The critical, relational practice of instructional design in higher education: an emerging model of change agency

This paper offers an emerging interpretive framework for understanding the active role instructional designers play in the transformation of learning systems in higher education. A 3-year study of instructional designers in Canadian universities revealed how, through reflexive critical practice, designers are active, moral, political, and influential in activating change at interpersonal, professional, institutional and societal levels. Through narrative inquiry the voices of designers reflect the scope of agency, community and relational practice in which they regularly engage with faculty in institutions of higher learning.

Adaptation of instructional materials: a commentary on the research on adaptations of Who Polluted the Potomac

This commentary first summarizes and discusses the analysis of the two translation processes described in the Oliveira, Colak, and Akerson article and the inferences these researchers make based on their research. In the second part of the commentary, we describe procedures and criteria used in adapting tests into different languages and how they may apply to adaptation of instructional materials. The authors provide a good theoretical analysis of what took place in two translation instances and make an important contribution by taking the first step in providing a systematic discussion of adaptation of instructional materials. Our discussion proposes procedures for adapting instructional materials for examining equivalence of source and target versions of adapted instructional materials. We highlight that many of the procedures and criteria used in examining comparability of educational tests is missing in this emerging research of area.

Perceptions of instructional quality: impact on acceptance and use of an online learning environment

ABSTRACT

Given the growing use of online learning environments in higher education, it is important to further unravel how students’ use is influenced by their perceptions towards these learning environments. This study includes the perceived quality of the instructional design based on the First Principles of Instruction of Merrill and students’ acceptance based on the constructs perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use of the technology acceptance model (TAM). The aim of this study is twofold: a first aim is to investigate the influence of the perceived instructional quality on students’ acceptance and the second aim is to investigate the impact of students’ acceptance and the perceived instructional quality on the quantity (i.e. course activity) and quality (i.e. course performance) of use. In this study, a Moodle-based online learning environment for learning French as a foreign language was studied. Participants were 161 university students. Structural equation modeling (SEM) indicates that the perceived instructional quality has a significant positive influence on students’ acceptance. Furthermore, students’ perceived instructional quality has a positive influence on the quality, but not on the quantity of use, whereas students’ acceptance of the online learning environment has no impact on the use of the learning environment.     

The ethics of instructional technology: issues and coping strategies experienced by professional technologists in design and training situations in higher education

To correspond to the Association for Educational Communication Technology (AECT) Code of Professional Ethics and the professional journal TechTrends’ ethics columns, this paper provides empirical data regarding ethical issues associated with the use of instructional technology in design and training situations. In-depth interviews of 20 professional technologists were conducted. The three most prominent ethical concerns reported were copyright, learner privacy, and accessibility. The results of this study also identified three ethical issues that have not been discussed extensively in the literature: diversity, conflicts of interest, and professionalism/confidence. In addition to identifying ethical issues, the findings of the study also contribute to the current literature through identifying coping strategies of ethical issues adopted by professional technologists. Finally, implications to researchers, managers, and practitioners were discussed.     

Designing for learning in the Yellow House: a comparison of instructional and learning design origins and practices

ABSTRACT

For the past two decades, there has been persistent debate around whether there is a difference between the fields of instructional design (ID) and learning design (LD). While differences in the two approaches are certainly apparent, there are cross-over points that can provide ID and LD researchers and practitioners with opportunities for dialogue about the purposes and remit of research-based practices for optimal design. Though potentially disruptive, initiating dialogues among learning and instructional designers could lead to more thorough and critical analyses of both ID and LD repertoires. Should boundary crossings occur, there is a potential for a third space for the contemplation, research, and practice of design. A goal of this article is to use the notion of Van Gogh’s Yellow House as an anchoring metaphor for the third space – a location for shared discourse, inspiration, collaboration, and challenge for a community of designers of/for learning. Using the impressionist and expressionist terminology to help elucidate the ways of thinking of designers of both traditions, this article examines the history, underlying philosophical approaches, methodologies, and design goals of ID and LD. We conclude that the emergence of a third space for design can help us move beyond the LD and ID dichotomies. We suggest that a socio-materialist perspective alleviates issues of incommensurability by acknowledging ontological multiplicity.     

