#14214
How do we support successful, lifelong learners and performers and help them competently respond to rapidly changing opportunities in the 21st century. The answer to this question lies in how well we understand audiences differentiated by key learning differences and consider how these differentiations influence winning learning and performance. Historically, cognitive-rich explanations have tended to underplay the dominant impact of affective and conative factors on thinking and learning. Recently, these dimensions have gained considerable importance as contemporary multidisciplinary research has begun to demonstrate how intentions and emotions can influence, guide, and, at times, override our thinking and other cognitive processes. More importantly, research suggests that intentions and emotions are a dominant, powerful influence on learner success.
Martinez, Margaret. Journal of Computer Documentation (2000). Articles>Documentation>Instructional Design>Education
#30151
The evolving roles of technical communicators threaten the comfortable assumptions of many educators who see themselves as primarily writing teachers. These threats can become opportunities if we perceive ourselves as participants in the evolving paradigms. This new perception requires significant interaction with colleagues. As we start to see ourselves as collaborators at work, in education, across disciplines and boundaries, we can make larger contributions and can enjoy greater professional recognition. Technical communicators can be partners with engineering faculty in developing innovative curricula; can achieve educational objectives by becoming partners with industry and practitioners; and can lead the shift in education through instructional technology.
Davis, Matjorie T., Helen M. Grady and David C. Leonard. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Engineering
#18583
It's interesting to watch people using a Web site or online course you've built. When they click on the wrong button or mutter about not being able to find something, your instinct is to jump in to show them what to do. Or you may silently ridicule them for not understanding the obvious. But if we blame the user, we miss the point entirely. Navigating an online course should be easy. If the user is making lots of mistakes, it's probably the designer — not the user — who's dense. That's why it's so important to focus on usability when you're building an online course.
Shank, Patti. TrainingMag.com (2002). Articles>User Centered Design>Instructional Design
#18478
Learner Access in the Virtual Classroom: The Ethics of Assessing Online Learning 
Web-based instruction is often valued because of the way hypertext and dynamic visual media may enhance course content. The advantages of virtual space are framed in terms of 'access' - access to broader dimensions of ideas, access to academic and non-academic databases and information, access to diverse learning communities.
LaFond, Larry. Kairos (2003). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Online
#30692
Lessons Learned From Instructional Design Theory: an Application in Management Education 
Given that many doctoral programs do not provide extensive training on how to present course information in the classroom, the current paper looks to educational psychology theory and research for guidance. Richard Mayer and others' copious empirical work on effective and ineffective instructional design, along with relevant research findings in cognitive science, are summarized and adapted to the management education context. The goal of this article is to enhance instructors' ability to effectively relay course material and to offer specific advice for how instructors can implement prior research findings.
Burke, Lisa A. Business Communication Quarterly (2007). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Multimedia
#21888
Students with disabilities are increasingly placed in inclusive classrooms where they learn alongside their peers. This poses a challenge to teachers and students because instructional materials may not be available in a form that is accessible to the disabled student. Inaccessible materials stigmatize students with disabilities by preventing them from using the same materials as their peers and can limit their educational opportunities. As technology becomes more prevalent in classrooms, students with disabilities face even more challenges in keeping pace with their classmates.
Freed, Geoff, Madeleine Rothberg and Tom Wlodkowski. WGBH (2003). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Online
#19962
Making the Grade, or How to Upgrade an Online Class 
Because online technical communication classes, as well as classes with several online components, are no longer a novelty, teachers must plan coursework and technology use to better meet students’ needs. To improve my online teaching methods and plan future courses, I follow these guidelines: 1. Prepare students to use e-mail efficiently; 2. Prepare students to use the class chat room for meetings, office hours, and required discussions; 3. Maintain a flexible assignment schedule while enforcing the final deadline; 4. Help students gain access to computers; 5. Develop pleasant working relationships with technical support personnel; and 6. Develop course information for students with different learning styles.
Porter, Lynnette R. STC Proceedings (2001). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Online
#26574
Learning no longer has to depend solely on text resources when learners have access to multimedia resources and developing technologies. The lecture is now encapsulated and available for replay and, like a novel, provides the user with direction not just destination. This paper highlights how technology adds value to the academic learning experience/environment for business communication with a focus upon televised courses, streaming videos, instant messaging and Web-based resources. Implications for the learning experience are: (1) oral and written language use become more dynamic; (2) learner outcomes are audience- and message-centered; and, (3) content instruction is analytical.
Fortune, Mary F. and John J. Staczek. Association for Business Communication (2004). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Multimedia
#26412
Mixed Nuts: Atypical Classroom Techniques for Computer Science Courses
Unlike lecturing and giving homework, these unorthodox techniques can also keep students attentive and target preferred learning styles. This article presents some experimental and anecdotal evidence to support the theory that the use of these techniques improves students' learning in an introductory Computer Science (CS) class.
