Mark K. Jones

Rapid Prototyping in Automated Instructional Design.

In this article the impact of the tools being developed as part of the Second Generation Instructional Design (ID2) Research Program on the process of instructional design is described. ID2 supports rapid prototyping as a design and development process. Rapid prototyping is described and contrasted with the instructional systems development (ISD) process.

An introduction to instructional transaction theory

Instructional transactions are instructional algorithms, patterns of learner interactions that have been designed to enable the learner to acquire a certain kind of knowledge or skill. An instructional transaction class is a set of similar instructional transaction shells that have similar interaction requirements and similar knowledge representation requirements. The knowledge, performance, and interactions required for each of several classes of transactions are briefly described. A transaction family is all the transactions necessary to enable a learner to acquire all the knowledge and skill required to engage in a particular complex human activity called an enterprise.

Implementing learner control in an automated instructional system

In an automated instructional system, learner control suggests that there is some basis on which the system may recommend and the learner may select relevant and appropriate instructional elements and that the system has the capability to respond to learner requirements by customizing the delivery of each element. We report research into these two areas of sequencing and delivery. We first describe a knowledge representation model that expresses the interrelations among instructional elements. A domain knowledge base created using this model, available through all phases of the instructional development cycle, provides information to the system and the learner for identifying which elements are related in some way to the just presented element and, more importantly, the nature of the relation so that an informed sequencing decision may be made. We then describe transaction shells, reusable instructional components, which when instantiated with content from the domain knowledge base deliver instruction to the learner. This instruction is configurable both by the author and dynamically by the system to take into account knowledge about the learner, including aptitude, goals, and previous instruction. The automated system, by configuring a shell dynamically, adjusts an instructional element to meet expressed or derived learner requirements. These two elements combine to provide a foundation for implementing learner control in an automated instructional system.

Instructional Transaction Theory: Resource Mediations

The need for corporate, military and industrial computer-based training (CB) continues to rise. As a result, courseware developers and managers are confronted with the time-consuming aspect of the CBT development process (Faiola, 1989). Programming, debugging, and testing courseware is such a time-consuming aspect that efficient courseware development is an immediate concern (MacKnight and Balagopalan, 1988–89). The time required to develop one hour of computer-based training has been estimated to take anywhere from 200 to over 6000 labor hours (Carter, 1990; Lippert, 1989). These numbers make it difficult and expensive to produce current and timely CBT.