Martyn Wild

Motivation and interface design: maximising learning opportunities

Instructional multimedia is creating a revolution in universities. Academic staff are being urged to transfer instruction to a format suitable for either CD/ROM and/or the Internet, principally the World Wide Web. Many, it seems, simply take their existing course materials, add image and sound without proper consideration of the nature of the medium in which they are seeking to instruct and present the product to their students. In essence, it appears they ignore the need to motivate their students to work with their instructional multimedia materials. It is a contention of this paper that the user-interface to instructional multimedia is strategically important: if it is poorly designed students will not be intrinsically motivated to make use of the product or to learn with it. Interfaces that motivate learners are realistic, easy to use, challenging and engaging. Superior interfaces have some of the elements of a game: they provide the user with a functional model of task, content and processes; they encourage exploration and engagement; and they demonstrate cognisance of design considerations such as interactivity, functionality, learner control and cognition.

Pre‐service Teacher Education Programmes for Information Technology: an effective education?

ABSTRACT This paper argues for a new perspective on information technology programmes in pre‐service education, suggesting that the majority of such programmes are constructed on weak and sometimes ill‐defined premises. It provides an assessment of the nature and relative effectiveness of current information technology programmes, as well as noting those factors and characteristics which are likely to impact significantly on the use of information technology by students on teaching practice as well as by beginning teachers. In the light of the findings of research, a framework for the design and implementation of information technology programmes is described.

Managing knowledge for strategic advantage in the virtual organisation

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Designing and evaluating an educational performance support system

This paper provides an account of the design of the Lesson Planning System (LPS), a performance support system (PSS) to support novice teacher-education students in learning and performing the complex cognitive task of lesson planning. It also reports on an initial research study to investigate the effectiveness of this software. The LPS is a hypermedia software system, predicated on task performance rather than learning, which has been developed to better understand the nature and potential role of PSSs in teacher education. The principles applied in the design and development of the LPS are relevant to the design of other PSSs across a wide range of task-based activities in the professional development of teachers.

When Does Virtual Have Value

The globalization of markets, increasing competition, the reduction of barriers to entry into new lines of business, mergers and alliances, changing patterns of employment, the increasing sophistication of workers and the opportunities of modern technology are pushing all organizations in the direction of virtuality (Working Group 4, 1998, p.7)

Supporting Cognitive Design: Lessons from Human-computer Interaction and Computer-mediated Learning

Cognitive engineering has led to a consideration of the capabilities and limitations of users in relation to the products of system design. However, there has not been a similar recognition of human limitations in the process of design. One way to improve the products of system design is by making improvements in the process of design and, in particular, by addressing the limitations of designers through scaffolding with the technology that is the object of design. To do this we need to identify what we know about the process of designing for computer-mediated learning systems, and to build an understanding of how the design process might benefit from cognitive strategies and computer technology. Here we survey various approaches to support the design process, in order to identify approaches and opportunities that may inform both fields. Specific suggestions include heuristics for design, and scaffolding the design process through support tools.

Creating a role for performance support systems in teacher education

Abstract This article describes an approach to the design of interactive hypermedia in tertiary education that is focused in a perspective which contextualises Performance Support Systems (PSSs) as cognitive tools. The software described is specifically aimed at student teachers and is conceptualised to provide cognitive support in the performance of a complex task – the planning of lessons. In providing this support, the software needs to possess a range of characteristics that are closely related to what we know about cognitive processes, particularly in relation to the performance of non-simplistic tasks in the context of real-life or authentic situations. Whilst this article is intended to present a view as to why PSSs might be of interest to tertiary educators, particularly with reference to the notion of computers as cognitive tools, it does so by considering a specific case – the design of the Lesson Planning System (LPS). Furthermore, although this article originates in a wider research and develo...

Preservice teacher education in Information Technology: a critical perspective

This paper attempts to rationalize what is currently wrong with Information Technology (IT) programs in preservice education by examining the associated pedagogy, the content of programs and the evaluation of those programs. The paper argues not for an increase in the amount of time given to educating student teachers in IT nor for simply making changes solely to content or pedagogy. Rather the suggestion is that we need to reconceptualize the nature of the experience student teachers gain while on teaching practice. And to use this period of teaching practice as a vehicle to help build student teachers’ understanding of IT use as part of their growth from novice towards expert teaching status. One strategy is presented to this end.

A tale of two mailing lists

This paper serves to report a research study on the use made of two separate mailing lists or listservs, for professional development—Oz-Teachers and UK-Schools. Both lists were, and still are, used by teachers in Australia and the United Kingdom, as well as by teachers across the globe, to communicate electronically with each other. The practice of this communication is typically characterised by text messages that pose questions or offer answers; by ‘threads’ of discussion based around single or combined themes; and by statements of information. In this context, two windows are opened in this study: one shows a dynamic picture of teachers at work and play in the technology of listservs, developing skills and practices in asynchronous communications. The other looks into the content of many of the postings, demonstrating the practices, views, ideas and concerns teachers have with using technology in traditional school and classroom environments. Whilst this paper provides a detailed overview of the study, the full report of the research programme, of which this study constitutes one part, can be found elsewhere, in Lankshear et al. (1997) and Wild (1999).