a decade of research in 10 instructional design and technology journals

In this paper, we review findings from an analysis of the past decade (2001–10) of research in 10 major journals in the field of instructional design and technology. Each research paper published in these journals during this decade was categorized according to its focus or methodology, topical keywords, authorship and citation trends; and the findings were aggregated across all of the journals to show trends over the last decade. We found there is a strong emphasis on technology‐related issues, distance education, communication strategies and instructional methods over cognitive‐related topics and learning issues. There is a strong history of theoretical inquiry and a fairly even balance of qualitative and quantitative research being published, with other research methods emerging. However, there are distinct differences in methodological stances among the journals. We also found some evidence that the Institute for Scientific Information Impact Factor may not be the best indicator of impact quality for journals in our field.     

K-12 online learning journal articles: trends from two decades of scholarship

In this study, we examined the research literature in the field of K-12 online learning to identify the leading scholars, journals, top cited articles, research methods, and topics in this field of inquiry. Our research process involved collecting a corpus of journal articles focused on K-12 online and distance learning; categorizing these articles according to their research methodologies; analyzing trends not only in methodologies employed but also in authorship, citations, journals, and topics addressed. We found the field of K-12 online learning to be growing rapidly in recent years with acceleration not only of new articles but especially of new authors. We also found the field began primarily with emphasizing theoretical articles but is now maturing and emphasizing increasingly more data-based articles. We found K-12 online learning scholarship is scattered among many journals, providing rich opportunities for scholars while also making it more difficult to discern trends across the discipline.     

Meta-Analysis and Meta-Synthesis Methodologies: Rigorously Piecing Together Research

For a variety of reasons, education research can be difficult to summarize. Varying contexts, designs, levels of quality, measurement challenges, definition of underlying constructs, and treatments as well as the complexity of research subjects themselves can result in variability. Education research is voluminous and draws on multiple methods including quantitative, as well as, qualitative approaches to answer key research questions. With increased numbers of empirical research in Instructional Design and Technology (IDT), using various synthesis methods can provide a means to more deeply understand trends and patterns in research findings across multiple studies. The purpose of this article is to illustrate structured review or meta-synthesis procedures for qualitative research, as well as, novel meta-analysis procedures for the kinds of multiple treatment designs common to IDT settings. Sample analyses are used to discuss key methodological ideas as a way to introduce researchers to these techniques.     

Where do educational technologists really publish? An examination of successful emerging scholars’ publication outlets

This study engages the question of where successful emerging (pretenure) scholars are most likely to publish their research. Spurred on by findings of a survey of leaders in the field of educational technology/instructional design and technology (ET/IDT) to determine the advisability of a rank‐ordered list of journals for the purposes of decision making about tenure and promotion, this document analysis presents the results of measuring the conventional wisdom against the actual practices of emerging scholars. Findings suggest that pretenure scholars publish in a wide variety of outlets including some, but not all of those identified in earlier surveys. While it is understood that the tenure decision is a complicated one—based on many criteria (eg, teaching, service, grantsmanship, etc), research and scholarship remain primary determinants. Therefore, these findings will be useful to emerging scholars and to those decision makers seeking direction regarding research outlets. The study is limited by a focus from an original survey conducted in 2003 to primarily North American scholars as participants, however, international considerations are included. The findings indicate that a list of journals for tenure decision making may not be advisable at this point in the development of the field of ET/IDT.     

The landscape of educational technology viewed from the ETR&D journal

The purpose of this study was to conduct a citation network analysis of Educational Technology Research and Development (ETR&D) to examine the trends and issues of the educational technology field's scholarly community that have evolved in the past two decades. The distinctive features of citation network analysis used in this study derive from a social network analysis approach to see relational and network patterns in the citation data. From this citation network analysis, we obtained the following results: (1) the ETR&D network revealed structural attributes that help us understand the features regarding how the field has developed and how scholarly works have interacted; (2) the most influential papers and scholars in the field were identified; (3) frequently co‐cited papers were recognized as having a strong relationship by a few researchers and (4) five cohesive subgroups (factions) generated key research themes in the field including: instructional design, learning environments, the role of technology, educational technology research and psychological foundations. Implications and limitations of the study were discussed for future research.     

