Although the use of hypertext systems for learning complex knowledge has been attracting recent attention, there have been few discussions in the hypertext literature on issues related to the cognitive prerequisites for learning conceptually demanding material. A study was conducted to investigate a theory-based hypertext learning environment that provided instruction in a complex and ill-structured domain. The experimental treatment incorporated several features derived from recent cognitive learning theory, in particular a hypertext procedure that presented the instructional material in multiple contexts to highlight different facets of the knowledge. The main results of the study revealed that although the control treatment led to higher performance on the measures of memory for factual knowledge, the more hypertext-like treatment promoted superior knowledge transfer. Overall, these

include knowledge management, IT enabled organizational forms such as virtual teams and communities,

The instructional technology community is in the midst of a philosophical shift from a behaviorist to a constructivist framework, a move that may begin to address the growing rift between formal school learning and real-life learning. One theory of learning that has the capacity to promote authentic learning is that of situated learning. The purpose of this three part study was firstly, to identify critical characteristics of a situated learning environment from the extensive literature base on the subject; secondly, to operationalise the critical characteristics of a situated learning environment by designing a multimedia program which incorporated the identified characteristics; and thirdly, to investigate students ’ perceptions of their experiences using an multimedia package based on a situated learning framework. The learning environment comprised a multimedia program for preservice teachers on assessment in mathematics, together with recommended implementation conditions in the classroom. Eight students were observed and interviewed to explore their perceptions of the situated learning environment. Findings suggest that the use of the situated learning framework appeared to provide effective instructional design guidelines for the design of an environment for the acquisition of advanced knowledge.

Research in the area of educational technology has often been critiqued for a lack of theoretical grounding. In this article we propose a conceptual framework for educational technology by building on Shulman’s formulation of ‘‘pedagogical content knowledge’’ and extend it to the phenomenon of teachers integrating technology into their pedagogy. This framework is the result of 5 years of work on a program of research focused on teacher professional development and faculty development in higher education. It attempts to capture some of the essential qualities of teacher knowledge required for technology integration in teaching, while addressing the complex, multifaceted, and situated nature of this knowledge. We argue, briefly, that thoughtful pedagogical uses of technology require the development of a complex, situated form of knowledge that we call Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPCK). In doing so, we posit the complex roles of, and interplay among, three main components of learning environments: content, pedagogy, and technology. We argue that this model has much to offer to discussions of technology integration at multiple levels: theoretical, pedagogical, and methodological. In this article, we describe the theory behind our framework, provide examples of our teaching approach based upon the framework, and illustrate the methodological contributions that have resulted from this work.

Instructional designers are expected to be familiar with the epistemological underpinnings of several theories and their consequences on the process of instruction. Constructivism is the dominant theory of the last decade and supports construction of knowledge by the individual. This paper discusses the basic principles underlying constructivism, particularly active, collaborative and authentic learning. Application of these principles on the process- analysis, development, evaluation- of instructional design poses certain challenges with regards to issues such as pre-specification of knowledge, authentic evaluation and learner control. Most of the problems are attributed to the fact that constructivism is a learning theory and not an instructional-design theory. Therefore, instructional designers must attempt to translate constructivism into instructional design through a more pragmatic approach that focuses on the principles of moderate- rather than extreme- constructivism and makes use of emergent technology tools. This shift could facilitate the development of more situated, experiential, meaningful and cost-effective learning environments.

This paper describes the design and development of an Adaptive Educational System (AES) that includes accommodations for cognitive styles in order to improve student interactions and learning outcomes. Although, cognitive styles are one of the several important factors to be considered from designers and instructors of hypermedia-based courseware, little research has been done regarding the adaptation of hypermedia system to students' cognitive styles. Our research is an attempt to examine some of the critical variables, which may be important in the design of an adaptive hypermedia system based on student's cognitive style.

Rich environments for active learning, or REALs, are comprehensive instructional systems that evolve from and are consistent with constructivist philosophies and theories. To embody a constructivist view of learning, REALs: . promote study and investigation within authentic contexts; . encourage the growth of student responsibility, initiative, decision making, and intentional learning; cultivate collaboration among students and teachers; . utilize dynamic, interdisciplinary, generative learning activities that promote higher-order thinking processes to help students develop rich and complex knowledge structures; and, . assess student progress in content and learning-to-learn within authentic contexts using realistic tasks and performances. REALs provide learning activities that engage students in a continuous collaborative process of building and reshaping understanding as a natural consequence of their experiences and interactions within learning environments that authentically refle...

Abstract: The most important concept that plays a central role in the decision making process of the negotiation is a collaborative learning goal. At the process of negotiation, each agent considers the personal benefit for its own learner while it considers the social benefit for overall group. To make a negotiation reach an agreement, the compromises

Successful elementary and secondary educational reform requires analogous reform in teacher education; however, the standard undergraduate setting in schools of education poses considerable obstacles. In this paper, we describe the STEP environment for distributed problem-based learning (www.eSTEPweb.org), which represents one of many efforts to create a viable model for teacher education reform. Here, we describe our approach to creating a sociotechnical infrastructure designed to help foster a knowledge-building community among preservice teachers, practicing teachers, and instructional staff. We highlight the online environment that supports student and staff coursework in the learning sciences component of a secondary teacher education curriculum.

Case-based reasoning, inspired by people, was developed as a model for creating intelligent systems – systems that could reason by reference to their previous experiences. Such systems, we said, had the potential to behave more like real experts than could traditional expert systems. Reasoning based on experience would allow them to be more flexible and less brittle than rule-based systems, and, with learning from experience built into their architectures, they would become more capable over time (Kolodner & Simpson, 1989). Many experimental automated case-based reasoners have been created (see the lists, e.g., in Kolodner, 1993) and, indeed, CBR has proven to be quite a useful technology (refs). More interesting to us, however, are the implications case-based reasoning holds as a model of cognition – implications about what it means to be a learner and implications about learning and education. (Kolodner, 1993). While most traditional theories of cognition emphasize how generalpurpose abstract operators are formed and applied, case-based reasoning makes concrete cases, representing experience, primary. CBR suggests that we think in terms of cases —