Research Article
Nicole L. Weber, Corine McCarthy, Katie Campbell, Hannah Bauer
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 16, Issue 3, Article No: ep510
ABSTRACT
As new technologies and learning practices emerge, the way instructional design and learning technology (IDLT) professionals conduct their work evolves. With this constant evolution comes a change in employer expectations of IDLT professionals. This convergent mixed methods study analyzed 130 IDLT-related position descriptions and interviewed 12 IDLT leaders from the K12, nonprofit, higher education, and corporate sectors to identify current expectations related to degree qualifications, knowledge, skills, and abilities expected from IDLT professionals. Results included a preference for a master’s degree-level qualification, at times due to bureaucracy, and an interest in the combination of academic preparation with instructional design experience. Additionally, employers shared that they were interested in an advanced understanding and adaptable application of IDLT theories, models, and frameworks, as well as a need for non-specific IDLT skills (e.g., communication and collaboration) and familiarity with IDLT-related technologies (e.g., learning management system and course authoring software). These results provide valuable insight for those looking to join IDLT field, current IDLT professionals interested in upskilling, and educational programs preparing future IDLT professionals for the workforce.
Keywords: instructional design, learning technology, K12, higher education, corporate, non-profit, KSAs, knowledge, skills, abilities
Review Article
Hassan Abuhassna, Mohamad Azrien Bin Mohamed Adnan, Fareed Awae
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 16, Issue 2, Article No: ep499
ABSTRACT
To enhance education, we conducted a comprehensive investigation into integrating instructional design models (IDMs) and learning theories in this systematic literature review. We methodically selected and analyzed 25 publications from a pool of 1,102 documents using the preferred reportinfg items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses framework to guarantee a rigorous and systematic approach to literature selection. Our results demonstrate the worldwide span of study on this topic, including contributions from prestigious academic institutions and scholarly journals. This examination explores both the benefits and drawbacks of combining IDMs with learning theories. Noteworthy positives include increased student motivation, support for innovative teaching methods, and the development of complex and diverse learning environments. However, several shortcomings were observed. most notably relating to accessibility problems, evaluation difficulties, and questions about the adaptability of such integrated techniques. Our findings have implications for a broad range of stakeholders, including educators, instructional designers, and students functioning in a variety of educational contexts. The increase of learner motivation, the creation of novel pedagogical tools, the refining of teacher training programs, and the promotion of interdisciplinary learning methods are significant areas of focus. In addition, our evaluation uncovered a number of gaps in the current literature, indicating intriguing possibilities for future research. The examination of holistic learning environments, the untapped potential of integrated systems, the incorporation of educational robots into pedagogical tactics, and the refining of schema assessment approaches are notable research fields. By providing these insights, this systematic review not only adds to the current body of knowledge, but also has the potential to shape the future trajectory of educational practices, so acting as a significant resource for boosting learning outcomes in a variety of educational environments.
Keywords: instructional design models, learning theories, systematic literature review, SLR
Research Article
Paula Charbonneau-Gowdy, Dánisa Salinas, Juan Carlos Oyanedel, Héctor Magaña
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 15, Issue 3, Article No: ep446
ABSTRACT
The deep disruption to education caused by the move to online learning during COVID-19 was unprecedented. While most educational stakeholders adapt to the transition back to a “new normal”, it seems an obvious time for constructivist reflection on the lessons learned. The aim of this longitudinal inquiry was to examine the experiences of higher education learners in Chile during the pandemic for potential insights to be gained. The focus was on students in multi-disciplinarian fields and the changes to their perspectives, practices, and identities. Working within the qualitative paradigm, data was gathered using interviews (n=22), surveys (n=1,054, n=1,137, n=205) and field notes. Learners’ experiences were mapped against contemporary e-learning theory and 21st century learner identity goals. Through this lens, pedagogical practices, course designs, and uses of technology reflected in online spaces were found to influence learners and their learning in complex ways. Two key themes emerged in the analysis: (1) exposure to conventional pedagogy, information transfer and assessment-driven designs and technology challenges online, left students discouraged with their learning progress and disparaging of their future workplace preparedness and (2) students who experienced learner-centered practices online, supported by contemporary learning theory and community-building course designs and technologies, underwent transformative changes to their learning and identities and feeling confidently qualified for their post study careers. In view of the increasing role e-learning will play in this century, we believe further empirical research of this kind into a myriad of global, digital learning contexts, could help transform online learning and learners in our new post pandemic reality.
