Instructional Design And Technology Research Articles

Bridging Silos: Collaborating to Create Authentic Learning Experiences for Future Instructional Designers

Authentic learning experiences such as internships can enhance employability and support the development of interpersonal skills. Arranging internships can be challenging for instructional design and technology (IDT) education programs, involving a need for collaboration with others across disciplinary areas to connect students with real-world instructional design needs and project ideas. This paper offers a design case of a partnership of investigators from multiple disciplines at a large, urban, public university in the southwestern United States that was leveraged to create summer internships for IDT students. Interviews were conducted with participating students six months following the program. There were noted impacts of the internship on their identities as novice IDT professionals, with certain components of the internship structure more directly shaping their IDT skills for working on transdisciplinary team projects.

Theory-Driven and Practice Oriented Perspectives on Instructional Design and Learning Experience Design

In this position paper, I argue that Learning Experience Design (LXD) is not different from Instructional Design (ID) but rather another natural evolution of ID. I make this argument through: (1) exploring the history and theory of Instructional Design and Technology (IDT) discipline, and (2) sharing a reflection on my own career as a learning designer, where I describe my journey toward becoming an experienced and expert learning designer through examples of my design work.

Exploring Dimensions of the Past: A Historiographical Analysis of Instructional Design and Technology Historical Works

Every academic field has a history valuable to understanding how a field developed (Ames, 2015). History can offer important insight into times, places, and people that have long been considered less relevant to the present or future. Through re-examination of written histories using new philosophical lenses or analytical approaches, researchers and practitioners are able to prevent stagnancy in historical research and uncover new perspectives or moments in history, specifically Instructional Design and Technology (IDT) history. This critical historiography of IDT’s written histories examines how various approaches to writing IDT history produce certain interpretations and understandings of IDT’s past. Historiography is the critical analysis of the written history of the history of a field or topic of study, such as IDT (Becker, 1938; Breisach, 2007; Cheng, 2012; Spalding & Parker, 2007). Historiography is useful in understanding how history has been written and how the act of writing and interpreting history impacts the understanding of history, the present, and the future (Cheng, 2012). This article introduces two major historical and philosophical paradigms evident in IDT history and explores associated research methods. The article then explores how historical record is thought about, shaped, and written to shed light on areas of IDT history previously unexplored and offer suggestions for future research and practice. A greater awareness of varied historical approaches and perspectives in academic inquiry can offer new ways to bolster or broaden research agendas and practitioner work in IDT.

An NLP Approach for Extracting Practical Knowledge from a CMS-Based Community of Practice in E-Learning

This study aimed to identify the tacit or practical knowledge of an online community of practice (CoP) based on a content management system (CMS) technology. The E-Learning Industry site is one of the most prominent news outlets that provides instructional design and technology (IDT) practitioners with insights into the field. Natural language processing (NLP) techniques were implemented to extract practical knowledge of publicly available and not password-protected text sources in seven news categories. First, the findings suggest emphasizing the production of online articles related to the production of e-learning materials in technology-enabled environments. Second, the results indicate the alternative uses of learning management systems to manage different aspects of the production of e-learning materials. Third, the findings show that the CoP’s main priority was to reference existing materials in the community and external resources. The results of this study have implications and provide recommendations for researchers, community leaders, and practitioners toward improving knowledge discovery mechanisms, increasing transparency and integrity in communities, and increasing practitioners’ ability to self-assess existing practical knowledge against competencies in the field. The present study takes an inventory of the organizational knowledge capital and functions embedded in a CoP using a CMS platform as a delivery mechanism for creating and sharing knowledge.

The Increasing Quest for Instructional Designers and Technologists in Higher Education and Corporate Settings

As recognition of the roles and contributions of Instructional Design and Technology (IDT) professionals has increased, so has the demand for their skills in the workplace whether in higher education institutions or business entities. However, there remains some ambiguity, especially in higher education, about who IDTs are and what they do. There are also questions about who is hiring them. This content analysis study of 250 advertised higher education and corporate IDT positions found no fewer than 9 job titles, 13 academic programs, 5 degree levels, work experience from 1 to 10 years, and compensation that ranged from an hourly pay to a six-digit annual salary. Required skillsets included not only technical and analytical expertise but personal qualities. This study was conducted to provide a current look at the employment opportunities for Instructional Designers and Instructional Technologists.

