Journal of Educational Technology Systems

Inquiry-oriented learning has been characterized and promoted from a variety of perspectives by researchers, educators and practitioners over the years [1–5]. Some have stressed the active nature of learner's involvement, associating inquiry with hands-on learning and experiential or activity-based instruction. Others have associated inquiry with a discovery approach or with the development of process skills associated with scientific methods. Yet others have emphasized promoting metacognitive knowledge and skills such as self-reflection and attitudes for inquiry. What role can technology play in facilitating these kinds of inquiry-oriented learning? We see at least a few ways in which technology in the form of interactive learning environments can enrich inquiry learning: 1) as instructive tools; 2) as constructive tools; 3) as communicative tools; and 4) as situating tools. We provide a discussion of current approaches to designing learning environments that support these roles. In particular, we describe three interactive learning environments that we have built: an instructive tool, a constructive tool, and lastly an environment which is intended to serve all the roles of instruction, construction, communication, and providing situatedness.

With some modification, the traditional system development life cycle (SDLC) can be used for developing interactive multimedia instructional (IMI) applications. The new model, referred to in this article as the instructional system development life cycle (ISDLC), can be used to help guide the multimedia instructional developer through the process of designing, developing, and maintaining highly effective IMI applications. However, before designing and developing an IMI application, several types of pre-design analyses should take place to help ensure a pedagogically effective design. These analyses include a client request analysis, a task/concept analysis, an audience analysis, an objectives analysis, a constraints analysis, and a costs/benefits analysis. The purpose of this article is to describe these various types of analyses and where they fit within the ISDLC.

This study was motivated by the need to understand how student teachers build concepts in telecommunication environments. The study aimed at determining how student teachers develop concrete concepts and defined concepts. The purpose was to develop a repertoire of what constitutes classes of lesson plans in technology-based learning environments and determine their significance to instructional design. The goal was to expose student teachers to AskEric Database. The objectives were to demonstrate the role of intellectual skills in developing conceptualizations, compare and contrast elements of a lesson plan, and define the role of telecommunication in learning. An elaborate scheme of activities was developed for student teachers to process materials in the AskEric database. These activities included students examining the various lesson plans in the content areas featuring mathematics, science, language arts, social studies, art, geography, and history. Lesson plans were characterized as concepts, and individual elements. The telecommunication was perceived as an integrated whole, and was evaluated on the criteria embedded in the student's interaction with the lesson plans as a context. Data shows that student teachers generated their own examples of how to identify concepts and characterize them as “concrete concepts.” They classified the instructional events to develop “defined concepts” and characterizations of the given materials. The individual elements of lesson plans were identified and listed in the following order of hierarchy: grade level, topic sentences, goals, objectives, activities, evaluation procedures, resources, and level on the Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. Two roles found to support the teaching and process learning were enhancement of learning, and instructional depth. “Enhancement of learning” is defined as a learner's competency to recruit cognitive strategies for the purpose of determining whether lesson plans are structurally meaningful to promote the teaching and learning among children. “Instructional depth” is defined as the capability of the technology to facilitate the dissemination of information in a sequential manner for the purpose of promoting the effective organization of information among learners. Cognitive strategies, competency, constructing a knowledge base, and growth were five factors found to initiate concept development among student teachers. These data have implication to instructional design, program improvement, and evaluation of instruction in computer-based learning environments.

In an article previously published in this Journal [1], we described a computer system designed to enhance student learning in the area of dispute resolution. Working with this system, based on the concept of Problem Structure Analysis [2], students could literally see how possible settlements were affected as assumptions about negotiation situations were varired. We believe this helps students in their understanding of how decision analysis techniques can be applied in the area of negotiation. In the present article we describe an extension of that system, designed to further enhance student understanding of the potential as well as the limits of technology in negotiation. Students participated in an experiment that demonstrated how certain types of information could be useful in a negotiation situation.

In an employment exam, students take the oral test. As for the oral test training, assuming that a trainee and the trainer as interviewer are separate by a long distance, here we discuss a distant training method of the oral test using a video camera and a TV monitor. We call it a tele-oral test training. In order that their eyes meet through the TV monitor, we propose a sophisticated hardware system using a half-mirror between a TV monitor and the trainer (and the trainee). We compare three kinds of the distant training hardware system: with a half-mirror, without a half-mirror, and telephones. As a result, the system with a half-mirror gets the highest utility. It was also obtained that the utility was about 90 percent of that in the direct face-to-face oral test method.

It is widely acknowledged that formative assessments and feedback on performance can play an important role in supporting learning. In traditional teaching and learning paradigms, students are constrained by time, place, and resources in the extent to which they may access such support. These problems can be addressed using computer based systems, and the World Wide Web has great potential as a platform for these. This article describes the implementation and use of such a system, which proved popular with students. Patterns of usage are discussed, as is the role of such systems in current and future models of higher education.

This article addresses one specific method of authentic assessment, portfolio assessment, by applying this method in two case studies assessing learning of instructional technology. Suggestions for practitioners who wish to use this method are provided at the conclusion of the article.