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Full-Text Articles in Education

Learning Experience Design As An Orienting Guide For Practice: Insights From Designing For Expertise, Jason K. Mcdonald, Tyler J. Westerberg Sep 2023

Learning Experience Design As An Orienting Guide For Practice: Insights From Designing For Expertise, Jason K. Mcdonald, Tyler J. Westerberg

Faculty Publications

In this paper we consider how learning experience design (LXD) improves designers’ capacities to influence learning. We do this by exploring what LXD offers the design of learning environments that help develop learners’ expertise. We discuss how LXD (a) attunes designers to different learning affordances than are emphasized in traditional ID; (b) challenges the universal applicability of common ID techniques; and (c) expands designers’ views of the outcomes for which they can design. These insights suggest that LXD is useful because it refocuses and reframes designers' work around flexible design approaches that are often deemphasized in traditional ID.


The Everydayness Of Instructional Design And The Pursuit Of Quality In Online Courses, Jason K. Mcdonald Jun 2023

The Everydayness Of Instructional Design And The Pursuit Of Quality In Online Courses, Jason K. Mcdonald

Faculty Publications

This article reports research into the everydayness of instructional design (meaning designers’ daily routines, run-of-the-mill interactions with colleagues, and other, prosaic forms of social contact), and how everydayness relates to their pursuit of quality in online course design. These issues were investigated through an ethnographic case study, centered on a team of instructional designers at a university in the United States. Designers were observed spending significant amounts of time engaged in practices of course refinement, meaning mundane, workaday tasks like revising, updating, fine-tuning, or fixing the courses to which they were assigned. Refining practices were interrelated with, but also experienced …


“Are These People Real?”: Designing And Playtesting An Alternative Reality, Educational Simulation, Jason K. Mcdonald, Jonathan Balzotti, Melissa Franklin, Jessica Haws, Jamin Rowan Mar 2023

“Are These People Real?”: Designing And Playtesting An Alternative Reality, Educational Simulation, Jason K. Mcdonald, Jonathan Balzotti, Melissa Franklin, Jessica Haws, Jamin Rowan

Faculty Publications

In this design case, we report our design and playtest of a form of alternative reality, educational simulation that we call a playable case study (PCS). One of the features that make our simulations unique is how they are designed to implement a principle called This Is Not a Game, or TINAG, meaning that the affordances we design into the simulation suggest to students that the experience they are having is real, in contrast to the way the artificial nature of the experience is highlighted in many computer games. In this case, we describe some challenges we encountered in designing …


A Qualitative Exploration Of Instructional Designers' Transition From Preparation To Practice, Bryan B. Tanner Apr 2021

A Qualitative Exploration Of Instructional Designers' Transition From Preparation To Practice, Bryan B. Tanner

Theses and Dissertations

Much of the recent instructional design (ID) practice research can be parsed into three key categories: ID professionals, ID preparation, and the isolated differences between novice and expert designers (Sugar, 2014). However, not one of these three categories examines the transition experience of ID practitioners from their preparation to practice in the world of business. The purpose of this qualitative study was to gain further understanding of the practical lived experiences of five instructional designers in their first years in the business world as they negotiated different sets of expectations placed upon them. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used to …


“I Can Do Things Because I Feel Valuable”: Authentic Project Experiences And How They Matter To Instructional Design Students, Jason K. Mcdonald, Amy A. Rogers Jan 2021

“I Can Do Things Because I Feel Valuable”: Authentic Project Experiences And How They Matter To Instructional Design Students, Jason K. Mcdonald, Amy A. Rogers

Faculty Publications

This paper examines how authentic project experiences matter to instructional design students. We explored this through a single case study of an instructional design student (referred to as Abby) who participated as a member of an educational simulation design team at a university in the western United States. Our data consisted of interviews with Abby that we analyzed to understand how she depicted her participation in this authentic project. In general, Abby found her project involvement to open up both possibilities and constraints. Early in her involvement, when she encountered limitations she did not expect, those constraints showed up as …