Keywords: online learning, COVID-19 online experiences, contemporary online learning theories and goals, instructional design, learner identity, transforming learning online
Research Article
John Nworie
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 14, Issue 1, Article No: ep345
ABSTRACT
As recognition of the roles and contributions of Instructional Design and Technology (IDT) professionals has increased, so has the demand for their skills in the workplace whether in higher education institutions or business entities. However, there remains some ambiguity, especially in higher education, about who IDTs are and what they do. There are also questions about who is hiring them. This content analysis study of 250 advertised higher education and corporate IDT positions found no fewer than 9 job titles, 13 academic programs, 5 degree levels, work experience from 1 to 10 years, and compensation that ranged from an hourly pay to a six-digit annual salary. Required skillsets included not only technical and analytical expertise but personal qualities. This study was conducted to provide a current look at the employment opportunities for Instructional Designers and Instructional Technologists.
Keywords: higher education, IDT employment, IDT graduates, careers in instructional design and technology, IDT roles and responsibilities, IDT programs, instructional design, instructional technology
Research Article
Meina Zhu, Merve Basdogan, Curtis J. Bonk
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 12, Issue 2, Article No: ep267
ABSTRACT
Instructional design and training skills have become a key competency that is expected of public health professionals. However, the research on educating public health students as instructional designers (ID) is lacking. The purpose of this study is to better understand how novice IDs design trainings using their design judgment in an authentic instructional design project in order to provide them with effective educational supports. The data sources of this case study include 11 training lesson plans generated by 37 students through a semester and six semi-structured interviews. The findings reveal that: (1) online games, (2) instructional videos, (3) handouts, (4) PowerPoint presentation slides, and (5) infographics were designed and used by novice IDs. In the midst of the various challenges that were encountered, framing judgment, core judgment, instrumental judgment, navigational judgment, and appearance judgment were manifested in the design process of novice IDs. Based on the findings, practical implementations are recommended to develop effective instructional design curricula for novice public health student designers.
Keywords: design judgment, instructional design, instructional design challenges, instructional design practices, novice instructional designers, public health
Research Article
Merve Kadioglu, Zeynep Tacgin, Nevin Sahin
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 12, Issue 1, Article No: ep265
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the most delicate parts of eLearning material development process and tools from the Instructional Design (ID) perspective. In this context, the birth lesson eLearning material modules have been progressed in accordance with the design - based research approach. The selected two modules have been completed by the project team - 3 instructional designer, 1 subject expert, 1 education technologist and 2 subject matter consultants- in 8 months. The ID process has been started with the education need analysis in order to determine the learners’ needs, learning outcomes and other expectations. The explanatory storyboard has to be offered to the educational technologists and the learning theories has to be determined by the designer. After the several revised, the themes and modules have been developed via several eLearning material development tools. The ID process consists several work packages for the team. Correspondingly, eLearning development is of toilsome process that has been included in planning, storyboard, communication between instructional designers and subject experts, and time. Also, it has to be designed with an expert team, learning theories and other scientific methods.
Keywords: e-learning, material development, instructional design, nursing education
Research Article
Monica W. Tracey, Michael Joiner, Sara Kacin, Jay Burmeister
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 9, Issue 2, pp. 186-205
ABSTRACT
Instructional design focuses on solving problems in a multitude of contexts. As such, designers are investigators, gathering evidence to optimally design solutions to learning problems within the identified context. The challenge described in this case study was the need to create an educational activity to promote interaction and collaboration among an interdisciplinary participant group comprised of physicians, radiobiologists, and radiation physicists. Based on the premise that interdisciplinary medical research collaboration requires a shared understanding of authentic problems from multiple perspectives, this design research case documents the design and implementation of an online case study incorporating collaborative inquiry in interdisciplinary teams with the intended outcome of building or strengthening interdisciplinary communication skills. Contextual factors – including the design team and design process – influencing the design of the activity are documented. Results indicate that using an interactive online case study as the basis for collaborative inquiry in small, interdisciplinary teams followed by a summative, large group discussion resulted in (1) evidence-based treatment decisions based on the data supplied in the case study and (2) participation of all disciplines in team interactions. Outcomes also indicated the building or strengthening of interdisciplinary communication skills and the understanding of the value and contribution of all three fields to radiation oncology treatment resulted in the participation of the online case study.
Keywords: Collaborative educational intervention, Design research, Instructional design, Conjecture mapping
Research Article
Nuray Gedik
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 8, Issue 1, pp. 76-98
ABSTRACT
Instructional Technology is a field having approximately a century old past. From its initial
conceptualization to date, it has been in question in terms of its label, definition, and scope.
Parallel to international interest, Turkey has embraced IT as a field of study and practice.