Exploring Dimensions of the Past: A Historiographical Analysis of Instructional Design and Technology Historical Works

Every academic field has a history valuable to understanding how a field developed (Ames, 
 2015). History can offer important insight into times, places, and people that have long been 
 considered less relevant to the present or future. Through re-examination of written histories 
 using new philosophical lenses or analytical approaches, researchers and practitioners are able to prevent stagnancy in historical research and uncover new perspectives or moments in history, specifically Instructional Design and Technology (IDT) history. This critical historiography of IDT’s written histories examines how various approaches to writing IDT history produce certain interpretations and understandings of IDT’s past. Historiography is the critical analysis of the written history of the history of a field or topic of study, such as IDT (Becker, 1938; Breisach, 2007; Cheng, 2012; Spalding and Parker, 2007). Historiography is useful in understanding how history has been written and how the act of writing and interpreting history impacts the understanding of history, the present, and the future (Cheng, 2012). This article introduces two major historical and philosophical paradigms evident in IDT history and explores associated research methods. The article then explores how historical record is thought about, shaped, and written to shed light on areas of IDT history previously unexplored and offer suggestions for future research and practice. A greater awareness of varied historical approaches and perspectives in academic inquiry can offer new ways to bolster or broaden research agendas and practitioner work in IDT. 

Examining the Characteristics of Practical Knowledge From Four Public Facebook Communities of Practice in Instructional Design and Technology

Instructional design and technology (IDT) professionals participate in communities of practice (CoPs) on Facebook to seek pedagogical and educational technology advice for solving instructional design (ID) problems. Much of the IDT literature has focused on formal educational environments and not on nonformal settings outside the classroom and beyond formal education. Further analysis of tacit or practical knowledge exchanged among community members is required to understand the purpose, functions, and organizational knowledge capital in online CoPs. To fill this gap, this study uses natural language processing (NLP) to analyze the practical knowledge of 6,066 anonymized users’ posts from four large public IDT CoPs on Facebook from September 2017 to September 2020 after cleaning the dataset. User posts were publicly available and required no password authentication for access, including Instructional Designer (4,717), Designers for Learning (228), Adobe Captivate Users (599), and Articulate Storyline (522). The proposed methodology aims to extract practical knowledge of individual online CoPs in three parts. First, the characteristics of written communication among members are extracted by calculating word and sentence lengths, word frequencies, and contiguous words. Second, the characteristics of members’ exchange of practical knowledge are obtained through sentiment identification, entity recognition, and relationships between pedagogical and educational technology entities. Third, the functions of individual online CoPs are developed through topic modeling with latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) and BERTopic. The findings suggest similarities and differences among IDT CoPs, different resource distribution conventions, and members exchanging pedagogical and educational technology advice. The study highlights the need for pedagogical foundations to support instructional and technical decisions, mechanisms for self-assessment of practical knowledge concerning IDT competencies, community protocols for addressing misconceptions about learning, onboarding materials for new members, and new topic structures to classify practical knowledge. NLP tasks are implemented using Python libraries to support the future development of awareness tools.

Six ways to get a grip on leveraging the expertise of Instructional Design and Technology professionals.

We underutilize the knowledge and skills of Instructional Design and Technology (IDT) professionals, despite the frequent challenges in implementing learning technologies in medical education. This is largely due to a lack of understanding among stakeholders regarding the expertise of IDT professionals and their role in technology implementation processes. We seek to improve technology implementation outcomes by explaining the IDT field’s foundational tenets of a systems perspective and disciplined approach, clarifying the role that IDT professionals can play in educational technology initiatives, and providing guidance on how to foster productive collaborations in pursuit of effective technology-enhanced learning.

