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Archive for the ‘Instructional Design’ Category

Redesigning Design: Field Testing a Revised Design Rubric Based of iNACOL Quality Course Standards

Designers have a limited selection of K-12 online course creation standards to choose from that are not blocked behind proprietary or pay walls. For numerous institutions and states, the use of the iNACOL National Standards for Quality Online Courses is becoming a widely used resource. This article presents the final phase in a three-part study to test […]

A Far Cry from School History: Massive Online Open Courses as a Generative Source for Historical Research

Current research into Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs) has neglected the potential of using learner comments for discipline-specific analysis. This article explores how MOOCs, within the historical discipline, can be used to generate, investigate, and document personal narratives, and argues that they serve as a rich platform for historical resource generation. Through these narratives, this […]

Understanding Cognitive Engagement in Online Discussion: Use of a Scaffolded, Audio-based Argumentation Activity

The purpose of this paper is to explore how adult learners engage in asynchronous online discussion through the implementation of an audio-based argumentation activity. The study designed scaffolded audio-based argumentation activities to promote students’ cognitive engagement. The research was conducted in an online graduate course at a liberal arts university. Primary data sources were learners’ […]

Playing and Learning: An iPad Game Development & Implementation Case Study

There is a great deal of enthusiasm for the use of games in formal educational contexts; however, there is a notable and problematic lack of studies that make use of replicable study designs to empirically link games to learning (Young, et al., 2012). This paper documents the iterative design and development of an educationally focused […]

Student perspectives: redesigning a research assignment handout through the academic literacies model

This study explores student responses to a research assignment handout that was redesigned in light of the recommendations from a 2010 Project Information Literacy report. Framed through Lea and Street’s Academic Literacies model, which positions information literacy as a social and situated practice rather than as a generic skill set or a process of socialisation, […]

Instructor perceptions of student information literacy: comparing international IL models to reality

This study assesses the information literacy (IL) perceptions of instructors at a technical college in the Middle East, the College of the North Atlantic – Qatar. Students at this college are instructed in four areas of study – engineering technology, information technology, business studies and health sciences – which takes place exclusively in English and […]

Implementing Moodle for e-learning for a successful knowledge management strategy

A knowledge management strategy was implemented in a call centre organization. Part of this strategy included an e-learning tool ‘Moodle’ to support employee training and knowledge management (KM) initiatives. The research looked at the ways in which the e-learning tool could be used to help successfully implement the knowledge management strategy – specifically, to improve […]

From Presences to Linked Influences Within Communities of Inquiry

Much research has identified and confirmed the core elements of the well-known Community of Inquiry Framework (CoIF): Social, Cognitive and Teaching Presence (Garrison, 2011). The overlap of these Presences, their definitions and roles, and their subsequent impact on the educational experience, has received less attention. This article is prompted by the acceptance of that omission (Garrison, […]

The Effects of a Pedagogical Agent’s Smiling Expression on the Learner’s Emotions and Motivation in a Virtual Learning Environment

The present study aimed to test the hypothesis that a smiling expression on the face of a talking pedagogical agent could positively affect a learner’s emotions, motivation, and learning outcomes in a virtual learning environment. Contrary to the hypothesis, results from Experiment 1 demonstrated that the pedagogical agent’s smile induced negative emotional and motivational responses […]

Positioning Identity in Computer-mediated Discourse among ESOL Learners

The present study explores a linguistic mechanism in which the identity of English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) learners can be influenced online. Analyzing the discourse of ESOL chat room participants and how they uptake positioning statements through online conversations, we present two vignettes that illustrate the kind of discourse in which participants position […]