Facilitating The Development And Use Of Interactive Learning Environments

Intelligent tutoring technology is on the verge of a breakthrough into the mainstream of training and education. Over the past 25 years, researchers have learned not only what it takes to develop an effective intelligent tutoring system (ITS), but also what it takes to deploy and use one--the true barometer of a technology's success. This volume brings together a cross-section of ITS researchers from academia, industry, and the government to talk about their experiences in ITS development and technology transfer, both successful and unsuccessful. Section 1 is devoted to detailed descriptions of tools and methods ITS developers can employ during development to facilitate technology adoption. It includes discussions of the paradigmatic change in learning and instructional design that ITS fosters, techniques for gathering design information for ITS domains where empirical or knowledge-based methods are inappropriate, and the conduct of cost-benefits analyses to facilitate ITS funding decisions. Sections 2 and 3 offer numerous case studies of ITS deployment from both industry and the government. All of these case studies--regardless of outcome--provide valuable insights into the dos and don'ts of ITS technology transfer. This volume will be an invaluable resource for all researchers and developers of ITS, as well as for managers and personnel in education and training organizations who must adopt and use ITS technology, and information systems and computing support organization professionals who must support it if it is to succeed.

Interactive Literacy Education combines the latest research and theory related to technology-based instructional design for children’s literacy development. It shows how technology can be used to build literacy learning environments that are compatible with students’ cognitive and social processes. Topics addressed throughout this enlightening work include: *technology environments and applications that preservice teachers can use with young children; *detailed information regarding the development and implementation of specific technological programs; and *various technologies, from interactive reading and spelling programs to speech recognition to multimedia, that teachers can use to enhance their literacy learning environments. Interactive Literacy Education is intended for graduate courses in methods of literacy instruction; educational technology; curriculum/curriculum design; general preservice education; special education; and applied psychology/cognitive studies. It is also appropriate for use as a supplement in undergraduate courses in methods of literacy instruction and educational technology.

This book presents the refereed proceedings of the Third International Conference on Intelligent Tutoring Systems, ITS '96, held in Montreal, Canada, in June 1996. The book contains 69 revised papers selected from a total of 128 submissions; also included are six invited papers from well-known speakers. All in all, the book reflects the state-of-the-art in the area. In particular the following topics are covered: advising systems, ITS architectures, cognitive models, design issues, empirical studies, formal models, learning environments, real-world applications, software tools for tutoring, student modelling, teaching and learning strategies, and multimedia and WWW.

Teaching in Blended Leaning Environments provides a coherent framework in which to explore the transformative concept of blended learning. Blended learning can be defined as the organic integration of thoughtfully selected and complementary face-to-face and online approaches and technologies. A direct result of the transformative innovation of virtual communication and online learning communities, blended learning environments have created new ways for teachers and students to engage, interact, and collaborate. The authors argue that this new learning environment necessitates significant role adjustments for instructors and generates a need to understand the aspects of teaching presence required of deep and meaningful learning outcomes. Built upon the theoretical framework of the Community of Inquiry – the premise that higher education is both a collaborative and individually constructivist learning experience – the authors present seven principles that provide a valuable set of tools for harnessing the opportunities for teaching and learning available through technology. Focusing on teaching practices related to the design, facilitation, direction and assessment of blended learning experiences, Teaching in Blended Learning Environments addresses the growing demand for improved teaching in higher education.

Packed with advice, vignettes and case studies, as well as useful tips and checklists for improving teaching, the second edition of Developing Your Teaching is the ideal toolkit to support the development of teaching practice. Providing a blend of ideas, interactive review points and case study examples from university teachers, this accessible handbook for professional practice provides ideas on a range of topics including: learning from student feedback and peer review students as consumers and their expectations building effective partnerships with students and colleagues developing a teaching portfolio choosing effective teaching practices the challenges and benefits of securing an initial teacher qualification A must-read for all those new to teaching in higher education, as well as more experienced lecturers looking to refresh and advance the quality of their teaching, this fully updated new edition is the ideal toolkit to support the development of teaching practice.

This monograph focuses on the design of personalized and adaptive online interactive learning environment (OILE) to enhance students’ learning in and about complex dynamic systems (CDS). Numerous studies show that students experience difficulties when learning in and about CDS. The difficulties are due to challenges originating from a) the structural complexity of CDS, (b) the production of dynamic behavior from the underlying systems structure, and (c) methods, techniques and tools employed in the analysis of such systems. Despite the fact that studies have uncovered such learning challenges, it is still not well understood how we may effectively address these challenges. In this monograph, the authors provide some answers as to how we may best improve our cognitive capabilities to meet these challenges by way of effective instructional methods, techniques, and tools and their implementation in the form of an OILE. The OILE developed for this purpose, builds on a five-step holistic instructional design framework; identification of instructional design models, identification of authentic learning material, identification of instructional methods, identification of instructional techniques, and design of the interface and implementation of the tool. In this OILE development, six well-documented instructional design models were considered; a four component instructional design, first principles of instruction, constructivists learning environment, task centered instruction, cognitive apprenticeship, and elaboration theory.

Computer simulation-based education and training is a multi-billion dollar industry. With the increased complexity of organizational decision making, projected demand for computer simulation-based decisional aids is on the rise. The objective of this book is to enhance systematically our understanding of and gain insights into the general process by which human facilitated ILEs are effectively designed and used in improving users’ decision making in dynamic tasks. This book is divided into four major parts. Part I serves as an introduction to the subject of “decision making in dynamic tasks”, its importance and its complexity. Part II provides background material, drawing upon the relevant literature, for the development of an integrated process model on the effectiveness of human facilitated ILEs in improving decision making in dynamic tasks. Part III focuses on the design, development and application of Fish Bank ILE, in laboratory experiments, to gather empirical evidence for the validity of the process model. Finally, part IV presents a comprehensive analysis of the gathered data to provide a powerful basis for understating important phenomena of training with human facilitated simulation-based learning environments, thereby, help to drive critical lessons to be learned. This book provides the reader with both a comprehensive understanding of the phenomena encountered in decision making with human facilitated ILEs and a unique way of studying the effects of these phenomena on people’s ability to make better decision in complex, dynamic tasks. This book is intended to be of use to managers and practitioners, researchers and students of dynamic decision making. The background material of Part II provides a solid base to understand and organize the existing experimental research literature and approaches.

Active learning is a model of educational instruction that allows learners to be responsible for developing problem solving skills. Technology can enhance active learning strategies by fully engaging students in the learning process. While this type of active learning allows learners to work at their own pace in order to understand the material presented, they can also apply it to the activity at hand to assess their baseline understanding. Most of what we need to know about interactivity in an e-learning environment can be derived from careful consideration of how a student and a teacher interact in a face-face setting. The first chapter presents a review of interactivity in the online medium with a focus on the student point of view. Chapter two presents situated learning episodes with a focus on natural hazards that may strongly affect lives of many people around the world while being highly underestimated by formal education. Chapter three describes the development and implementation of simulation software activities to facilitate learning in a doctor of pharmacy program critical care pharmacotherapy elective course. Chapter four examines technology and learning processing in childhood. The final chapter proposes a learning strategy -- peer assessment by questions and answers -- to enhance the effectiveness of interactive learning in the flipped classroom.