The Invisible Message, Andrew S. Gibbons Iii, Elizabeth Boling Aug 2020

The Invisible Message, Andrew S. Gibbons Iii, Elizabeth Boling

Faculty Publications

The number and variety of messages conveyed by an instructional experience is astonishing, but most designers are unaware of their number, subtlety, and impact. Many of those messages they would not choose to send if they recognized their existence in practice. The design of invisible and abstract message structures receives less attention from designers today than those parts of the design given to more vivid, colorful, and showy surface structures. Invisible message structures work behind the scenes to produce the smooth surface performances in front of the curtain; they are seldom seen directly, but their power is indisputable. The purpose …


Conversational Forms Of Instruction And Message Layer Design, Andrew S. Gibbons Iii, Elizabeth Boling Oct 2018

Conversational Forms Of Instruction And Message Layer Design, Andrew S. Gibbons Iii, Elizabeth Boling

Faculty Publications

This research provides a second point of validation for an architectural theory of instructional design (Gibbons, 2014) by demonstrating a robust theory-layer relationship for the Message layer. Previous research validated the theory-layer correspondence for the Control layer, a companion channel used for conversational exchange between learner and instructional system. This research identifies specific theoretical contributions to message layer design from fields as diverse as dialogic systems, recommender systems, social network software, intelligent tutoring systems, conversation theory, learning sciences, interface design, user experience design, computer software design, and education. An unexpected finding is that analysis at the message level, about which …


Using Narrative Distance To Create Transformative Learning Experiences, Stephan D. Taeger Apr 2018

Using Narrative Distance To Create Transformative Learning Experiences, Stephan D. Taeger

Theses and Dissertations

This multi-article dissertation focuses on the role of narrative distance in instructional design. Narrative distance is defined œas the cognitive or emotional space afforded by indirect communication that invites listeners to make sense of content (Taeger, 2018, p. 6). Whereas fields associated with the arts have long used the indirect nature of story to create powerful experiences, instructional design has not examined how this aspect of narrative might be used in instruction. The first article in this dissertation explores the literature related to narrative distance and how designing for this phenomenon meets many of Wilson and Parrishs (2011) key indicators …


Agile Development In Instructional Design: A Case Study At Byu Independent Study, Alyssa Jean Erickson Apr 2018

Agile Development In Instructional Design: A Case Study At Byu Independent Study, Alyssa Jean Erickson

Theses and Dissertations

Agile development is a software development methodology that originated in 2001 (Beck, et al.). It has since gained wide recognition and use in the software industry, and is characterized by iterative development cycles. Organizations outside of the software industry are also finding ways to adapt Agile development to their contexts. BYU Independent Study (BYUIS) is an online education program at Brigham Young University that provides online courses at the high school and university levels. In April 2016, BYUIS implemented the Agile development process to the design and development of online courses. This thesis is a case study that looks specifically …


Preparing The Next Generation Of Instructional Designers: A Cross-Institution Faculty Collaboration, Patricia J. Slagter Van Tryon, Jason K. Mcdonald, Atsusi Hirumi Jan 2018

Preparing The Next Generation Of Instructional Designers: A Cross-Institution Faculty Collaboration, Patricia J. Slagter Van Tryon, Jason K. Mcdonald, Atsusi Hirumi

Faculty Publications

The ability of novice instructional designers to become skilled problem-solvers, who select and apply appropriate instructional design (ID) models in their work environments, are key competencies generally sought after in introductory ID courses. Yet, the proliferation of ID models, coupled with varied philosophies and practices about how ID is taught may pose challenges for ID educators seeking to prepare the next generation of leaders in the field. With little empirical research or documented best practices, ID educators are left to their own judgment about to how to navigate the practical challenges that can arise in the pursuit of their teaching …


Reconsidering Design And Evaluation, Andrew S. Gibbons Iii, David D. Williams Jan 2018

Reconsidering Design And Evaluation, Andrew S. Gibbons Iii, David D. Williams

Faculty Publications

In this paper we have put design and evaluation as it were under a microscope with multiple lenses. We use four different snapshots of design, each at a different level of resolution, to reveal new perspectives on the design-evaluation relationship. We believe that the disparate views of designers and evaluators can be resolved by resorting to the middle ground described by Klir. We believe also that the disparate views of educational technologists and learning scientists can be similarly resolved by appealing to the similar principle of Edelson.