Stamm, Sid. ACM Crossroads (2004). Articles>Education>Instructional Design
#30524
Modified Information Theory: A Tool for Analyzing Classroom Communication
Information theory began as a mathematical study of the process of communication. Originally associated with telecommunications, information theory proposes that information is the number of messages required to completely reduce the uncertainty of the situation. To apply this postulate to telecommunications, Shannon and Weaver developed a model which describes the communication system as a source formulating a message consisting of signals to be transmitted over a channel (where they are distorted by noise) to a receiver.
Miller, Jefferson D. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Education>Instructional Design
#24356
Moving from Knowledge-Based to Performance-Centered Learning
Combining training and documentation departments was the first step in one organization's move to true support for its clients' performance. This paper explores some of the success factors of that move and examines briefly two projects that exemplify how successful performance-centered learning support can be developed.
Hillegas, Julian and Alice Preston. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>Education>Instructional Design
#13897
Moving Instruction to the Web: Writing as Multi-Tasking
This study evaluates the effectiveness of presenting Web-based assignments within the technical communication service course. Current research on using the World Wide Web (Web) and Internet as a teaching resource investigates online writing courses, Distance Education (DE), and hypertext authoring. The literature indicates good reasons for moving instruction to the Web, but there is little description of why this migration is needed in terms of the kinds of learning achieved through Web-based writing, nor is there much specific discussion of what type of useful instructional space can be built with the Web. This study is intended to provide support for centering more instruction within the environment of the Web. This article describes a study using a Web site designed for technical communication instruction. It defines the types of learning students experienced when using the site and presents samples of student work representing a wide range of skill development, both traditional and digital, that support moving instruction to the Web in immediately useful ways.
Kramer, Robert and Stephen A. Bernhardt. Technical Communication Quarterly (1999). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Online
#29097
Observations on Entrepreneurship, Instructional Texts, and Personal Interaction
This article explores the complexity in Rohan's observation that "although texts in progress create community, this function hasn't value; in the world of business works in progress must be free" [1, p. 130]. To do so, the article describes the history of the development of the paper sewing pattern, discusses the role personal communications with consumers played as the genre evolved, and offers observations on the kinds of instruction provided by sewing machine and pattern companies. The extent to which gender and authority are connected in communications between consumers and corporate authors is explored. The article concludes by observing that once a genre is sufficiently established to become a standard, two changes occur: industries adopt authority for only certain types of necessary information, and women's authorship becomes anonymous, corporate, and personal exchanges with consumers are curtailed to save the expense.
Durack, Katherine T. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2003). Articles>Collaboration>Instructional Design>Gender
#19108
One Perspective: Blurring the Distinction Between Writer and Trainer
In a recent round of discussion on an American Society for Training and Development chat list, corporate trainers discussed the diverse skills they needed to do their jobs well. Requests for assistance and advice evidenced the trainers’ concerns about their writing skill levels. In my own position as a corporate trainer I found myself training in classrooms three days a week and writing the other two. Handling new projects meant not only training the participants but also developing the materials that would be used. At the same time, existing materials needed updates or corrections to remain current with policies, procedures, and technology. The reliability of such information professionally affected the training department to a large degree. Consequently, writing and updating training-related documentation became the primary responsibility of the training department. Our role as trainers had expanded to include information management.
Van Dyne, Jenna. CPTSC Proceedings (2000). Articles>Writing>Instructional Design
#10319
Companies can improve customer satisfaction while reducing training time and product support costs by integrating online documentation with product training. Online documentation can be designed to be not only the reference at the point of use but also the primary instructional medium used during training. This use of the online documentation during training increases user acceptance of it and helps develop the required skills for its use. This expanded role for online documentation provides new opportunities for technical communicators to add value to their roles within their companies. This article defines reference-based instruction and outlines its benefits. It describes how reference-based instruction can be incorporated into an instructional system design (ISD) and provides specific examples of learning objectives and student exercises. It lists guidelines for how to structure usability tests for Help systems, and finally, it advises how technical communicators can use reference-based instruction to ex
Hughes, Michael A. Technical Communication Online (1997). Articles>Documentation>Instructional Design>Education
#23298
Online Education Design: A Select Bibliography
A bibliography of writings about online education.
Mantex (2002). Resources>Bibliographies>Instructional Design>Online
#20959
Overview of a Distributed-Hard-Drive-Based Educational Plan
Although empirical research indicates that media selection may not impact learning a great deal, results are inconsistent and sometimes contradictory. We have done recent studies indicating that inconsistent results may be caused by the extent to which educational developers are modifying the genres within which they typically teach – e.g., converting lectures to essays and converting demonstrations to posted instruction sets. Typically, the instructional developers who significantly modify their educational genres do so because digital media (usually designed for dissemination on the Internet, CD-ROM, or DVD) preclude the large format heuristics we accept as necessary in our traditional classes. New technologies, available this year, seem to provide a solution for this problem. In recent studies, we have successfully placed traditional educational genres on very large, external and/or removable hard drives which we combine with Internet technology to overcome the bandwidth problems we faced in the past. Because this involves a unique, step-by-step process of examining educational materials, re-combining them into external drive technlologies, and then developing new distribution methods, we call the process 'Distributed Hard Drive Protocol.' This paper describes six new, protocols we have developed for educators, trainers, and archivers.