Indicators of exemplary programs in instructional design and technology: faculty and student perspectives

This exploratory study investigated what faculty and current students in Instructional Design and Technology (IDT) programs perceive as indicators of an exemplary program. We surveyed a sample of the faculty and students and asked them to identify the most important indicators of an exemplary program and rank their own programs according to those indicators. We contacted programs from 11 different countries, though the majority of contacted programs were from the United States of America. We coded and analyzed the respondents’ 941 indicator statements and created 35 thematic indicators. The frequency and percentage of occurrence of these themes across the programs for both faculty and students were analyzed. Their mean rating of their programs for each theme was also calculated. The paper presents the results of this analysis and examines the differences across students/faculty and program types. The findings of this survey, albeit limited due to the low response rate, could benefit IDT programs in terms of performance improvement and assist students by offering criteria by which they can select a graduate program.     

Rising to the occasion: publishing diversity-focused scholarship in adult education

Publication of diversity-focused scholarship has increased over the last decade, yet marginalized groups are still inadequately represented in academic journals. In addition, research about diversity has become increasingly complex and its definition varies greatly. This poses obstacles for the emerging scholar interested in submitting diversity-focused scholarship to academic journals. A rarely investigated resource that offers insight into this task are peer reviewer written comments. This study explores the practice of publishing diversity-focused scholarship from a peer-review perspective. A grounded theory approach was used to conduct a content analysis of reviewer comments. From the findings four major categories emerged about the nature of publishing diversity-focused research: (a) clarification of terms; (b) explicit bias by the author; (c) formulaic approach; and (d) reviewers' standpoint. This article offers an understanding about the reviewers' approaches to diversity-focused submissions and suggests considerations when publishing in this area.     

What Should Instructional Designers & Technologists Know About Human Performance Technology?

Human performance technology (HPT) is having a significant impact on the field of instructional design and technology (IDT), and many IDT graduate programs now offer training in HPT to their students. However, some IDT programs may be struggling with the extent to which they should incorporate the principles and techniques of HPT into their courses. To provide some determination of which specific skills and competencies in HPT graduates of IDT programs should have, an online survey was administered to 24 IDT faculty members and 45 members of local chapters of the International Society for Performance Improvement and the American Society for Training and Development. Respondents rated the importance of HPT competencies for graduates of IDT programs. Results suggest strong support for the inclusion of HPT concepts in the curricula of IDT graduate programs. Implications of these results for IDT graduate programs, as well as for distinguishing HPT as a field of specialization separate from IDT, are discussed.     

History of education research in Australia: some current trends and possible directions for the future

The history of education as a distinct field has been the focus of study, research and writing in Australia for over a century. It achieved maturity with the establishment of the Australian and New Zealand History of Education Society in 1970 and the subsequent establishment of the Society’s journal, History of Education Review. Since then, Australian scholars have been major contributors to the field, with certain individuals being key players on the world stage. Taking cognisance of this background, this paper considers current trends and directions for the future. It does so by focusing on three areas: scholarship on topics relating specifically to Australia; the use of new methods; and Australian-based scholars contributing to scholarship where the focus is beyond their immediate geographical boundaries.     

Where is the Research on Community College Students?

An understanding of where community college scholarship is published can be beneficial to practitioners seeking to identify and use scholarly evidence to support policies and programs that promote student success. Such an understanding will also benefit aspiring and new scholars seeking to identify community college scholarship. Unfortunately, there has been little effort to document journal characteristics of scholarship focused on community college students. The present study identified, reviewed, and described community college student scholarship published in P–20 education journals between 1990 and 2014. The study also examined trends over time in journals publishing articles focused on community college students. We found a sizable increase in scholarly work published in education journals since 1990—in particular within the past several years. Importantly, results also revealed an underrepresentation of empirical work focused on community college students published in P–20 education, top-tier, and open access journals. A discussion of implications for practice and recommendations for future research was also provided.     

