Software Engineering Design Principles Applied to Instructional Design: What can we Learn from our Sister Discipline?

The failure of many instructional design initiatives is often attributed to poor instructional design. Current instructional design models do not provide much insight into design processes for creating e-learning instructional solutions. Given the similarities between the fields of instructional design and software engineering, instructional designers could employ the ideas and techniques employed in software engineering to improve their design solutions. Software engineering development and project management methodologies can be employed to develop effective e-learning solutions. Furthermore, software engineering design principles used to develop high-quality software can be applied to planning and enhancing instruction. Fundamental software design concepts, such as abstraction, modularity, reusability, compatibility, extensibility, scalability, and maintainability are all important factors that can potentially lead to the development of high quality instructional solutions. This paper explores the possibility to integrate software engineering design principles into instructional design for e-learning solutions, which not only augment the generic instructional design approach with the best practices from the field of software engineering, but also make the development process more productive and efficient. Finally, this paper illustrates how all of the software engineering design principles are interrelated and can be realized in practice to enhance the quality of instruction.     

Cognitive Aging and Computer-Based Instructional Design: Where Do We Go From Here?

In this article, themost relevant literature on cognitive aging and instructional design is merged to formulate recommendations for designing computer-based training material aimed at elderly learners. The core message is that researchers and instructional designers do not need to develop special computerized instruction for older adults. Rather, existing principles of general instructional and multimedia design can be evaluated and used to accommodate the needs of elderly learners. Particular attention is given to John Sweller’s Cognitive Load Theory (CLT) and Richard Mayer’s Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (CTML). It is argued that these instructional theories bear important benefits for older learners because they support an efficient use of available cognitive resources. New research directions are suggested to test the implications of these theories for learning in old age.

Is the U.S.Next?

联合国粮农组织总干事迪乌夫警告说,全世界有100多个国家面临“疯牛病”危险。我国由于管理严格和没有传染途径,目前没有发现疯牛病。美国由于早年的一些措施,使“疯牛病”没有进入本土,但美国并没有因此感到轻松,因为与“疯牛病”类似的“疯鹿病”正在西部兴风作浪。在“疯牛病”恐慌蔓延欧洲乃至世界的今天,美国学者忧心忡忡:“美国会是下一个吗?”     

Can a Multiple-Choice Exam Discriminate Between Masters and Nonniasters of Instructional Design?

This study was conducted to determine if a norm-referenced test designed to assess instructional design competency could be statistically validated (i.e., confirmed statistically to discriminate between known masters and known nonmasters of instructional design). The test was composed of items written to assess verified competencies required of instructional design professionals. A total of 257 respondents participated in the study over the course of three stages: initial item bank construction, item analysis to determine those items with discrimination power, and the concurrent validity calculation, including determination of the mastery cut-off score. Mean scores of five groups of respondents were analyzed in the final stage. Statistically significant differences were found among the Professional Masters, Education Graduate Students and Undergraduates, Noneducation Graduate Students, and Noneducation Undergraduates. The article concludes with a discussion of the role of such an instrument in conducting research in the field.     

Ultrasound-Based Fetal Tracking Technology During Labor: Is It the Next Best Thing?

In this column, the author reprises a recent selection from the Lamaze International research blog, Science & Sensibility. With the introduction of a new technology intended to acutely track fetal station and position during labor through birth, questions are being raised about the necessity—and possible danger—of this technology and its potential impact on normal birth.     

Instructional design and project management: complementary or divergent?

This paper reports the results of a study to identify the extent to which organizations that develop educational/training products are committed to project management, as measured by their project management implementation maturity, as a methodology that is separate and distinct from the processes of instructional design. A Web survey was conducted among 103 public and private sector organizations worldwide that develop educational/training products. Results show no significant difference by project management maturity level in the roles of instructional designer and project manager, although there is some relationship between maturity level and how organizations perceive the skills/competencies of project managers versus those of instructional designers. Further, organizational decision-makers have very specific expectations about the formal education and training of educational/training product development project leaders. The findings should be of value to institutions of higher education in evaluating programs that prepare students for careers in instructional design.     

How Much Cueing Is Needed in Instructional Animations? The Role of Prior Knowledge

Journal of Science Education and Technology - This study explored the effects of prior knowledge and cueing on the learning (retention, transfer, and matching) and mental effort of learners who...     

Mobile Phone TV Is the Next Big Thing

Mobile phone TV ,dubbed(被称为)the “Fifth M edia”,has not yet had an opportunity for rapid growth in China.Experts say it willtake some time for the new application to enter everydaylife.A report from IMSR esearch,a globalresearch firm ,says that by 2010 there will be 120m illion people watching TVprogram m es on m obile phones. M obilephone TV will becom e the “FifthM edia”,after newspapers,radio,TV s,and online news.A nalysts sayA sian custom ers have taken m ore readily to new m…     

The Library Is Next to the Shopping Mall

，.........~ .以诚一一一一认厂一一二Bruce the braVe knight crossed the bridge to 90 fight the big brown bear tonight! BG br8VG BFUCe!BG bFSVG!GOOd}UCk in the CSVG! :曰，口，‘公傲滚@黔仪运) Oh where，oh where 15 the library? Oh where，oh where ean it be? 15 it next to the Park OF in fFOnt Of the SChOOI? Oh where，oh where ean it be? oh where，oh where 15 the bakery? Oh WheFG.Oh WhGF6 Csn it be?⑨’O脚.硬15 it near the Park OF in b8Ck Of thG SChOOI? Oh where，oh where ean…     

How Should Instructional Designers Be Educated?

