Education Commons^™

Chapter 1: Message Design For Instructional Designers - An Introduction, Miguel Ramlatchan

Instructional Message Design, Volume 1

Instructional message design is the use of learning theories to effectively communicate information using technology. Theories involving gestalt, cognitive load, multimedia learning, media selection, media attributes, and general communication systems help us guide design. Our communication designs can be based on a wide variety of technologies or a combination of technologies. Technology in the form of tools and techniques includes the study and the use of typography, color, illustrations, photographs, modeled graphics, augmented reality, animation, video, video games, simulations, and virtual reality. This introduction serves as a brief overview of these theories, tools, and techniques while subsequent chapters will dive …

Chapter 5: Instructional Message Design With Powerpoint, Meredith Spencer

Instructional Message Design, Volume 1

Now a household name, Microsoft PowerPoint software is one of the most commonly used slideware presentation tools in business, scientific conferences, education, and other professional, academic, government, and military settings. As an instructional message design tool, controversy proliferates surrounding its role in the classroom experience and its impact on cognitive learning. After compiling the research, lessons can be garnered on how to best visually display PowerPoint slides, how to most effectively deliver PowerPoint-aided instruction, and how to maximize student learning from PowerPoint-based lessons. This chapter will explore the existing body of literature on the technology’s capabilities and limitations; offer best …

Chapter 4: Message Design For Instructional Designers - Human Performance Technology, Dana Garcia

Instructional Message Design, Volume 1

How often do you take on an assignment or responsibility and reflect I knew how to do it better, but I didn’t? I’ll do better next time. Do you really do better next time? Maybe? Honestly, probably not but why is that? Human Performance Technology is focused on answering those questions. It gets to the root cause of why we don’t meet desired performance levels. The value of finding foundational causes for performance deficiencies is maximizing human capital because the largest expense of most companies is payroll. The most common investment in their employees is providing more opportunities for instruction …

Chapter 7: Learners With Disabilities And Video-Based Instructional Message Design, Charles Thull

Instructional Message Design, Volume 1

Learners with disabilities are entitled to public education that supports their unique needs, but unfortunately, they experience poor post-secondary outcomes when compared to their peers, including lower rates of post-secondary education engagement and employment. Individuals with low incidence disabilities experience lower employment rates when compared to other individuals with disabilities, due to the impact of difficulties with social/communication, self-determination, and executive functioning skills. Researchers have developed video-based instruction with various message design and technology features to support independence for individuals with disabilities, including basic to complex vocational task completion. This chapter will provide useful information for designers, educators, state and …

Chapter 2: Cognitive Load Theory And Instructional Message Design, Bethany Emory

Instructional Message Design, Volume 1

Although theoretical in basis, Cognitive Load Theory (CLT) is pragmatic in nature. Its goal, as it relates to instructional message design, is to present information in a way that enables the learner to process it as efficiently as possible and add it to their brain as learned information. This process relies on the brain for memory, which is separated into two component parts – working memory and long-term memory. Both of these forms of memory are required to connect new information to information that is known – which are essential elements in the learning process. To do this, information that …

Chapter 6: Designing And Learning From Modeling And Simulations, Travis Saylor

Instructional Message Design, Volume 1

Instruction message design with simulations is the use of technology to create virtual environments for cost-effective, safe, and authentic learning. This chapter presents a condensed history of simulation learning, an introduction to several approaches to design instructional simulations, and research based best practices that can be used to guide instructional designers. These best practices include the attention to fidelity or realism of the simulation, the removal of extraneous distractions from the design, and the inclusion of sight, sound, and haptic details that the learner will encounter in the real world. Augmented reality, or the blending of virtual and physical environments, …

Chapter 3: Multimedia Learning Theory And Instructional Message Design, Miguel Ramlatchan

Instructional Message Design, Volume 1

Multimedia learning theory describes how the designers of instructional messages, systems, and learning environments can optimize learning. The principles and heuristics of multimedia learning theory have application in traditional and online environments, with young and adult learners, in K-12, higher education, military, corporate, government, and informal learning environments. This diversity of application is based on the foundational premise that all learners can independently process auditory and visual information, have limited working memory resources, and require cognitive resources to process new information and to learn. This chapter describes the basic tenets of multimedia learning theory, best practices that can improve our …

