Michael W. Allen, the Chairman and CEO of Allen Interactions, is an architect of interactive multimedia learning and is recognized for his many insights, inventions, and presentations. With over 50 years of experience in e-learning, both in academic and corporate settings, he is known for his role in creating Authorware and overseeing the work of…

The improvement of a professional group is due, in part, to its ability for introspection and self-evaluation. This is essentially the process of "analyzing" the profession as it currently is practiced, identifying necessary changes and improvements, and "synthesizing" or creating a new image or model of the profession to…

Scholars representing the field of psychology were asked to identify what they considered to be the most exciting and imaginative work currently being done in their field, as well as how that work might change our understanding. The scholars included Susan Blackmore, Nadya Fouad, Jerome Kagan, Stephen Kosslyn, Michael Posner, and Robert Sternberg.…

Scholars representing the field of communications were asked to identify what they considered to be the most exciting and imaginative work currently being done in their field, as well as how that work might change our understanding. The scholars included Jeremy Bailenson, Patrice Buzzanell, Stanley Deetz, David Tewksbury, Robert J. Thompson, and…

Scholars representing the field of computer/information science were asked to identify what they considered to be the most exciting and imaginative work currently being done in their field, as well as how that work might change our understanding. The scholars included Ken Birman, Jennifer Rexford, Tim Roughgarden, Margo Seltzer, Jim Spohrer, and…

Scholars representing the field of design were asked to identify what they considered to be the most exciting and imaginative work currently being done in their field, as well as how that work might change our understanding. The scholars included Richard Buchanan, Nigel Cross, David Durling, Harold Nelson, Charles Owen, and Anna Valtonen. Scholars…

Scholars representing the field of organizational science, broadly defined as including many fields--organizational behavior and development, management, workplace performance, and so on--were asked to identify what they considered to be the most exciting and imaginative work currently being done in their field, as well as how that work might…

Scholars representing the field of systems science were asked to identify what they considered to be the most exciting and imaginative work currently being done in their field, as well as how that work might change our understanding. The scholars included Alexander Christakis, Debora Hammond, Michael Jackson, Alexander Laszlo, Ian Mitroff, Dave…

As a final part of this special issue, six Contributing Editors of the magazine were asked to review the six articles and to briefly reflect on themes across fields, on ideas or areas that might have the most potential, and/or to offer other new ideas for our field that the articles and issue overall triggered. These senior scholars in our field…

If one wants to teach youth to think, one has to restrain himself from doing all their thinking for them. One has to refrain from specifying in advance what they are going to think. Yet, this is just what educational technologists are consistently guilty of doing. Educational technology is committed to excluding the possibility of anything new or…

Evidence collected on the effectiveness of four educational technologies is briefly reviewed. The authors conclude that there is reasonable evidence that computer-assisted instruction can have at least a modest effect on improving learning and probably more when its instructional approaches are properly matched to instructional objectives, that…

In an asynchronous forum responding to a prompt positing that ADDIE (analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation) might be used in teaching instructional design (ID) as a safety net for designers without native talent, instructors and practitioners of ID revealed mixed perspectives on the role of ADDIE in design. Critical theory…

Speeding past the Steve Jobs Post-PC Era into the Age of Mobilism, the authors foresee how, by 2015, each and every student in America's K-12 classrooms will be using their own mobile computing device, with those devices engendering the most disruptive transformation in education in 150 years. Classrooms will move from today's "I Teach"…

The practice of distance education in the United States is traced back to its early roots. In the 20th century, distance education remained at the periphery in corporate training, K-12 schools, and most universities, but it gradually developed its practice by using broadcast media, and later the Internet. Since the turn of the current century,…

A recent literature review by Smith and Boling (2009) critically examines the received view of instructional design in educational technology. Smith and Boling conclude that the foundational literature characterizes design in a way that leads to a constrained understanding of design, especially by novices. They suggest that as a field we move…