The age of instructional design - a focus on content

The main topic of the research during this period, starting from the ‘50s
was related to what content should be taught by using technology and how it
should be organized.The performance criterion was related to teacher performance. In other words, an educational technology is effective if  it can be used to teach the
same contents with the same learning outcomes as teachers do. 
Robert Gagné had an important contribution, by this time to the
instructional design research, stating that knowledge acquisition could be
facilitated by hierarchical sequencing of instruction, from subordinated knowledge
to more complex abilities (Gagné, 1962; White & Gagné, 1978). The main idea of
this theory was that former learning of some prerequisite knowledge facilitates
later acquisition of higher-order skills, but this doesn’t happen when the
prerequisites are learned out of the learning sequences (Gagné, 1962; White &
Gagné, 1978). Also, Gagné (1968) proposed a descriptive theory of the instructive
strategy that includes nine events, which, in his opinion, are critical for an efficient
instruction. The sequence of events are: (1) gaining attention, (2) informing the
learner about the objective, (3) stimulating recall of prerequisite learning, (4)
presenting the stimulus material, (5) providing learning guidance, (6) eliciting the
performance, (7) providing feedback about performance correctness, 8) assessing
performance, (9) enhancing retention and transfer
.
Capitalizing on these ideas, educational technologies have tried to create
tools aiming to maximize learning outcomes of the students. Gagné and Briggs
(1979) provided prescriptions for each of these instructional events, based on the
type of learning - intellectual abilities, cognitive strategy, verbal information,
attitudes, motor abilities (according to the descriptive theory of knowledge,
elaborated by Gagné) - combining them in a matrix with five different models of
instruction. The work of the two authors had at least two major consequences for
the instructional designers (Reigeluth & Curtis, 1987):
  
TO BE CONTINUE .......

Source : Cogniţie, Creier, Comportament / Cognition, Brain, Behavior
Romanian Association for Cognitive Science. 
Volume XI, No. 1 (March), 115 - 129

 

Research trend in Modern world for the field of eduction.

THE EVOLUTION OF RESEARCH IN EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY 

The field of educational technology found its origins in the discovery made
by researchers and practitioners of the fact that the instruction can be planned,
projected, evaluated and revised before being applied on students. In other words it
can be treated as an object on which a set of procedures i.e. technologies) can be
applied. 
Educational technology is, according to the definition of the Association
for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT), “...the theory and
practice of design, development, utilization, management and evaluation of
processes and resources for learning” (Seels & Richey, 1994, p. 231). Another
definition is the one offered by Reisser (1987), who states that educational
technology is the systematic way of designing, utilization and evaluation of the
teaching/learning process, in terms of specific objectives, based on research in
human learning and communication fields and on combining  human and technical
resources.
The research made in the educational technology field, according to Winn
(2002) has moved through four  stages or “ages”, each being built on the previous
one and each of them being characterized by a specific focus, specific theoretical
assumptions and practical implications.
In what follows, we will review the „ages” of educational technology
research, discussing the key theoretical issues, the research directions and the
weakness associated with each of these stages. 

1. The age of instructional design - a focus on content 
2. The age of the message design - a focus on format
3. The age of simulation - a focus on interactions
 
To be continue ........




Sources : www.cognitrom.ro

Vital role of theory in research work

Increasingly philosophers and scientists have affirmed that all knowledge is theory-laden and that methods are theory-driven. These assertions raise important questions related to the role of theory in qualitative research. There are scholars who propose that qualitative research can enhance understanding and expand theoretical knowledge from a disciplinary perspective. And there are others who contend that qualitative inquiry is purely inductive and that its validity can therefore be judged by the extent to which preconceived theory is absent from it. The purpose of this article is to examine three qualitative methods, grounded theory, ethnography, and phenomenology, and their use in nursing in order to explicate the role of theory in knowledge development. The authors propose that, by nature, inquiry, discovery, and theoretical interpretation coexist simultaneously and must be recognized as such if the theory-research linkage is to advance nursing science through qualitative research.