Instructional Message Design: Theory, Research, And Practice, Miguel Ramlatchan, Bethany Emory, Dana Garcia, Meredith Spencer, Travis Saylor, Charles Thull, Frances R. Dukes

Instructional Message Design, Volume 1

Message design is all around us, from the presentations we see in meetings and classes, to the instructions that come with our latest tech gadgets, to multi-million-dollar training simulations. In short, instructional message design is the real-world application of instructional and learning theories to design the tools and technologies used to communicate and effectively convey information. This field of study pulls from many applied sciences including cognitive psychology, industrial design, graphic design, instructional design, and human performance technology to name just a few. In this book we visit several foundational theories that guide our research, look at different real-world applications, …

Learning With Mobile Devices, Helen Crompton, John Traxler

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

The concept of learning with small portable computers was developed by Alan Kay in 1972. Since that early conception, scholars, such as Traxler, Sharples, and Soloway are the pioneering scholars who paved the way to a better understanding of the philosophical, pedagogical, and conceptual underpinnings of mobile learning today. In this chapter, an overview is provided to explicate the initial foundations of the emerging field of mobile learning (mlearning). Next, current scientific knowledge is delineated with explicit references to the early scholars. This chapter concludes with a preview of the future research directions in mobile learning.

Students With Learning Disabilities, Pair Programming And Situational Motivation, Shana L. Pribesh, Wu He, Silvana M. Watson, Debra A. Major, Li Xu, Ling Li, Xin Tian, Anjee Gorkhali, Yuming He

Educational Foundations & Leadership Faculty Publications

Persons with learning disabilities (LD) are underrepresented in computer science and information technology fields despite the explosion of related career opportunities and interest. In this study, we examine the use of pair programming as a collaborative intervention in with computer programming and compare students with learning disabilities to students who do not have learning disabilities. We concentrate on situational motivation constructs which tap into the desire to meet goals and acquire skills. We find that students with LD and similar students without LD fare the same. For the both groups, three of the four situational motivation subscales increase after the …

Rethinking Pedagogy: Exploring The Potential Of Digital Technology In Achieving Quality Education, Lorenzo Alemán De La Garza, Alessandra Anichini, Péter Antal, Aurélie Beaune, Helen Crompton, Avgoustos Tsinakos, Et Al.

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

(First Paragraph) The Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP) is UNESCO’s Category 1 education Institute in the Asia-Pacific region devoted to education for peace and sustainable development, as enshrined in SDG Target 4.7. UNESCO MGIEP promotes the use of digital learning platforms where teachers and students can co-create and share a highly interactive learning experience. With the rise of the internet, there has been a proliferation of online content and digital resources intended to support teaching and learning, albeit widely varying in quality. Digital education media and resources, if carefully designed and implemented, have a …

Standards Spotlight: Iste Learner Standard Provides A Road Map To Lifelong Scholarship, Helen Crompton

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

(First paragraph) Like most educators, I’m a learner first. I want to know all there is to know about teaching to best meet the needs of my students. That’s why I went to college for 15 years to gain my teaching qualifications, including a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in educational technology and mathematics education. I’m now a tenured professor, but I can honestly say that I’m only part way through my learning journey.

Using Personal Learning Environment (Ple) Management To Support Digital Lifelong Learning, Cherng-Jyh Yen, Chih-Hsiung Tu, Laura E. Sujo-Montes, Hoda Harati, Claudia R. Rodas

Educational Foundations & Leadership Faculty Publications

Personal Learning Environment is a promising pedagogical approach to integrate formal and informal learning in social media and support student self-regulated learning. The use of PLEs to support lifelong learning can be expanded to the formal, non-formal, or informal learning environments. This study empirically examined how PLE management predicted the use of PLE to support three types of lifelong learning (i.e., formal, non-formal, or informal learning). This study concluded that PLE management was predictive of each type of learning respectively. PLE is not only a technical platform but also a new digital learning literacy, conceptual space, pedagogical process, and social …

How Can Career Switchers And Teachers Without Formal Training Be Quickly Prepared To Teach Engineering And Technology Education?, Kathleen Ferguson, Philip A. Reed

STEMPS Faculty Publications

Old Dominion University (ODU) provides a six-hour, hands on workshop to train technology education teachers in design-based learning, production laboratory safety, and laboratory management. The teachers are provided with information about technology education content and pedagogy as well as safety contracts, legal liability, and machine use and maintenance. Teachers in this workshop learn (or update) important laboratory safety procedures and tool skills through instruction, demonstrations, and an active learning project.

