In My Fair Lady ( Lerner & Lowe, 1956), the play, the renowned linguistics professor, Henry Higgins, attempts to instruct the common flower-vendor, Eliza Doolittle, in proper English etiquette and speech. Revisit the colourful story from the perspective of a twenty-first century instructional designer. Set in the 1910s, but written in the heyday…

This paper presents a theoretical framework for viewing elements that comprise distance education instructional systems in terms of dialogue. It is assumed that learning is mediated by intrapersonal dialogue and facilitated by interpersonal dialogue. Every resource in a distance education instructional system (eg, instructor availability,…

The paper reports a study designed to inform the development of an information and communication technology strategy for the pre-school years of education. The main methods of collecting evidence were observations at seven pre-school settings and interviews with at least two practitioners and a number of children at each site. Practitioners…

This paper proposes a framework of an evolving community of practitioners along a simulation, participation, and codetermined interactions continuum. Simulation, participation, and codetermined interactions are three models of learning, which describe how learners can be brought through a scaffolded process within a community experience. The…

There has been much recent research examining online learning in universities, but two questions seem to have been largely overlooked in this context: (1) Which students voluntarily utilise web-based learning; and (2) Does this use influence their academic achievement? The current study aimed to determine whether the approaches to studying,…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of two types of maps (generative vs. completed) and the amount of prior knowledge (high vs. low) on well-structured and ill-structured problem-solving performance. Forty-four undergraduates who were registered in an introductory instructional technology course participated in the study.…

This paper arises out of a research study into the online help facilities provided in popular software applications such as word processors. Its particular focus is on experimental methods of evaluating the effectiveness and usability of those facilities. Focus groups, questionnaires, and online surveys had already been used in other phases of the…

Web-based e-learning education research and development now focuses on the inclusion of new technological features and the exploration of software standards. However, far less effort is going into finding solutions to psychopedagogical problems in this new educational category. This paper proposes a psychopedagogical instructional model based on…

University administrators are continuously investing in Information Technology (IT) to support learning and help deal with educational budget cuts. Instructors are increasingly making their teaching materials available on the Internet. While administrators and instructors would like to make the Internet an effective educational tool, they need to…

A questionnaire was generated from the results of a series of interviews at The City School one of the 27 state secondary schools in Sheffield. In October 2002, it was sent out to 499 Heads of Department at the remaining 26 state secondary schools. Responses were received from 188 teachers, ranging in age from 24 to 60 years old. The purpose of…

Provision of computers in universities for self-study is taken for granted and is seen as a must have educational resource, yet it is very expensive to fund. Students report that they use the Internet as their first stop in approaching research tasks. Learning theorists posit the important role of social interaction in contributing to learning.…

Children with severe learning difficulties who fail to begin word recognition can learn to recognise pictures and symbols relatively easily. However, finding an effective means of using pictures to teach word recognition has proved problematic. This research explores the use of morphing software to support the transition from picture to word…

This study aimed to find out whether integrating accent reduction software in advanced English language classes at the university level would result in improvements in students pronunciation at the segmental and sup-rasegmental levels. The study made use of a quasi-experimental research design. Two classes at the Department of Foreign Language…

This research investigated the possible impacts of computers on Turkish fourth-grade students geometry scores and further geometric learning. The study used a pretestinterventionposttest experimental design. Results showed that students who did not have computers at home initially had lower geometry scores. However, these differences were…

Multimedia technology in principle may help speakers to deliver more effective presentations. The present study examined what effectiveness might mean in terms of audience reaction. Understanding that may help educators to use multimedia more effectively themselves and to help their students to do so. Descriptors were elicited from audiences in…