Simon suggested that design, defined broadly, is concerned with any kind of deliberate problem solving, whether it be in fields traditionally associated with design, like architecture and engineering, or fields involving the design of instruction. Since instructional design is a kind ol'skillcd professional behavior, the education of other skilled professionals is examined and suggestions are made for analogous instructional techniques in any field. The question of how instructional designers should be educated is related to the larger question of how to teach people to design in general.     

Meeting 2020 Workforce Goals: The Role of Industry–College Collaboration and Goals for Instructional Design

Since the 1990s, federal programs for workforce training have aimed to transform the role of community colleges from narrow contract training to a broader role that encompasses strategic instructional program planning and innovation to support lifelong learning for a changing workforce and economic development (Jacobs & Teahen, 1996 Jacobs , J. , & Teahen , R. C. ( 1996 , January ). We're doing it: Michigan models for academic and occupational integration. Paper presented at Workforce 2000 annual conference on workforce training of The League for Innovation in the Community College, Orlando, FL.  [Google Scholar]). Yet, to date, there has been no study of how this changing role has affected the ways community colleges and their industry partners collaborate. With rising pressure from policy makers to accelerate training to help American workers to adjust to rapid change in the workforce, it is critical to understand the cross-organizational dynamics of these collaborations.     

Grammar in the Curriculum for English: What Next?

It is clear from several government reports and research papers published recently that the curriculum for English in primary and secondary schools is about to change yet again. After years of bureaucratic stranglehold that has left even Ofsted report writers criticising the teaching of English, it seems as if the conditions are right for further revisions. One of the questions that inevitably arise when a curriculum for English is reviewed, relates to the place and purpose of the teaching of grammar. This paper outlines a possible curriculum for grammar across both primary and secondary phases, arguing that for the teaching of grammar to have any salience or purpose at all, it has to be integrated into the curriculum as a whole, and not just writing. A recontextualised curriculum for grammar, of the kind proposed here, would teach pupils to become critically literate in ways which recognise diversity as well as unity, and with the aim of providing them with the means to analyse critically and appraise the culture in which they live.     

Instructional design and technology grounded in enactivism: A paradigm shift?

Although traditional instructional design and technology (IDT) has largely been based on objectivism, in the past 20 years, constructivism has emerged as a dominant framework for IDT. Both perspectives, however, present shortcomings. This paper explores enactivism—an emerging new philosophical world view—as an alternative paradigm. It also investigates the possibilities offered by this new paradigm to IDT. The philosophical world view known as enactivism is reviewed to illustrate the similarities and differences among the three philosophical paradigms, namely, objectivism, constructivism and enactivism. Finally, details of enactivism and its implications for IDT are explored.     

Educational software usability: Artifact or Design?

Online educational technologies and e‐learning tools are providing new opportunities for students to learn worldwide, and they continue to play an important role in anatomical sciences education. Yet, as we shift to teaching online, particularly within the anatomical sciences, it has become apparent that e‐learning tool success is based on more than just user satisfaction and preliminary learning outcomes—rather it is a multidimensional construct that should be addressed from an integrated perspective. The efficiency, effectiveness and satisfaction with which a user can navigate an e‐learning tool is known as usability, and represents a construct which we propose can be used to quantitatively evaluate e‐learning tool success. To assess the usability of an e‐learning tool, usability testing should be employed during the design and development phases (i.e., prior to its release to users) as well as during its delivery (i.e., following its release to users). However, both the commercial educational software industry and individual academic developers in the anatomical sciences have overlooked the added value of additional usability testing. Reducing learner frustration and anxiety during e‐learning tool use is essential in ensuring e‐learning tool success, and will require a commitment on the part of the developers to engage in usability testing during all stages of an e‐learning tool's life cycle. Anat Sci Educ 10: 190–199. © 2016 American Association of Anatomists.     

OOZS: an Object-Oriented Structured Formal Specification Language

lintroductionTileproblemsraisedinthedevelopmentandmaintenanceoflargeandcomplexsoftwaresystemsinacompetitiveanddynamicenvironmenthavebeenstudiedfi.omvariousperspectives.Theterm'softwarecrisis'describesthisproblemandmanyeffoltshavebeenmadetoovercomeit.Reusa…     

Assessing Community College Student Learning Outcomes: Where are We? What's Next?

The Community College Leadership Consortium is building the Bellwether Coalition for Instructional Leadership toward the development of a voluntary system of accountability for community colleges. In response to the Spellings Commission's national call for accountability in higher education, the consortium and its partners convened an Independent Policy Forum at the 2008 Community College Futures Assembly in Orlando, Florida. The Independent Policy Forum began to develop a set of recommendations to be communicated to the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) during its 2009 annual meeting. Recommendations put forth by the forum will contain the founding principles for the nascent voluntary system of accountability for community colleges.