基于建构主义学习理论的网络课程教学设计模式思考

网络教学是建立在计算机辅助教学(CAI)和以广播电视为媒体的远程教育基础之上,利用计算机技术和现代通信技术发展起来的一种现代教学模式.与传统课堂教学相比,不论从学习的适用对象、教育内容的表现形式、课程的组织安排和学习者的学习方式来看,网络教学都具有其不可比拟的优越性.将网络教学引进学校是提高其课程教学水平的有效手段.其中,网络课程的设计是关键.本文基于建构主义理论,就学校网络课程的设计提出了自己的认识.     

Enrolment purposes,instructional activities,and perceptions of attitudinal learning in a human trafficking MOOC

This study examines learner enrolment purposes, perceptions on instructional activities and their relationship to learning gains in a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) for attitudinal change regarding human trafficking. Using an author-developed survey, learners reported their perceptions on instructional activities and learning gains within the MOOC, as well as their enrolment purposes. Motivations varied with the majority of learners wanting to formulate a viewpoint or to justify their existing viewpoint, with those taking the MOOC in order to earn a formal certification reporting the highest learning gains. Overall, learners perceived lectures and videos as the most impactful instructional strategy. However, learners who reported the personal project activity as the most effective instructional strategy showed the highest learning gain. The authors discuss the instructional design considerations based on these survey results.     

Teachers’ beliefs, instructional behaviors, and students’ engagement in learning from texts with instructional pictures

This study investigated the relations between teachers’ pedagogical beliefs and students’ self-reported engagement in learning from texts with instructional pictures. Participants were the biology, geography, and German teachers of 46 classes (Grades 5-8) and their students. Teachers’ instructional behaviors and students’ engagement in learning from texts with instructional pictures were assessed by means of student ratings. Teachers’ beliefs about using texts with instructional pictures in their teaching were assessed by a self-report questionnaire. Results showed that the more teachers believed that students should be taught clear strategies on how to learn from texts with instructional pictures the more engagement was reported by their students. A multilevel mediation model showed that the association between teachers’ beliefs and students’ self-reported engagement was mediated by teachers’ perceived instructional behavior.     

Pattern of classroom activities during students’ use of computers: Relations between instructional strategies and computer applications

The purpose of this study was to identify instructional strategies used by teachers to support technology integration. In addition, relations between types of computer applications and teachers' classroom practices were examined. Data were direct observation results from 143 integration lessons implemented in schools receiving federal technology grants. Results reflect use of student-centered practices such as teacher as a facilitator, project-based learning, and independent inquiry. Furthermore, this study revealed that classroom practices tend to be more student-centered when students use the computer as a learning tool such as the Internet, word processing, and presentation software. Conversely, drill and practice software showed a dissimilar pattern.     

Effects of instructional conditions and experience on student reflection: a video annotation study

This article reports on the findings of a study that investigated the effects of instructional conditions and prior experience on students’ self-reflection. The study was conducted with the use of a video annotation tool that was used by undergraduate performing arts students to reflect on their video-recorded performances. The study shows a consistent positive effect of previous experience with the video annotation tool for engagement with reflection. Graded instructional conditions with feedback had a positive effect on increasing higher order reflections particularly for students with prior experience with the video annotation tool for reflective purposes. The finding suggests that when including reflection in the curriculum, it is important to consider introducing it at a program or degree level rather than individual courses in order to provide an opportunity for students to gain experience with reflection and any particular tool that is used (e.g., a video annotation tool). Furthermore, reflective tasks should be scaffolded into the curriculum with ample opportunity for formative feedback and summative assessment in order to encourage higher order thinking and foster students’ metacognitive awareness and monitoring for increased goal-setting and acknowledgement of the motive or effect of their observed behavior.     

Professional learning communities among vocational school teachers: Profiles and relations with instructional quality

Although improving teachers' classroom strategies presents the primary goal of PLCs, empirical evidence is still scarce, mainly derived from case-study material and confined to (pre-) K12 settings. We use profiling techniques and a comparative design to examine (a) distinct configurations in which PLCs occur within vocational school departments, and (b) their relations to instructional quality. Multilevel latent profile analysis, based on teacher assessments of core PLC dimensions, reveals three configurations. Multilevel multiple group analysis of students’ instructional ratings shows that teachers from Advanced PLC departments create more authentic, application-oriented learning environments than teachers from other departments.     

物理教师自制课件的设计与实施

本文主要探讨学科教师自制教学课件的设计方法以及利用多媒体课件辅助课堂教学，突破教学中的难点问题。     

论计算机图形图像软件应用

文章就当前中国计算机图形图像软件的应用进行论述,对他们的发展方向、利弊也进行了评述和分析.     