Considerations for human–computer interaction: user interface design variables and visual learning in IDT

The purpose of this study is to discuss approaches for developing human–computer interaction (HCI) in educational technology (ET) based on definitions of visual design, learning variables and user-interface design principles in the field of instructional design and technology (IDT). We will do in several stages, first, we will review historical definitions of HCI and its developments in education and considerations for defining visual literacy for learning with instructional design (ID) models. Then, we will review each definition of visual principles for user interface design (UID) or user experience design (UED) and learning from screens. HCI and its roles with the perceptional approach will be discussed as previous definitions in the type of theories such as cognitive load, activity and paying particular attention to primary concepts included in each definition based on the ID model approach. We will also present some of the historical criticisms of the definitions, which provided designing and developing user interfaces. The process should indicate or address possible performance design approaches in ID steps for developing learning and teaching in learning environments as well as developing UID or UED in ET. This also indicates approaches in philosophy of ET and its theory, definition and applications of new technologies as well as UID or UED perspectives and visual design variables. In this study, we review the visual design techniques from past to present that multimedia project design teams should follow the strategies and rules for designing learning environments in industry, business and military based on philosophy of ET and HCI design with ID models by using the newest technologies. The process compares both understanding global UID or UED requirements and visual strategies and considerations for research and product design by ID models. The steps include recognising terminology in ET practice concept, psychological, technological and pedagogical foundations in ID as well as ET approaches and using visual rules for conducting multimedia projects in last decays. At the end of the study, conceptions of ET, ID models and HCI will be discussing to indicate design standards for multimedia projects in the field of IDT. We will also present the relationships between ET and designing problems for creating instructional materials in education. All steps in visual design, UID, UED and HCI design based on philosophical approaches and evaluations in the field are given at the end of the study.
 Keywords: User interface design, visual designs, human–computer interaction (HCI), user experience design, educational technology, IDT.

Considerations for human–computer interaction: user interface design variables and visual learning in IDT

The purpose of this study is to discuss approaches for developing human–computer interaction (HCI) in educational technology (ET) based on definitions of visual design, learning variables and user-interface design principles in the field of instructional design and technology (IDT). We will do in several stages, first, we will review historical definitions of HCI and its developments in education and considerations for defining visual literacy for learning with instructional design (ID) models. Then, we will review each definition of visual principles for user interface design (UID) or user experience design (UED) and learning from screens. HCI and its roles with the perceptional approach will be discussed as previous definitions in the type of theories such as cognitive load, activity and paying particular attention to primary concepts included in each definition based on the ID model approach. We will also present some of the historical criticisms of the definitions, which provided designing and developing user interfaces. The process should indicate or address possible performance design approaches in ID steps for developing learning and teaching in learning environments as well as developing UID or UED in ET. This also indicates approaches in philosophy of ET and its theory, definition and applications of new technologies as well as UID or UED perspectives and visual design variables. In this study, we review the visual design techniques from past to present that multimedia project design teams should follow the strategies and rules for designing learning environments in industry, business and military based on philosophy of ET and HCI design with ID models by using the newest technologies. The process compares both understanding global UID or UED requirements and visual strategies and considerations for research and product design by ID models. The steps include recognising terminology in ET practice concept, psychological, technological and pedagogical foundations in ID as well as ET approaches and using visual rules for conducting multimedia projects in last decays. At the end of the study, conceptions of ET, ID models and HCI will be discussing to indicate design standards for multimedia projects in the field of IDT. We will also present the relationships between ET and designing problems for creating instructional materials in education. All steps in visual design, UID, UED and HCI design based on philosophical approaches and evaluations in the field are given at the end of the study. Keywords: User interface design, visual designs, human–computer interaction (HCI), user experience design, educational technology, IDT

