In a globally interdependent world, teachers are charged with preparing learners for a complex, interactive world. This educational challenge requires teachers to develop learners with critical, creative and conceptual minds, while still teaching the required content. Therefore developing the individual learner's ability to construct personalised meaning for new concepts is a prerequisite for the classroom. So is the development of the learner's ability to solve increasingly complex problems in the learning area as well as in daily life. This revivefies the question of how to plan, structure and assess in order to accommodate these requirements while enhancing learner abilities and achiement. / Teacher Education / D.Ed. (Didactics)

This study investigates the dynamics of theory and practice in the design of instructional systems, learning events and learning environments, with a view to synthesizing an integrated metamodel as a framework to facilitate effective learning in systems which use computer technology as a tutor, tool, or environment. This framework can be used as a design aid by instructional designers and instructor-designers, or as a tool to examine existing learning events from the viewpoint of learning and instructional-design theory. The research contributes to inquiry into learning theory by an in-depth study of the elements of the framework itself, investigating how they function in different contexts and contents. Following an extensive literature survey, the researcher synthesizes a concise integrated framework of learning theories and instructional design practice from the cognitive family. This framework, the Hexa-C Metamodel (HCMm), is generated by a process of criterion-based textual filtration through effectiveness criteria, and encompasses the theoretical concepts of constructivism, cognitive learning and knowledge/skills components as well as the practical characteristics of creativity, customization and collaborative learning. Using mainly qualitative ethnographic methods within the contexts of action research and development research, case studies are undertaken, applying the elements of the HCMm as an inquiry toolset to investigate three diverse learning events to determine what they reveal about the practice of effective and motivational learning. The learning events - a computer-based practice environment, an Internet-based course, and a fieldwork project - were selected due to the researcher's close involvement with each intervention. Information from the evaluations of the learning events is then used to further examine in-depth the theories and characteristics which comprise the tool, as well as their interrelationships and ways of implementing them in domains that differ in context and content - distinguishing particularly between well-structured and ill-structured domains. / Dissertation (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2004. / Curriculum Studies / PhD / Unrestricted

Consisting of both theoretical and empirical inquires, this study examines the primary functions of narrative and the relationship between narrative and mental imagery. The study proposes a new framework to interpret semiotic resources. Combining this with the linguistic functional theory of Halliday (1978), a functional method to empirically investigate semiotic representations was also developed. In the empirical inquiry, the study developed a latent construct method to empirically test the effects of narrative in a real learning situation. This study is the first to investigate the functional relationship between narrative and mental imagery, and among the first to suggest a theory and empirically investigate representations of a multimodal nature. The study is also among the first to use latent constructs to investigate the learning experience in a real educational setting. Data were collected from 190 library professionals who enrolled in three sections (two in narrative and one in plain text) of an online course administered through Vista 4.0 and who completed the course and responded to several instruments. Essay data (n = 82 x 2) were analyzed using content analysis based on the narrative analysis framework developed. Quantitative data analysis methods include univariate data analysis, factor analysis, and structural equation modeling that tests the proposed model and verifies the relationships between the latent variables. Overall, the findings support the hypotheses about the functional effects of narrative identified, and narrative is found to provide a favorable and positive learning context which is tested by the proposed model of learning experience measured by several latent constructs (X2 = 31.67, df = 47, p = .9577, RMSEA = .00, SRMR = .047, NNFI = 1.05, CFI = 1.00, and GFI = .94). The results indicate that participants who enrolled in the narrative sections of the course gained higher creative scores and showed better results in performance-based and attribution-based experiences. The model testing results indicate that even though more time spent during learning led to better outcome and performance in both groups, more time spent means more satisfaction for the individuals in the narrative group, but led to less satisfaction for the individuals in the non-narrative group.

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The main goal of this project is to develop a curriculum for hitting by designing an instructional web site and evaluation unit for high school baseball players at Canyon Springs High School.

The purpose of this project is to create and implement a web page design curriculum for the secondary level.

The purpose of the project was to develop a web-based instructional design tool. The tool provides guidelines, templates, and checklists to simplify the overall process, and give the designer a path to follow to help manage the instructional design project. It is based on the generalized model of Instructional Systems Design (ISD), but is applicable to the design of instructional materials for delivery by an instructor, by Computer-based Training (CBT), or a combination of instructor-led and technology-based delivery.

The purpose of this project is to provide students and teachers with a disk of tools to aide in the development of Web pages either in the classroom or through online (distance education) learning. Many of the tools supplied on this disk have been field tested in a high school Web design class. When students are allowed to be creative and are able to fuse interesting visual displays the results can be significant in increasing cognitive and multiple intelligences skills.

Most hospitality institutions have increasingly moved classes online but are concerned about migrating classes and instructional content online. The concern is most Web-based models are designed to deliver the acquisition of knowledge but lack the ability to transform that knowledge into applied career skills for practical use in the industry. The purpose of this study was to test a new Web-based instructional model. The model supported delivering both the acquisition and application of knowledge. Educators, researchers, and practitioners can utilize the new model to enhance the application of career skills and enhance organizational objectives by providing just-in-time training. The new Web-based instructional model can be delivered through multiple platforms including computers, electronic devices, wireless devices and mobile devices. The application of knowledge was delivered through experiential role-play exercises delivered live to the comparison group and virtual, inside Second Life, to the treatment group. An Analysis of Co-Variance (ANCOVA) revealed a significant difference between groups with higher application scores for the students who received the role-play live compared to virtual. In addition, an analysis was conducted to explore factors to consider when examining the cost effectiveness of Web-based instructional content. Factors determined to be important were developmental costs, delivery costs, and reusability of the Web-based instruction.

A sample of corporate instructional designers and professors of instructional design completed the "Corporate Instructional Design Scale." The data yielded information on the extent of agreement that descriptive statements identified conventionally and systematically designed instruction. Descriptive and asymmetric log linear (statistical) analyses were conducted. In the asymmetric log linear analyses, the extent of agreement was used as the dependent variable. The three independent variables with three levels each were Program type (conventionally designed instruction, both conventionally and systematically designed instruction, and systematically designed instruction), Instructional component (instructional intents, instructional strategies, and instructional assessments), and Trainer type (professional trainers in manufacturing, professional trainers in non-manufacturing, and professors of instructional design). The asymmetric log linear analysis using 16 models was a 3x3x3x3 factorial design. The extent of agreement on the indicators of conventional instruction was lower than the extent of agreement on the indicators of systematic instruction. The extent of agreement for instructional assessment indicators was lower than the extent of agreement for instructional intents and strategies. There were only minor differences between the extent of agreement on indicators classified as intents and indicators classified as strategies. the extent of agreement on the indicators which differentiated conventionally and systematically designed instruction was higher for the professors of instructional design than for the trainers in manufacturing and non-manufacturing companies. Study results should be carefully considered by professors of instructional design when designing their instructional design courses. The high extent of agreement by professors of instructional design on items that distinguished conventional instruction and systematic instruction suggest that academia is fairly clear about the indicators of instructional design, specially instructional intents and instructional strategies, while the practitioners of instructional design have a substantially lower extent of agreement. These results suggest at least two conclusions. First, the academic world of instructional design is not in tune with the corporate world. Academia has been promoting idealized procedures for instructional design, while practitioners have adjusted their instructional designed to corporate realities of time and cost. Second, corporate instructional designers have found academic world suggestions unrealistic. Corporate instructional designers have made modifications to their instructional designs. Their instructional designs may actually only approximate whatever type of instruction the professional trainers or corporation where they are employed may advocate.