Based on both practical experience and theoretical studies, this manual provides the foundation for the design of effective distance education teaching materials. An overview presents an outline model of major design considerations for correspondence materials that provides a context for design decisions, with categories chosen to assist in the…

Two instructional design alternatives are described and discussed: (1) the supplantation model of Ausburn and Ausburn (1978), where learning strategies are built into the instructional materials; and (2) a generative design model, where strategies are "built" into the learner. These contrasting models are proposed as representing the…

These two papers discuss ways of improving the quality of educational texts used by the Open University in distance learning courses. The first discusses how text numbering systems should be used and when it is appropriate to use them; five recommendations are given. The last paper discusses how instructional design teams can best approach…

This is a proposal submitted by the Ohio State University Research Foundation for design of a planning and assessment system for the Division of Manpower and Institutions (now Division of Research and Development Resources), U.S. Office of Education. It responds to a need for an expanded planning, management, and assessment system that would…

Art educators have recognized the need for environment design awareness as a prerequisite to an improved environment. In considering the interrelated system of people and the places in which they live, this research attempted to identify the factors and concepts that are necessary for understanding human transaction with residential space. A…

Explains how to create job aids that employees will be motivated to use, based on a review of pertinent literature and interviews with professionals. Topics addressed include linking motivation with job aids; Keller's ARCS (Attention, Relevance, Confidence, Satisfaction) model of motivation; and design strategies for job aids based on Keller's…

Recent developments in artificial intelligence and decision analysis suggest reassessing the approaches commonly taken to the design of knowledge-based systems. Competent systems are based on models known as influence diagrams, which graphically capture a domain's basic objects and their interrelationships. Among the benefits offered by influence…

This paper explores interactivity, and considers what should be done to create a mass market for interactive media. It is suggested that one way to do so is to examine the video game phenomenon, and a model of interactivity is proposed. The model, a "home interactive theater," would involve interaction in the telling of a story, with the…

Instructional development models have been primarily concerned with audience analysis, content, media selection and sequencing, rather than the design of the program. They fail to analyze either the interaction between the content, learner, objectives, and medium, or how best to design the content for presentation through the medium. This paper…

During the transfer from conceptualizations to practical programs of educational innovation, difficulties, in the form of failure to close modular gaps, often occur. The author has constructed a functional model of research and systems development based upon logical sequencing and tight-line modular linkage between task assignment and…

Five models are introduced for the factor analytic treatment of a set of measures obtained for the same sample of persons on two different occasions. The models differ in terms of the assumptions made regarding the constancy of the (1) factor (actually component) score and (2) factor pattern matrices from occasion 1 to 2. Least-squares procedures…

Briefly discusses current views of the way anxiety decreases students' learning from instructional software and describes ways software designers might compensate for the learning problems of anxious students. (MBR)

Presents an approach to microcomputer courseware design that follows the engineering systems model and discusses areas of expertise needed by courseware designers, key courseware design questions, the accompanying teacher's guide and its components, and evaluation criteria teachers need to remember before purchasing instructional programs. (MBR)

Describes a model courtroom in which law school students at the University of the Pacific in Sacramento, California, can conduct practice trials. The courtroom design is circular and new features include an extensive security system, videotaping equipment, a press room, a technicians room, and an isolation room. (Author/DN)

Two projects, the Milford (Pennsylvania) Reservation Solar Conservation Center and Prototype Passive Solar Townhouses, are designed for solar energy--one as a learning center, the other as urban infill housing. (Author/MLF)