The workshop is co-hosted by the ODU Technology Education Program and the Virginia Technology and Engineering Education Association (VTEEA). Three workshops have been held and program interest is increasing. The …

Applying A Modified Technology Acceptance Model To Qualitatively Analyse The Factors Affecting Microblogging Integration, Tian Luo, David Richard Moore, Teresa Franklin, Helen Crompton

STEMPS Faculty Publications

The purpose of this research is to examine factors affecting students’ perception and engagement of microblogging integration using a qualitative approach. We employed a qualitative case study design to explore potential factors affecting microblogging integration in a hybrid course. Using the technology acceptance model (TAM) model as an umbrella framework, we examined through in-depth interviews with 18 participants the impact of microblogging integration into instruction that affected students’ reported use and perceptions of their microblogging-supported learning experiences. We found that individual differences, system characteristics, social influence and facilitating conditions all have impact on student participation and engagement in microblogging integration …

Informing Recommended Makerspace Outcomes Through Linguistic Analytics, Kevin M. Oliver, Jennifer K. Houchins, Robert L. Moore

STEMPS Faculty Publications

An after-school maker club collected student reflections on makerspace projects in different formats over two years: private written reflections captured in the 3D GameLab gamification platform and video-recorded reflections posted in the more social FlipGrid platform. Club mentors selected these documentation platforms on the basis of their motivational affordances thought to encourage club members to document their work. Transcribed documentation was analyzed using Linguistic Inquiry Word Count (LIWC) software to generate linguistic profiles for comparison. Differences between written and video-recorded documentation suggest: private, written documentation is more likely to capture evidence of cognitive processing and achievement- or risk-oriented drives, but …

Welcome To Normalton: Leveraging Effective E-Learning Principles For Adult Learners, Robert L. Moore

STEMPS Faculty Publications

This design case details the critical design decisions used in the development of an e-learning module library for North Carolina local government officials focused on land use regulations. These modules cover topics from an introduction to land use regulations, to evidentiary hearing conduct guidelines, defining vested rights, and explaining how to adopt and amend an ordinance. This project was in response to the North Carolina League of Municipalities (NCLM) members’ increased requests for training in this subject area. This organization requested the assistance of the two faculty members at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Government …

Setting The Pace: Examining Cognitive Processing In Mooc Discussion Forums With Automatic Text Analysis, Robert L. Moore, Kevin M. Oliver, Chuang Wang

STEMPS Faculty Publications

Learning analytics focuses on extracting meaning from large amounts of data. One of the largest datasets in education comes from Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) that typically feature enrollments in the tens of thousands. Analyzing MOOC discussion forums presents logistical issues, resulting chiefly from the size of the dataset, which can create challenges for understanding and adequately describing student behaviors. Utilizing automatic text analysis, this study built a hierarchical linear model that examines the influence of the pacing condition of a massive open online course (MOOC), whether it is self-paced or instructor-paced, on the demonstration of cognitive processing in a …

The Role Of Data Analytics In Education: Possibilities & Limitations, Robert L. Moore

STEMPS Faculty Publications

In the last decade, we have seen dramatic increases in the integration of technology within education. It has now become commonplace for K-5 educators to apply learning management systems (LMS) in ways that were previously only seen in higher education contexts. Similarly, on the higher education side, we are seeing a significant increase in online learning evidenced by the growing number of for-profit online colleges and universities (Picciano, 2012). This chapter utilizes Khan’s Learning Framework (Khan, 2001, 2005) to explore the role data analytics can play in education by looking at the possibilities and limitations of analytics.

Technology Education In The United States, Johnny J. Moye, Philip A. Reed, Steven A. Barbato, Shinichi Fujita

STEMPS Faculty Publications

Technology education has a long history in the United States as manual training in the 1870s, industrial arts through most of the twentieth century, and now as technology and engineering education in most states. Federal legislation has helped define and finance technology programs while organizations such as the International Technology and Engineering Educators Association, National Academies, National Science Foundation, National Assessment Governing Board, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration have shaped content and pedagogy. There are many opportunities in the U.S. such as Integrative STEM Education, growing informal education experiences in makerspaces, and expanding elementary technology education, but there are …