Professional Ethics in Performance and Educational Technology

The purpose of the study is to discuss approaches for developing professional ethics in educational technology (ET) based on definitions of educational technology and performances in the field of instructional design and technology (IDT). We will do in several stages, first, we will review historical definitions of educational-instructional technology and discussions for ET field. Then, we will discuss each of definition of ET as previous concepts, focusing attention for rules to primary concepts and contents presented in each definition. We will also present historical approaches of the definitions which provided professional ethics perspective and ethics in society since 1960s. The process should indicate or address possible performance design approaches in ID steps for developing learning and teaching in learning environments as well as developing professional ethics in educational technology. This also indicates approaches in philosophy of educational technology and its theory, definition and applications of new technologies as well as professional ethics perspectives and AECT code of ethics. In the paper, we discuss the professional ethics strategies and steps from past to present that a project design teams should follow the strategies and rules for designing learning environments in education, industry, business and army based on philosophy of educational technology and professional ethics in performance with ID models by using newest technologies in society. The process compares both understanding global ethics strategies and considerations for research and product design by ID Models. The steps include understanding words in educational technology practice concept, psychological and instructional trends in instructional design (ID) as well as educational technology movement and using professional ethics rules for conducting multimedia projects in last decays. At the end of the study, conceptions of educational technology will be discussing as a last definition of educational technology. In addition to professional ethical standards in performance in the field, we will present the relationships between educational technology and application problems for creating instructional materials in society. All steps and standards in professional ethics based on AECT’s code and philosophical approaches in the field will be given at the end of paper.

Research trends in instructional design and technology journals

AbstractUsing the online Scopus database, we retrieved all instructional design and technology (IDT) scholarship between 2007 and 2017 across 65 journals. In this paper, we analyzed the research and trends in this corpus of IDT scholarship and investigated the top cited papers, keywords, authors, publishing countries and publishing universities. We also analyzed the effect of collaboration on citation numbers as well as how journal citation metrics differ across databases (eg, Scopus, Google Scholar). The field of IDT is broad and diverse, and this paper plays an important role in providing a glance into the past to understand scholarship trends. Knowing our history can help us reassess where we should go moving forward as the field continues to grow in the 21st century.

Meta-Analysis and Meta-Synthesis Methodologies: Rigorously Piecing Together Research

For a variety of reasons, education research can be difficult to summarize. Varying contexts, designs, levels of quality, measurement challenges, definition of underlying constructs, and treatments as well as the complexity of research subjects themselves can result in variability. Education research is voluminous and draws on multiple methods including quantitative, as well as, qualitative approaches to answer key research questions. With increased numbers of empirical research in Instructional Design and Technology (IDT), using various synthesis methods can provide a means to more deeply understand trends and patterns in research findings across multiple studies. The purpose of this article is to illustrate structured review or meta-synthesis procedures for qualitative research, as well as, novel meta-analysis procedures for the kinds of multiple treatment designs common to IDT settings. Sample analyses are used to discuss key methodological ideas as a way to introduce researchers to these techniques.

A Methodological Case Study with Mobile Eye-Tracking of Child Interaction in a Science Museum

The field of instructional design and technology (IDT) aims to understand the interactions occurring among people and learning resources during educational experiences to inform design. This article illustrates the utility of mobile eye-tracking for research with children as a tool for IDT researchers and practitioners. Mobile eye-tracking can collect precise information concerning the learners’ visual attention and interactions in authentic environments, unlike traditional eye-tracking using a laboratory or stationary computer. Mobile eye-tracking also can be used effectively in out-of-school settings where learners walk around and interact with diverse resources. By presenting a qualitative interaction analysis, we illuminate how mobile eye-tracking supports investigating explorations in a hands-on museum. The analysis shows patterns of visual and bodily interactions with exhibits and with family members. Implications include how mobile eye-tracking can contribute to a researcher’s understanding of the child’s idiosyncratic viewpoint to examine in detail learners’ interactions and educational resources’ affordances at various educational settings.

Reconsidering the Instructional Design and Technology Timeline Through a Lens of Social Justice

A combined timeline project of major events in the field of instructional design and technology (IDT) and concurrent events in the broader social context was engaged as part of an effort to understand why social justice issues seem to be perceived as irrelevant to and disconnected from professional work in IDT. A brief review of IDT is presented, including an example reinforcing tendencies toward mechanistic thinking, and key moments when the field shifted in response to attention being called to areas previously neglected. Several interesting juxtapositions found in the combined timeline are then presented. Our lack of critical attention to the social, historical, and cultural contexts in which our field has developed and continues to evolve contributes to perpetuation of a culture of ignorance regarding systemic injustice and related issues, which therefore may be overlooked and reinforced in our work. This tendency will continue unless we make a needed shift to the field.