加拿大的高等教育研究:历史、新兴主题和未来方向

本文对加拿大高等教育作为一个研究领域的演变进行了大致的描述性分析,主要关注这一领域中学术成就的历史发展;其次聚焦于一些得到相当多关注的新兴主题和研究课题,包括公平、多样性和包容性,高等教育的本土化和非殖民化,国际化,以及学生经历;最后对未来的趋势发表了一些评论。     

兼容并包 有容乃大——迈克尔·汉纳芬教育技术学思想研究

迈克尔·汉纳芬是一位蜚声国际的教育技术学者与学术领袖。此研究评介了汉纳芬在教育技术学理论研究与专业实践方面的主要贡献及其影响,对其学术思想进行了重构与解读,探讨了其职业生涯与学术思想对教育技术学研究与发展的启示。     

A reasonably large review of operationalization in child maltreatment research: Assessment approaches and sources of information in youth samples

Child maltreatment research varies considerably in how maltreatment is measured. Although researchers have advocated for improvements in maltreatment assessment, a first step is a clear understanding of the status on how the field operationalizes maltreatment. The current paper sought to achieve this goal through reviewing research on child maltreatment over a recent 10-year span to identify trends in maltreatment assessment and operationalization. Information on maltreatment measurement was extracted from 338 articles across three major journals devoted to publishing research on child maltreatment. Among the various definitional dimensions of maltreatment, type was the most common way maltreatment was operationalized, followed by severity, frequency, and chronicity, a stable trend across the 10-year span of review. The results indicated that the majority of studies measured maltreatment as consisting of multiple types, although some studies focused on one type of maltreatment as the indicator of child maltreatment. Further, the most common assessment method was the administration of a questionnaire or the combination of two questionnaires with the second most common being summaries from case file review. Recommendations for future research are discussed.     

基于文献计量学分析近五年《中国科技期刊研究》发展现状

基于中国知网《学术文献总库》和《中国学术期刊综合引证报告》统计源,对2007—2011年《中国科技期刊研究》的载文量、引文分析、普赖斯指数,被访文献所属学科分布,作者机构分布,基金资助情况等文献计量学指标进行统计,以期了解《中国科技期刊研究》其发展现状及研究成果交流、渗透和利用情况,并可为进一步开展科技期刊的研究提供参考。     

Web Publishing and Educational Scholarship: where issues of form and content meet

This essay explores new forms of publication that are gaining wider and wider use within scholarly communities across a range of disciplines. The most important of these include: on‐line journals; publication (of a sort) within listservs or other on‐line discussion groups; self‐publishing. Each of these can take a variety of forms. My primary concern here is with how these new forms of publication are influencing the kinds of scholarship that are taking shape in on‐line contexts and how these new types of scholarship, in turn, raise new questions about credibility, authorship and intellectual ownership and the criteria used for academic evaluation.     

PhD by Publication: innovative approach to social science research,or operationalisation of the doctoral student … or both?

ABSTRACT

The PhD by Publication offers doctoral students an opportunity to focus on publishing during their candidature. A considerable body of literature has explored questions of legitimacy, consistency and quality of this model of scholarship, while students have reflected on how this approach helped build a publishing track record and develop skills associated with writing scholarly articles [Jackson, D. (2013). Completing a PhD by publication: A review of Australian policy and implications for practice. Higher Education Research & Development, 32(3), 355–368; Robins, L., & Kanowski, P. (2008). PhD by publication: A student’s perspective. Journal of Research Practice, 4(2), 1–20]. However, there is a need to explore how this approach both shapes and reflects the student experience of doctoral studies. This auto-ethnographical article analyses my own experience of the PhD by Publication. On the one hand, this method suited my multidisciplinary research topic and approach to research and assisted the flexibility and creativity of my research. On the other, I began to view my value as a researcher and the value of my research, in terms of the quantitative performance metrics of research in output, citation counts and h-index. Concept of performativity, I analyse how the PhD by Publication potentially reshapes what it is to be a doctoral student, and how the value of doctoral students is construed by themselves and others within their university.