Learner Agency And Responsibility In Educational Technology, Michael Thomas Matthews Sep 2016

Learner Agency And Responsibility In Educational Technology, Michael Thomas Matthews

Theses and Dissertations

Though the topic of learner agency has received relatively little discussion in the literature of educational technology, it is nevertheless a significant and actually omnipresent concern of both scholars and practitioners. Through the journal-ready articles contained herein, I show how theories of learning and certain practices of instructional designers reflect implicit positions on the agency of learners. I also discuss agency in more concrete terms as the responsibility for learning that is shared with learners in instructional design contexts. In addition, I provide practical suggestions to help designers keep the learner at the forefront of their design thinking. Through this …


Embracing The Danger: Accepting The Implications Of Innovation, Jason K. Mcdonald Jan 2016

Embracing The Danger: Accepting The Implications Of Innovation, Jason K. Mcdonald

Faculty Publications

Instructional designers are increasingly looking beyond the field’s mainstream approaches to achieve desired outcomes. They seek more creative forms of design to help them invent more imaginative experiences that better reflect their vision and ideals. This essay is addressed to designers who are attracted to these expanded visions of their profession. Innovative approaches to design can be considered dangerous, at least to the status quo. The author first discusses why this is so, and then explains how embracing the danger—accepting the risks that accompany originality and innovation—might also be what allows designers to develop experiences consistent with the high-levels of …


The Application Of Layer Theory To Design: The Control Layer, Andrew S. Gibbons Iii, Matt Langton Jan 2016

The Application Of Layer Theory To Design: The Control Layer, Andrew S. Gibbons Iii, Matt Langton

Faculty Publications

Validation of an architectural theory of instructional design layering is accomplished for one of the proposed layers by verifying the theory’s claim that for every layer there exists a body of design theory from outside the field of instructional design that is capable of informing design within that layer.


Evolving Into Studio, Andrew S. Gibbons Iii Jan 2016

Evolving Into Studio, Andrew S. Gibbons Iii

Faculty Publications

Instructional design is practiced in a real-world setting; it should be learned in a setting like the one where it is practiced. As the practices themselves change, it becomes more natural for this to happen. This study of one design instructor’s experience over nearly 50 years demonstrates a path of evolution out of teaching design in a standard classroom, in which practice is secondary to didactics, into a studio setting, where didactics tend to occur after the student has experienced a need.


Some Big Questions About Design In Educational Technology, Andrew S. Gibbons Iii Nov 2015

Some Big Questions About Design In Educational Technology, Andrew S. Gibbons Iii

Faculty Publications

This article asks five questions that lead us to the foundations of design practice. Design processes structure time, space, place, activity, role, goal and resource. For educational technology to advance in its understanding of design practice, it must question whether we have clear conceptions of how abstract conceptions are turned into physical artifacts capable of inspiring the intellect and the emotions to facilitate learning. These five questions hopefully supply topics for design conversations.


Ships Passing In The Night? E-Learning Designers' Experiences With User Experience, Christijan D. Draper Jul 2015

Ships Passing In The Night? E-Learning Designers' Experiences With User Experience, Christijan D. Draper

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study investigated the extent to which a diverse sub-set of e-learning designers were aware of UX principles and practices, where their e-learning design practices overlapped with established UX practices, and where UX principles might benefit e-learning designers. E-learning has grown dramatically as an area of focus in instructional design within the last decade and a half. This growth suggests a need for a better understanding of design tools, concepts and principles that can guide an e-learning designer to design better and more effective instruction. One field of design that has potentially had an impact on e-learning design recently …


Design-Driven Innovation As Seen In A Worldwide, Values-Based Curriculum, Camey Andersen Hadlock, Jason K. Mcdonald Jan 2014

Design-Driven Innovation As Seen In A Worldwide, Values-Based Curriculum, Camey Andersen Hadlock, Jason K. Mcdonald

Faculty Publications

While instructional design’s technological roots have given it many approaches for process and product improvement, in most cases designers still rely on instructional forms that do not allow them to develop instruction of a quality consistent with that expressed by the field’s visionary leaders. As a result, often the teachers and students using instructional products remain confined by equally limiting views of instruction and learning that cannot help them achieve the outcomes the designer originally envisioned. In this paper we discuss how a relatively new design approach, design-driven innovation, can give instructional designers additional tools to shape the meaning …