THE ROLE AND USE OF CREATIVE PRACTICE IN RESEARCH

A common problem in art and design is that creative practice is often presented as research under the label of practice-based or practice-led research. This problem arises on the one hand from the wish of practitioners to use their creative practice in research, and on the other from a persistent uncertainty about the role of creative practice in relation to the requirement for making a contribution to knowledge within research. In this paper, we discuss existing terminology and relate it to the different role(s) practice can take within research with regard to the contribution of knowledge. To this end, we analyse and categorise existing terminology concerning different roles of practice. We then examine how practice can be used in research in valid and rigorous ways. We thus aim to provide an important basis for the further development of the debate on research in art and design.

Keywords :

Research methodology, practice-based research, knowledge contribution

METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH

Folow the above link to know about methodology

Convention use in research paper to make it effective.

Some conventions appear periodically throughout the text to provide insight into important aspects.These conventions with their meanings are:

• Highlights the interesting points.

• Indicates some typical queries, which might arise in the mind of readers.

• Offer a glance at the key points of the topic where the text is lengthy, or when a comparative study is to carried out.

• Some different sets of solved problems suppose a name "explore more".

• Notabilia should be used.

Note : Notabilia is an old English word which means "things worthy of notice". When we start writing the research paper we thought of putting some additional and important information under the head of 'info box". However it was creditable on the part of our editor to come up with a word that was not only catchy but also went along completely and exactly with the contents. We overwhelmingly accept this beautiful change. 

A Better Measure of Skills Gaps

Decision makers are measuring skills when managing change and capturing value in the

process. They are recognizing the value of metrics for fueling improvement. What gets measured gets managed, and what gets managed gets better. Skills inventory management strategies are giving managers and employees the ability to verify the skills needed to ensure success, pinpoint skills gaps before they compromise the initiative, and improve skills to meet changing needs. Online Measurement System Pinpoints Skills Gaps That Could Affect an Initiative While many new initiatives make strategic sense at the executive level, companies have struggled to find ways to ensure that those initiatives survive the challenges of execution. Namely, they have sought effective tools for gauging skills requirements and for measuring and comparing the skills of current employees against those requirements.

A skills inventory management system, backed by objective skills metrics, gives decision makers the data they need. How does it work? The process is simple. A skills inventory begins with a skills measurement system that enables employees to access online skills assessments through the com-pany intranet. When a company implements a new technology, for example, managers may have their employees take a test for skills related to that technology. The online system delivers scores immediately, with results that show whether the company has the skills for that new initiative, or whether there is a skills gap that needs to be addressed before the initiative is launched.

what is research gaps ?

Research gaps
If you are working on original research, you will want to identify a need for your research somewhere close to the beginning of your paper. Why? Because you will want to show the reader that you are not duplicating existing research.In other words: this paper is worth reading! This is best done by surveying the current research and then identifying a gap that you are going to fill.  

A common sequence for introductions in an academic journal article is- 

1. Establish the field: Identify the broad problem and state its importance.
2. Summarize previous research: State what is significant in what has already been written.
3. Create a research space: Describe the gap you propose to fill in the existing research literature. This then creates an opportunity for you to make a contribution to the research in the area.
4. Introduce your research project: Establish your research thesis or questions.
(The above headings derive from a scheme proposed by Swales, 1981, quoted in Bruce, 1995).

EXAMPLE :
In the following example notice how the writer pays a complement to existing work ('There have been a number of valuable studies of self-employment...') and then identifies the gap ('However, none of these studies provides...')
Research Gap identified: A study of the changes over the last decade.

There have been a number of valuable studies of self-employment using cross-section data (Rees and Shah, 1986; Blanch flower and Oswald, 1993; Taylor, 1996), all of which present evidence on a number of employment and personal characteristics on the sector. However, none of these studies provides a picture of the changes over the last decade or forecasts the trends in self-employment as the recession of 1990 took hold.

EXAMPLE
Research Gap identified: The effects of pit closure on women's lives.

While there has been some research on the general impact of female unemployment (Coyle,1984; Popay,1985), little has been written about the effects of pit closure on women's lives.

.

Writing a dissertation