Integrating Information Technology Communications in the classroom has been an important part of pre-service teacher education for over a decade. The advent of virtual worlds provides the pre-service teacher with an opportunity to study teaching and learning in a highly immersive 3D computer-based environment. Virtual worlds also provide a place…

The process of constructing assessment scales for performance testing is complex and multi-dimensional. As a result, a number of different approaches, both empirically and intuitively based, are open to developers. In this paper we outline the approach taken in the revision of a set of assessment scales used with speaking tests, and present the…

A key but often overlooked aspect of intentional, out-of-school-time programming is the integration of a guiding theoretical framework. The incorporation of theory in programming can provide practitioners valuable insights into essential processes and principles of successful programs. While numerous theories exist that relate to youth development…

Learning Activity Management System (LAMS) has been trialled and used by users from many countries around the globe, but despite the positive attitude towards its potential benefits to pedagogical processes its adoption in practice has been uneven, reflecting how difficult it is to make a new technology based concept an integral part of the…

James Moffett's structuralist impulse to carve the "universe of discourse" into four related levels--drama, narrative, exposition, argumentation--was quickly reframed as a rough approximation, as he recognised the ways myth and fictions compressed several layers, and even everyday narratives potentially encapsulated some of the rest.…

A professional learning plan is the navigation system for the comprehensive professional learning system. Professional learning plans establish short- and long-term guidance for professional learning and its implementation. This workbook offers information and tools to walk educators through seven planning steps--from data analysis, to setting…

This article presents key findings from a Joint Information Systems Committee-funded project, which aimed to identify existing practices where technologies contribute to formative assessment and identify processes that take place around formative assessment where technologies play a significant role. Using a design pattern methodology, the project…

The vision for transforming the education of the nation's nearly four million teacher workforce presented in this report comes not from any one group but from a diverse group representing a broad range of perspectives. The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) Blue Ribbon Panel on Clinical Preparation and Partnerships for…

The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive review of what is known about teacher induction in special education and to outline recommendations for the design of induction programs and further research. Five questions guided this research: (1) What are the experiences and concerns of new special educators in their first years of…

Instructional design (ID) in its short life has been dominated by behaviourist approaches despite critique focusing on issues of practice as well as theory. Nonetheless, little research has addressed two fundamental questions: "What constitutes good instructional design?" and "How do instructional designers create good design?"…

In 1986, the International Board of Standards for Training, Performance, and Instruction (IBSTPI) published the first edition of "Instructional Design [ID] Competencies: The Standards." It was the culmination of work that began in 1978. In this third edition, IBSTPI presents its latest view of the competencies of instructional designers. It is a…

Illustrates how each of these principles may guide decisions about Web-based design for young children consistent with developmentally appropriate practice: (1) simple, clean and concrete design; (2) adult guidance; (3) progressive and individualized; (4) relevant to children; (5) integrated activities; (6) active and enjoyable; and (7)…

Robert Gagne has been a central figure in the infusion of instructional psychology into the field of instructional technology, and in the creation of the domain of instructional design. Gagne's design principles provide not only a theoretical orientation to an instructional design project, but also have prompted a number of design conventions and…

Despite the fact that e-Learning exists for a relatively long time, it is still in its infancy. Current e-Learning systems on the market are limited to technical gadgets and organizational aspects of teaching, instead of supporting the learning. As a result the learner has become deindividualized and demoted to a noncritical homogenous user. One…

An instructional systems approach to learning draws on principles of instructional design and development but also draws from theories such as behaviorism, information processing, cognitive theory, adult education, and systems theory among others. This paper focuses on how instructional designers can benefit from awareness of different adult…