Profitable creative ideas can emerge from within virtually any phase of the instructional design and development process. However, the design of user interactions is perhaps where learners can most directly experience the benefits of such ideas. In this article, the authors discuss principles of learner interaction as found in the instructional…

Increasingly, "research" is not being conducted in a separate group in an organization; rather, it is being integrated into the fabric of the organization. Google recently described such an integrated, "hybrid" model of software research that is characterized by cycles of short duration and small-scope activity that is ongoing…

Despite the rhetoric around technology as a transformative force in education, transformation is in the hands of teachers not technology. Yet, teachers cannot capitalize on technology's transformative potentials when teacher education is focused on the technology itself or even on the goal of technology integration. Teachers today are challenged…

This article describes one school district department's efforts to train and support teachers in providing effective curriculum, instruction, and assessment methods to their students. This large, K-12 district embraces the spectrum of low to high SES schools, a large number of gifted students from diverse populations, and a variety of gifted…

Higher education is under enormous pressure to transform itself and embrace a new paradigm. Operating under an outdated model that no longer aligns with the realities of modern society, institutions of higher education are recognizing the need to drastically remake themselves or possibly cease to exist. This article explores the current landscape…

Collaborative learning provides students with vital opportunities to create and build knowledge. Existing technologies can facilitate collaborative learning. However, barriers exist to enacting collaborative practices related to the coverage of material for assessments and classroom management concerns, among others. Teachers can overcome these…

The improvement of a professional group is due, in part, to its ability for introspection and self-evaluation. This is essentially the process of "analyzing" the profession as it currently is practiced, identifying necessary changes and improvements, and "synthesizing" or creating a new image or model of the profession to…

Massive Open Online Courses (or MOOCs) are the subject of numerous recent articles in "The Chronicle of Higher Education," "The New York Times," and other publications related to their increasing use by a variety of universities to reach large numbers of online students. This article describes the current state of these online…

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…

This article discusses the professional dimension of making technology-enhanced learning (TEL) a part of European higher educational practices. In order to position the article in a European context, three of the most important European research Networks of Excellence (NoEs) aimed at understanding, developing, and implementing TEL and educational…

Scholars representing the field of organizational science, broadly defined as including many fields--organizational behavior and development, management, workplace performance, and so on--were asked to identify what they considered to be the most exciting and imaginative work currently being done in their field, as well as how that work might…

The learner-centered paradigm of education requires very different roles for technology, as well as for teachers and students, compared with the teacher-centered paradigm. Rather than almost exclusively serving the teacher for teaching, technology primarily serves the student for learning. It does so through four major roles: (1) keeping records…

Through ongoing rapid-fire changes in the nature of communications, the social, professional, and political landscapes of our time are rapidly transforming. But the prevailing paradigm in most schools and school systems is a relic of the industrial revolution. Schools and school systems must adopt a new paradigm for learning if they are to remain…

The widespread availability of high-quality Web-based tools and content offers new promise and potential for supporting teachers as creators of instructional activities. When coupled with a participatory Web culture and infrastructure, teachers can share their creations as well as leverage from the best that their peers have to offer to support a…

Bryant Griffith is a Regents Professor at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and Director of the Curriculum and Instruction Doctoral Program. Previously, he was Professor and Director of the School of Education at Acadia University, and Professor and Associate Dean at the University of Calgary. His research interests include situated…