Traditional views in instructional technology are often based upon the application of scientific knowledge. An alternative paradigm, post-modernism questions whether science alone offers the best approach to teaching and learning. Post-modernism offers alternative perspectives on the theory and practice of instructional technology; however, its…

The purpose of this guide is to present the essential technical considerations for implementing the North Carolina Instructional Technology Plan (NCITP). It addresses three main areas fundamental to the development and execution of long-range technology plans: collaboration, connectivity, and hardware/software configurations. The first section…

This book outlines an approach to putting course content on the Web. It explains how to make current course materials Web-ready and describes Web-enabled teaching tools that educators may not currently use but that they might wish to incorporate into the teaching approach. The book explains how to combine these materials and tools to create a…

This paper reports on the design strategies and technical solutions that the authors have adopted to increase interaction in a World Wide Web-Based Instruction (WBI) system aimed at supporting new didactic approaches to the subjects of urban planning and architecture through the activation of online modules at the university level. Specifically,…

At the Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management at the University of Houston (Texas), the faculty and administrators made a conscious effort to take a broad, extensive approach to designing and implementing a fully online masters program. This approach was entered in a comprehensive needs assessment model and sought input from…

The "Satellite Town Meeting" is the U.S. Department of Education's monthly television program about improvements in teaching and learning that are happening in schools and communities across the nation. On each 60-minute show, the Secretary of Education invites national experts as well as local educators and community leaders to share…

The fall 2001 issue of New Directions for Community Colleges discusses the changes in policy and practice of vocational education at community colleges. The 10 chapters included in this volume are: (1) "Opportunities and Challenges for the New Vocationalism" by Debra D. Bragg; (2) "The Role of Leadership in Successful Vocational Initiatives" by…

A typical Web-based training development team consists of a project manager, an instructional designer, a subject-matter expert, a graphic artist, and a Web programmer. The typical scenario involves team members working together in the same setting during the entire design and development process. What happens when the team is distributed, that is…

Recent studies have emphasized the significant implications of multimedia for the learning process. Even those researchers who take a less enthusiastic stand do not hesitate to assent that when blended with suitable pedagogical techniques and a proper design, the combined use of multiple media for the viewing and study of educational material can…

The mission of the NetPro European project is to develop project-based learning through the Internet. The NetPro project is creating tools and services to facilitate communication and collaboration between distant students, and to manage access and control of project deliverables. NetPro project teams form cross-institutional learning communities.…

In 1996, the Virtual University (VU) started as an online learning project at the University of Hagen (Germany) with a few courses and a small number of users. Today the VU has grown into a large learning platform with a student community of more than 10,000 and more than 200 learning events online. This paper describes some of the experiences…

Beginning in the 1997-98 school year, WestEd staff, with the support of the Pacific Resources for Education and Learning (PREL), worked intensively with a group of five Chamorro teachers from Rota Elementary School (Hawaii) to develop culturally responsive, standards-based science units. The larger goal was to develop Web-based case examples of…

This paper deals with techniques for reducing the amount of work that needs to be redone each semester when one prepares an existing course Web site for a new class. The key concept is algorithmic generation of common page elements while still allowing full control over page content via WYSIWYG tools like Microsoft FrontPage and Macromedia…

Influenced by constructivist philosophy and advances in technology, there is increasing interest in authentic activities as a basis for learning in both face-to-face and Web-based courses. Whereas traditionally, activities have primarily served as vehicles for practice of skills or processes, a more radical approach is to build a whole course of…

E-learning leads to changes in the way courses are conceived. Diffused through the Web, course content cannot be the pure transcription of a "classical" course. The students need to personalize it and to access it when they need it (just-in-time). The MEMORAe project aims at applying knowledge management techniques to improve the…