Svetoslav Stoyanov

A performance support system for HRD: a link between research and practice

HRD is exposed as a vital discipline not only for the embedding of employees in a labour organisation; the main thesis of this article is that new information technology is needed to optimise employees assets in order to make them sensitive to and productive in the central entrepreneurial goals. The adopted theoretical framework here is Simons theory of bounded rationality. Concept mapping is a specific branch of cognitive mapping metaphors. The SMILE Maker tool was developed in order to elicit cognitive repertoires and strategies that would normally stay tacit. The spatiality of the mapping approach opens the road to generating ideas. Idea selection and idea implementation are the next stages in the existential basis for the problem solving process. The elaborated SMILE Maker method is evaluated for its facilitating effects. The experimental condition showed an increase in the fluency of idea generation. Instead of differentiating SMILE to the various cognitive and learning styles, an attempt was made to make the method tolerant of individual differences. In fact it was an attempt to trigger complementary styles in the learner via the tool.

A priori theories for multimedia design, production and integration

This paper intends to explore the more fundamental theoretical notions underlying the design and configuration of educational multimedia systems. Though it starts its initial inventory with the more traditional theories, it also looks at the more alternative approaches based upon constructivism, adult learning and theories related to creativity and problem solving. Seen from the prospects in multimedia and hypermedia, vocational and adult training have the potential to place the learner in an active and more responsible position. At the same time, however, we see that the product rather than the process-oriented assessment paradigms will survive for several decades. This brings us to the conclusion that it is essentially the local actor (the teacher) and the managers of the local setting who should decide upon the balance between reproduction, understanding and constructionist effects for the student. The versatility of hypermedia programs seem to provide an excellent opportunity for teachers and training officers to decide in a more explicit way upon the instructional impact.