This qualitative study aims to investigate the existing conceptions of experts on
Instructional Technology in Turkey and reveal the current status of the field from their
perspectives in terms of its definition, purpose, scope, and research approaches. The
experts were chosen from among Turkish academics having a PhD degree in the field. The
results showed that diverse definitions were made with an interchangeable use of the labels
“Educational Technology” and “Instructional Technology”. The emphasis for the purpose
was on “how to” best support/facilitate/enhance/improve instruction and learning in a
broad scope. The experts found gaps on the methodological aspects of existing studies. The
results showed that there existed a dilemma between the conception of what IT should be
and the practical use of what it really is. There were both common concerns with other
countries and concerns unique to Turkey. The main challenges were discussed for further
analysis.
Keywords: instructional technology, educational technology, instructional design, instructional systems design, conceptualizations of instructional technology
Research Article
Sunagul Sani-Bozkurt, Sezgin Vuran, Yavuz Akbulut
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 8, Issue 1, pp. 1-25
ABSTRACT
The current study aimed to design technology-supported interactive social stories to teach
social skills to children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). A design-based research was
implemented with children with ASD along with the participation of their mothers, teachers,
peers and field experts. An iterative remediation process was followed through the
feedback of participants. The data collection process was further supported through
researcher notes, interviews, video-recorded observations and log files. Three cycles of
remediation were employed to improve the interactive materials, which lead them to be
perceived as pleasant, interesting, engaging and user-friendly. It was observed that children
gained useful non-target skills as well as the target behaviors. Interactive stories were
particularly helpful in raising satisfaction as they provided children with the opportunity to
make their own learning decisions.
Keywords: autism spectrum disorder, multimedia learning, interactive social stories, instructional design for special education, learners with special needs
Research Article
Turkan Karakus Yilmaz, Kursat Cagiltay
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 7, Issue 3, pp. 206-222
ABSTRACT
Many virtual worlds have been adopted for implementation within educational settings because they are potentially useful for building effective learning environments. Since the flexibility of virtual worlds challenges to obtain effective and efficient educational outcomes, the design of such platforms need more attention. In the present study, the aim was to investigate design issues and the concerns of novice instructional designers who were developing a virtual learning environment with a gaming approach. Active Worlds (AW), an immersive virtual environment, was selected as a platform to develop virtual world projects that presented instructional materials. Twenty-three novice instructional designers participated in this study. Data were collected through observations, interviews, document analysis, and a questionnaire. The results indicate that the novice instructional designers were most challenged when attempting to incorporate motivational and assessment features in their project designs. They ignored collaboration opportunities of the design platform. They also accepted that they could not achieve to provide a feel of real game. The results suggested that design and development in virtual worlds has many challenges but a broad experience for novice instructional designers.
Keywords: Instructional design, Novice instructional designers, Instructional design education, Virtual worlds, Active Worlds
Research Article
Gurhan Durak, Murat Ataizi
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 7, Issue 1, pp. 85-105
ABSTRACT
The purpose of the study was to investigate the views of learners experienced in the Distance Learning Platform (DLP), which was prepared according to an online course design model. The participants of the study were 19 learners who took the programming languages course (via the DLP for 14 weeks). Before the application, the preparation of the DLP took nearly 500 hours. A pilot study was performed with the learners during the summer school. The design of the DLP was improved through the views of those learners. The data were obtained through face-to-face interviews with the learners. The following themes emerged from analysis of the data: factors in preferring the DLP, general characteristics of the DLP, the effectiveness of the DLP, and expansion of the DLP. These themes are further analyzed on the basis of “Diffusion of Innovations” and “Uses and Gratifications” theories. As a result of the interviews conducted with the learners, it was found that the learners had positive opinions about the DLP as it (1) offers flexibility, (2) contains elements enhancing their motivation, (3) enables the learners to communicate easily with the instructor, (4) provides the learners with instant feedback, and (5) enables them to access to the course materials easily.
Keywords: Distance education, Online learning, Instructional design model, Programming language, Learner views, Course evaluation
Research Article
Murat Pasa Uysal
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 5, Issue 3, pp. 198-217
ABSTRACT
The introductory computer programming (CP) course has been taught for three decades in the faculty. Besides pursuing CP technology, one major goal has been enhancing learners’ problem-solving (PS) skills. However, the current situation has implied that this might not be the case. Therefore, a research was conducted to investigate the effects of a web-supported and well-structured PS instructional method on academic achievements and PS perceptions of learners. This was a quasi-experimental study with a posttest-only design that included a control group. While the web-supported and traditional approach was adopted for the control group, the experimental group was treated with the web-supported and well-structured PS method. A cluster random sampling was used and the existing 18 sections were randomly assigned to the study groups. Consequently, 6 faculty members and 433 freshman undergraduate students participated in the study for one semester. The students’ PS perceptions were assessed by the Problem Solving Inventory (PSI) and their CP performances were measured by an academic achievement test. The results indicated a significant difference between the groups in terms of CP achievements. Except for one factor of the PSI, there were also significant differences between the groups in terms of their PS perceptions.