White Paper Model-Centered Analysis Process (Mcap): A Pre-Design Analysis Methodology, Andrew S. Gibbons, Jon S. Nelson, Robert E. Richards Nov 2012

White Paper Model-Centered Analysis Process (Mcap): A Pre-Design Analysis Methodology, Andrew S. Gibbons, Jon S. Nelson, Robert E. Richards

Faculty Publications

This paper defines a Model-Centered Analysis Process (MCAP) for pre-design analysis (PDA) to be used in the development of instruction that is problem-based, model-centered, and situated. The methodology we describe is based on theoretical principles for analysis described in a separate paper titled "Theoretical and Practical Requirements for a System of Pre-Design Analysis", which is also in this archive.


Cultural Competence Lessons For Engineering Students Working On Global Virtual Teams, Jennifer Alyce Alexander Apr 2012

Cultural Competence Lessons For Engineering Students Working On Global Virtual Teams, Jennifer Alyce Alexander

Theses and Dissertations

With funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering and Technology at BYU has been furthering their research on Global Virtual Teams. After Cultural Competence lessons were implemented into the classroom setting in 2010, it was decided that teaching the lessons online asynchronously could have advantages in decreasing the time professors needed to cover the content in class. In 2011, Jennifer Alexander teamed with faculty involved with the NSF grant to design and develop online Cultural Competence lessons. Beginning in August 2011 students at BYU and other cooperating campuses participated in the online Cultural …


The Efficacy Of Small Multiples In The Visual Language Of Instructional Designs, Douglas B. Stringham Mar 2012

The Efficacy Of Small Multiples In The Visual Language Of Instructional Designs, Douglas B. Stringham

Theses and Dissertations

The visualization strategy of small multiples (Tufte, 1983, 1990, 1997) is not merely the clever or ordered arrangement of similar and personable images; small multiples—purposeful compositions of similarly sized, repeated illustrations—contain a great deal more than the sum of their respective parts. The purpose of this study is to define a set of objectives and guiding tactics for using small multiples in the visual language of instructional designs. This study aims to (1) compile a targeted literature review cataloging the historical treatment of small multiples and their pedagogical and cognitive virtues and (2) analyze examples of small multiples usage in …


Resisting Technological Gravity: Using Guiding Principles For Instructional Design, Jason K. Mcdonald Jan 2010

Resisting Technological Gravity: Using Guiding Principles For Instructional Design, Jason K. Mcdonald

Faculty Publications

Instructional designers face tremendous pressure to abandon the essential characteristics of educational approaches, and settle instead for routine practices that do not preserve the level of quality those approaches originally expressed. Because this pressure can be strong enough to affect designers almost as gravity affects objects in the physical world, the metaphor of technological gravity has been proposed to describe why designers choose one type of practice over another. In this essay, I discuss how designers can develop guiding principles to help them resist technological gravity. I describe three types of principles, in the areas of what instruction is, …


Imaginative Instruction: What Master Storytellers Can Teach Instructional Designers, Jason K. Mcdonald Jan 2009

Imaginative Instruction: What Master Storytellers Can Teach Instructional Designers, Jason K. Mcdonald

Faculty Publications

Good instructional storytelling engages students’ attention and cognitive abilities to the end of more effective learning, and instructional researchers have discussed whether the principles of storytelling could lead to the same or similar results if applied to educational situations beyond only telling traditional stories. But despite this potential, the principles of storytelling are seemingly underutilized by today’s instructional designers. This study investigates what instructional designers might learn from another design field that is more experienced in the art of storytelling, specifically that of film production. Eight filmmakers who have successfully produced films that motivate, inspire, and educate were interviewed to …


Deriving Operational Principles For The Design Of Engaging Learning Experiences, Richard Heywood Swan Jul 2008

Deriving Operational Principles For The Design Of Engaging Learning Experiences, Richard Heywood Swan

Theses and Dissertations

The issue of learner engagement is an important question for education and for instructional design. It is acknowledged that computer games in general are engaging. Thus, one possible solution to learner engagement is to integrate computer games into education; however, the literature indicates that pedagogical, logistical and political barriers remain. Another possible solution is to derive principles for the design of engaging experiences from a critical examination of computer game design. One possible application of the derived design principles is that instruction may be designed to be inherently more engaging. The purpose of this dissertation was to look for operational …