Indicators of exemplary programs in instructional design and technology: faculty and student perspectives

This exploratory study investigated what faculty and current students in Instructional Design and Technology (IDT) programs perceive as indicators of an exemplary program. We surveyed a sample of the faculty and students and asked them to identify the most important indicators of an exemplary program and rank their own programs according to those indicators. We contacted programs from 11 different countries, though the majority of contacted programs were from the United States of America. We coded and analyzed the respondents’ 941 indicator statements and created 35 thematic indicators. The frequency and percentage of occurrence of these themes across the programs for both faculty and students were analyzed. Their mean rating of their programs for each theme was also calculated. The paper presents the results of this analysis and examines the differences across students/faculty and program types. The findings of this survey, albeit limited due to the low response rate, could benefit IDT programs in terms of performance improvement and assist students by offering criteria by which they can select a graduate program.

New Approaches and Trends in the Philosophy of Educational Technology for Learning and Teaching Environments

The purpose of this study is to discuss instructional design and technology (IDT) model strategies for developing learning and teaching environments, based on philosophical approaches to educational technology theory. The study begins with a discussion of IDT models to define the history of educational technology or instructional technology theories, based on instructional strategies and improvements. In the study, authors discuss the strategies and steps that a design team should follow when designing learning environments in industry, business and military scenarios, based on the philosophy of educational technology and latest technologies, which should give way to effective learning environments. The steps include recognising terminology in educational technology concepts, psychological and instructional foundations in instructional design (ID), as well as approaches to educational technology. To recap, our purpose is to combine necessary IDT model strategies for the pedagogical design of learning environments, with new technologies. We will also discuss powerful IDT models that aim to meet the very high expectations of digital and humanist education. To develop a high-quality learning environment, we will explain technology design steps and practice in order to improve the learning of tasks, complex cognitive skills, attitudes, motivations and competencies in the future trends of educational technology. At the end of the study, integrated technologies in e-learning were discussed and presented, based on foundations of IDT and the philosophy of educational technology.

Stimulating Students’ Use of External Representations for a Distance Education Time Machine Design

As faculty members in an instructional design and technology (IDT) program, we wanted to help our graduate students better understand and experience how designers design in the real world. We aimed to design a reflective and collaborative learning environment where we sparked students to engage in reflection, ideation, and the iterative process of problem-solving. For an assignment in a graduate IDT class, we piloted using Cacoo, an online diagramming and mapping tool, to provide and simulate an authentic learning environment to create external representations. For a distance education time machine design assignment, our pilot focused on the ways in which an external representation environment was used to stimulate students’ reflective conversations with design drafts. We share our pilot story by presenting the literature that grounded our pilot, a description of the participants and design assignment, our choice to use Cacoo, the design process, the design assessments, and the pilot’s significance and next steps.

Juries as Innovation in an Instructional Design and Technology Program: A Saga of Continuous Improvement Efforts

Academic juries have a long tradition as a method of educating students and assessing their work. This tradition has been limited to a relatively narrow range of disciplines, such as architecture and various fine and performing arts. This article describes the case of an online graduate-level Instructional Design and Technology (IDT) program adopting and adapting a jury structure to support the development and assessment of students’ electronic portfolios. A key component of the adoption and adaptation is the continuous efforts to improve the impact of juries across their 10-year implementation (2005-2015) in the IDT program. Therefore, this paper explicates the history of jury establishment and development within the IDT program, reports two evaluations that provide students’ perspectives about juries, and details the IDT faculty members’ response to those evaluations in an effort to further improve juries as a program-wide innovation.

An analysis of instructional design and technology departments

In this paper we explore the academic productivity of universities in the field of Instructional Design and Technology according to three types of publically available data: (1) publication in 20 leading journals, (2) representation in the Handbook of Educational Communications Technology, and (3) reception of professional organization awards. We then identified five of these programs and analyzed the attributes of these departments to better understand the trends in how they are preparing the instructional technologists of tomorrow. While previous studies have compared leading instructional design and technology (IDT) programs by looking at publication in a single journal, we believe our approach provides a well-rounded perspective. In addition, we hope this study helps IDT departments learn from each other by discussing trends in department curricula.