Hailey, David E. and Christine E. Hailey. Utah State University (2000). Articles>Multimedia>Instructional Design>Education
#10135
Paradigms Restrained: Implications of New and Emerging Technologies for Learning and Cognition
Mary B. Shoffner, Marshall Jones, and Stephen W. Harmon survey a broad range of educational technologies, including those mechanical and those philosophical, and conclude that it is the underlying pedagogical philosophy, and not the delivery mechanism, that most affects what students learn.
Shoffner, Mary B., Marshall Jones and Stephen W. Harmon. Journal of Electronic Publishing (2001). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Online
#26917
Problems with Training (And What to do About It)
Through years of suffering through the American education system, I was implicitly taught that learning, and therefore training, required large numbers of people sitting in neat little rows, listening to dispassionate people ramble away on mediocre and predictably boring lessons.
Berkun, Scott. ScottBerkun.com (2006). Articles>Education>Instructional Design
#18905
Putting A College Course Online: A Development Log
The high dropout rate for many online college courses is due in part to a failure to adapt teaching materials and methods to the medium and to user needs. The author joined an intensive instructional design project and developed an online college course using WebCT with courseware development software. Constructivist pedagogy and today’s instructional technology are a good match, giving online instructors the conceptual and practical tools they need to construct a rich learning environment. The emphasis on user analysis and meeting users at the point of need inherent in technical communication is also vital to the success of online learning.
Pringle, Mary Margaret. STC Proceedings (2002). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Online
#23747
Rapid Instructional Design: Does it Really Work? The Pros and Cons
A leading manufacturer of medical diagnostics products contracted with the consulting group, iDesign & Delivery to develop an e-Learning program for laboratory specialists. The medical diagnostic company is moving to e-Learning programs as a way to reduce expenses associated with classroom training such as development costs, travel expenses, and instructor-led training costs. The e-Learning site needed to provide all of the required training for the laboratory specialists. This training was previously delivered as instructor-led, classroom training, or ad hoc mentor-guided training. Additionally, the requirement of the e-Learning site to be a portal to other sources of knowledge was also part of the client’s vision. A rapid instructional design process was employed by the iDesign development team to meet the aggressive schedule outlined by the client during the proposal phase.
Sutton, Kristen. STC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Education>Instructional Design
#31266
The idea of rapid prototyping as it applies to instructional design, is to develop learning experiences in a continual design-evaluation cycle that continues throughout the life of the project. This cycle, known as the spiral cycle or layered approach, is considered to be iterative, meaning that products are continually improved as they cycle continues.
InstructionalDesign.org. Articles>Usability>Instructional Design>Methods
#30160
A qualitative study using reading protocols suggests that when readers of informative documents understand conveyed information satisfactorily, they make direct confirmations and positive comprehension evaluations. When readers are uncertain about the accuracy of their understanding, they guess, make assumptions, or render the text's language into their own words. When readers' understanding is impaired, they ask for more clearly established links or relationships in the text, or they pinpoint some ambiguity or lack of resolution. When readers' understanding is unsatisfactory but not impaired, they request additional information. In addition, readers make evaluative suggestions that introduce, focus, emphasize, or reiterate their other comprehension-related responses. The response patterns isolated in this qualitative study indicate the need for specific quantitative research and suggest some directions for developing reader-based heuristics for informative writing.
Roberts, David D. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (1989). Articles>TC>Instructional Design
#14556
Recognizing Diversity: Teaching Professional Writing Courses from a Social Perspective
Teaching professional writing courses from a social perspective enables instructors to recognize students’ own diversity and encourage students to consider cultural and gender diversity in designing effective communications Several teaching strategies will and instructors in their curriculum integration projects Revising courses to focus on diversity presents challenges which the instructor can meet by monitoring students’ response to the material and adapting teaching strategies as needed.
Scheffler, Judith A. STC Proceedings (1995). Presentations>Education>Instructional Design
#20079
Recreating the Technical-Writing Classroom on the World Wide Web
Many of the limitations inherent in technical-writing instruction on the World Wide Web can be overcome by intelligently designed web sites. Web-based instruction here refers to courses, in either the corporate or academic setting, where most ofthe instructional materials are supplied over the WorId Wide Web and where students and instructors communicate and exchange writing projects through e-mail. Acknowledging that few instructors have the expertise or technical support to create such web facilities, this paper makes available annotated Per1 source code for instructors ’ use or customization.
McMurrey, David A. STC Proceedings (1997). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Online