Keywords: Instructional design, Problem-solving, Web-supported instruction, Computer programming
Research Article
Nuri Kara, Nese Sevim
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 4, Issue 2, pp. 108-120
ABSTRACT
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 effects on learning environment. First, after explaining the concepts of teaching machines and adaptive learning systems including their main features as well as integral components, similarities and differences between these technologies are discussed briefly. Then, following the discussion on weaknesses and strengths of adaptive learning systems, what instructional designers should consider in developing and using them are mentioned.
Keywords: Adaptive learning, Adaptive learning systems, Teaching machines, Instructional design, Instructional technology
Research Article
James Marken, Gary Morrison
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 4, Issue 1, pp. 1-14
ABSTRACT
While the concept of objectives is widely used in many applied fields of instruction, the systematic derivation and application of objectives for learning and instruction is a key feature of systematic instructional design. However, the treatment of objectives and the terminology surrounding them is sometimes nebulously employed. This article takes a historical look at the terminology around objectives used in the research literature to track changes over time. Data base searchers were conducted using Academic Search Complete, Education Research Complete, and ERIC to identify various terms using nine different objective related terms. Searches were limited to peer-reviewed sources, and restricted by date to include only the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s respectively. Results show that terms with more concrete definitions, such as behavioral objectives, have fallen off markedly, while terms with more operational definitions, such as educational objectives or learning objectives, have gained in currency. Implications for the field of instructional design are discussed.
Keywords: Objectives, Instructional design, Behavioral objective, Cognitive objective, Performance objective
Research Article
Bahar Baran
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 1, Issue 4, pp. 367-380
ABSTRACT
This study investigates university level students’ experiences of designing lessons with an interactive whiteboard as an instructional medium. The sample consisted of 40 students who will be both moderator of technological resources in schools and computer teachers after graduation from university. In the design of a lesson process, the ASSURE instructional design model was their roadmap. The results showed that none of the students had used interactive whiteboards before the course. However, most of them knew interactive whiteboards from other courses, seminars, or the Internet. Nearly half of the participants had some hesitations when they first learned that they were going to use interactive whiteboards in the course. After using it during a lesson, however, their opinions became positive. In addition, ASSURE instructional design model let them to progress systematically and step-by-step. Most of them had problems to find educational software to use with interactive white board. That is, their primary problem was with the “select instructional methods, media, and materials” step of the ASSURE model.
Keywords: Interactive whiteboard, Instructional design, ASSURE, Technology integration
Research Article
Richard A. Schwier, Jay R. Wilson
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 1, Issue 2, pp. 134-147
ABSTRACT
Students complete courses or entire programs in instructional design (ID) and enter the professional arena confident they are prepared to wrestle with the complexities and demands of ID. What many of those fresh to the profession discover is that in addition to applying what they learned in school, they are called upon to carry out a number of additional tasks, often in areas where they have no training or previous experience. This paper reports on the results of an investigation carried out with 22 instructional designers practicing in post-secondary institutions in Canada and the United States. The purpose was to reveal the aspects of professional practice that instructional designers felt were important, but that were outside the traditional boundaries and training of instructional design. Through focus groups and e-mail discussions, we identified several roles that instructional designers described as important, but were peripheral to the traditional standards of practice and competencies in instructional design.
Keywords: Instructional design, ID, Professional practice, Experience, Interviews, Research
Research Article
Robert D. Tennyson
CONT ED TECHNOLOGY, Volume 1, Issue 1, pp. 1-16
ABSTRACT
Employing my research and practical experience in the field of educational psychology, with a specialty in instructional design and technology, I would like to reflect on the theoretical foundations of instructional design. My purpose is to show the growth of the field through theories associated with learning psychology and educational technology. Both human psychology and technology are the main foundations for instructional psychology. Evaluation and assessment continue to be integral to the field but more in the form of tools. Included is my view of the field in reference to work I and my colleagues have done in what we label as a linking theory of instructional design. That is, linking learning theory directly with research findings and practice I argue that educators need to clearly propose and define their own theoretical foundations when engaging in the design of effective learning environments.
Keywords: Instructional technology, Learning theory, Instructional design, Technology, Theoretical foundations