Adam Finkelstein

Feeding innovations and forebrain size in birds

The links between ecology, behavioural plasticity and brain size are often tested via the comparative method. Given the problems in interpretating comparative tests of learning and cognition, however, alternative measures of plasticity need to be developed. From the short notes section of nine ornithological journals, two separate, exhaustive data sets have been collated on opportunistic foraging innovations in birds of North America (1973–1993;N=196) and the British Isles (1983–1993;N=126). Both the absolute and relative frequencies (corrected for species number per order) of innovations differ between bird orders in a similar fashion in the two geographical zones. Absolute and relative frequency of innovations per order are also related to two measures of relative forebrain size in the two zones. The study confirms predicted trends linking opportunism, brain size and rate of structural evolution. It also suggests that innovation rate in the field may be a useful measure of behavioural plasticity.

Designing instruction for the context of online learning

Many individuals are creating instruction that will be used for online learning. This paper reviews four generic categories of instructional principles: Instructional Design (pedagogical issues), Subject Matter (content issues), Language (semantic and syntactic issues), and Presentation (physical issues), that should be used as guidelines when designing instructional materials. Nine current considerations for the context of online learning are drawn from the literature and experience and we show how each relates to these existing guidelines. We conclude the four generic categories of instructional principles apply equally to the design of instruction for the context of online learning and most issues that people talk about when designing online instruction are simply elaborations of these existing principles. A job aid is provided to help designers systematically consider essential principles when designing online instruction.