Using Interactive Diagrams To Teach Graduate Students About Statistical Power, Eric D. Hunter Jan 2008

Using Interactive Diagrams To Teach Graduate Students About Statistical Power, Eric D. Hunter

Theses and Dissertations

This report describes the design, development, implementation, and evaluation of a web-based tutorial designed to teach graduate students about the statistical concept of power. It contains a literature review of techniques used to teach statistics, similar computer-based programs for representing the concept of power, and instructional theories that pertain to web-based tutorials. It describes the process of designing and developing this tutorial in detail. The results section contains a description of the product implementation with three different groups and discusses the qualitative and quantitative findings from each of these implementations. Finally, there is a discussion of the tutorial's strengths and …


Model-Centered Instruction, The Design, And The Designer, Andrew S. Gibbons Iii Jan 2008

Model-Centered Instruction, The Design, And The Designer, Andrew S. Gibbons Iii

Faculty Publications

A model of instruction described by Wenger (1987) identifies three elements that are active during instruction: the mental model the instructor wishes to share with the learner, the external experience used to communicate the mental model, and the evolving mental model of the learner. Gibbons (2003a), writing in response to Seel (2003), noted this three-part description as a bridge concept relating learning and instruction. This view has important practical implications for designers of instruction. For example, Gibbons and Rogers (in press) propose that there exists a natural layered architecture within instructional designs that corresponds with instructional functions. Among these layers …


Faculty Perceptions Of Technology Projects, Whitney Ransom Mcgowan, Charles R. Graham, Jon Mott Nov 2007

Faculty Perceptions Of Technology Projects, Whitney Ransom Mcgowan, Charles R. Graham, Jon Mott

Faculty Publications

Significant investments in time, money, and effort go into developing and applying technology to improve teaching and learning. As universities pursue such projects, they must determine the impact and value of technology for student learning. During the past decade, funds spent on technology for educational purposes have tripled throughout the United States. Determining a hard return on investment (ROI) for the time and money spent to improve education is difficult, however. Institutions should also measure the value on investment (VOI) that their funds and efforts yield. In the study of faculty and their technology projects at Brigham Young University (BYU) …


Technology I, Ii, And Iii: Criteria For Understanding And Improving The Practice Of Instructional Technology, Jason K. Mcdonald Nov 2006

Technology I, Ii, And Iii: Criteria For Understanding And Improving The Practice Of Instructional Technology, Jason K. Mcdonald

Theses and Dissertations

In an earlier era of instructional technology, researchers proposed a set of criteria to help practitioners understand what assumptions about their work could help them develop well-designed instruction, as well as what assumptions could lead them to develop rigid instruction that did not characterize the goals they had for their practice. They named these criteria Technology I, II, and III. Technology I presupposed that using physical hardware improved instruction. Technology II presupposed that using formulas or strategies improved instruction. Technology III was the belief that good instruction could consist of many different product or process technologies, but that technology use …


Calligraphy As A Developmental Tool For Chinese Painting, Jo Lan Shu Jun 2006

Calligraphy As A Developmental Tool For Chinese Painting, Jo Lan Shu

Theses and Dissertations

This report discusses the design, development, and evaluation of a Chinese painting instructional project. The project discussed in this report introduces the novel idea of developing specific calligraphy skills in order to improve Chinese painting skills within a restricted time period (1-3 hours). The results show differences that are statistically significant between the pre and post test paintings created by 23 subjects from both the high school and the university level. The results of the evaluations can be found in the results section of this report. This report consists of a literature review, a project description, a description of the …


Participatory Prototyping: Improving Faculty Participation In Technology-Mediated Instruction, Jason K. Mcdonald Jan 2006

Participatory Prototyping: Improving Faculty Participation In Technology-Mediated Instruction, Jason K. Mcdonald

Faculty Publications

This paper reports the results of a trial to help university faculty members better participate in the devel- opment of technology-mediated instruction, as well as to develop methods for faculty to create their own media that maintains an acceptable level of instructional quality. Using low-cost technology development tools and software templates, faculty members produced a technology-mediated lesson for a university statistics course. While the quality of their attempt was not acceptable to help facilitate student learning, this trial ultimately acted as a prototype of different instructional strategies for the course, which later were produced using higher-quality media. We called this …