Enacting instructional leadership: perspectives and actions of public K-12 principals

This article’s purpose is to highlight the perspectives and actions of urban, public school K-12 principals who are noted for prioritising instructional leadership. Grounded in the conceptual framework of agency, I examined the work experiences of 18 New York City public school principals nominated by supervisors, colleagues, trained educational consultants, parents, and students through a four-phase qualitative study consisting of interviews, time surveys, document review, and observations with participants. In order to uphold instructional leadership, analysis highlighted that participants assumed agency by engendering perspectives and actions that viewed instructional leadership as: grounded in learning, influenced by teachers/staff, requiring time and planning for principals and teachers/staff, and calls for teacher/staff empowerment.     

软件设计专业职业素养培养方式分析与研究

文章结合实际,通过对软件设计专业人才职业素养相关要求的分析,从开设软件设计专业职业素养课程、在专业课程的学习中融入职业素质教育、建立软件实训模拟公司等方面提出了软件技术专业学生职业素养培养方式,为如何培养软件设计专业人才职业素养提供了参考。     

Capacity building to bridge data use and instructional improvement through evidence on student thinking

While schools and systems across the globe promote data-driven decision making, teachers often struggle to use data, especially from external assessments, to inform daily instruction. In this paper, we examine teacher capacity building for a less typical form of data use - evidence on student thinking. We draw on data from a longitudinal, in-depth qualitative study involving middle school math teachers who were engaged in an instructional improvement project. Findings show that data use occurred when evidence from student thinking was introduced as part of the instructional planning process. This shift was facilitated by an instructional coach whose capacity building efforts with teachers focused on coherence, specifically planning high quality instruction and using data effectively, while also meeting district pacing and unit planning goals. When teachers put new strategies into practice, feedback from formative assessment data allowed teachers to identify and address misconceptions in student thinking. Learning how to use data as part of instruction helped teachers build capacity to reflect on their own practice. Implications for theory, practice, and research are discussed.     

Achievement goals for teaching and teachers’ reference norms: Relations with instructional practices

This study is connected to recent research that introduced achievement goal theory as a framework for research on teacher motivation. We aimed at investigating teachers’ goals’ indirect effects on their instructional practices through their reference norms. Drawing on a sample of 206 teachers, structural equation modeling revealed that mastery orientation was connected to more adaptive forms of reference norms and instruction, whereas less adaptive patterns were recorded for ability-approach orientation, ability-avoidance orientation, and work avoidance. Thus, school should not only focus on the enhancement of students’ mastery goals but also on fostering teachers’ mastery goals.     

Towards a Framework for Attention Cueing in Instructional Animations: Guidelines for Research and Design

This paper examines the transferability of successful cueing approaches from text and static visualization research to animations. Theories of visual attention and learning as well as empirical evidence for the instructional effectiveness of attention cueing are reviewed and, based on Mayer’s theory of multimedia learning, a framework was developed for classifying three functions for cueing: (1) selection—cues guide attention to specific locations, (2) organization—cues emphasize structure, and (3) integration—cues explicate relations between and within elements. The framework was used to structure the discussion of studies on cueing in animations. It is concluded that attentional cues may facilitate the selection of information in animations and sometimes improve learning, whereas organizational and relational cueing requires more consideration on how to enhance understanding. Consequently, it is suggested to develop cues that work in animations rather than borrowing effective cues from static representations. Guidelines for future research on attention cueing in animations are presented.     

Integrating text-to-speech software into pedagogically sound teaching and learning scenarios

This paper presents a new technique of delivery of classes—an instructional technique which will no doubt revolutionize the teaching and learning, whether for on-campus, blended or online modules. This is based on the simple task of instructionally incorporating text-to-speech software embedded in the lecture slides that will simulate exactly the delivery of an intended lecture, assisted with teaching aids such videos, animations and music, as deemed necessary. The benefits of such an approach in the educational system of the University are multifold and can be categorized in three different axes namely pedagogical, administrative and financial. Our main interests in this article lie along the pedagogical benefits (which undoubtedly overlap to some extent into administrative and financial axis) that this technique will bring in the system. While it is obvious that the initial process does consume a reasonable amount of time and gradually reveals its own complexities, constraints and limitations as described in this paper, the approach does however provide considerable elements to bring a major re-definition of the overall teaching and learning framework at the University of Mauritius.