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Learning design is growing in importance but is not yet widely adopted by teachers. This paper describes the development of a scenario‐led learning design process, divided into two stages, which was implemented with over 500 teachers altogether from 15 European countries. Activity theory is used to explore the contradictions that arose when such changes were introduced into the established activity system of lesson planning. Data were collected through interviews and questionnaires from a small sample of participants including national coordinators (stage 1: n = 8; stage 2: n = 13) and teachers (stage 1: n = 13; stage 2: n = 23). These participants perceived that the scenario‐led learning design process, involving a wide range of stakeholders, was collaborative, supportive and innovative (compared to previous lesson planning practices). However, a number of contradictions were identifiable between: (1) the shift to collaborative learning design from teachers preparing their lessons alone; (2) the new tools and the existing rules of the national/regional education systems; (3) the time required to both understand and implement learning design, and the impact of competing demands. This paper discusses the challenges faced when attempting to scale‐up European school teachers' development of digital pedagogy. The structured (yet flexible) approach was welcomed and the tools promoted teacher reflection but, as commonly noted, the complexity and time‐constraints were major issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Massive open online courses ( MOOCs) attract learners with a variety of backgrounds. Engaging them using game development was trialled in a beginner's programming course, 'Begin programming: build your first mobile game,' on Future Learn platform. The course has completed two iterations: first in autumn 2013 and second in spring 2014 with thousands of participants. This paper explores the characteristics of learner groups attracted by these two consecutive runs of the course and their perceptions of the course using pre- and post-course surveys. Recommendations for practitioners are offered, including when the audience is different to the one expected. A MOOC is unlikely to please everyone, especially with such large cohorts. Nevertheless, this course, using game development as a vehicle to teach programming, seems to have offered a balanced learning experience to a diverse group of learners. However, MOOC creators and facilitators should accept that a course cannot be made to please everyone and try to communicate clearly who the intended audience for the course are. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Having started early in the 1920s as a spontaneously launched educational activity by civil organisations under the influence of American audio-visual theory and practice, Chinese educational technology was later put under governmental management. This paper is composed of five parts covering mainly the historical development of educational technology in China. Part 1 is a brief history of educational technology in China. Part 2 presents the major tasks of management in educational technology. Part 3 talks about the organisation of educational technology management within universities and schools. Part 4 discusses civil organisations of educational technology in China. And part 5 is a conclusion about the managerial features of Chinese educational technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a study involving the identification and measurement of collaboration in an online asynchronous discussion (OAD). A conceptual framework served for the development of a model which conceptualises collaboration on a continuum of processes that move from social presence to production of an artefact. From this model, a preliminary instrument with six processes was developed. Through application of the instrument to an OAD, the instrument was further developed with indicators added for each process. Use of the instrument to analyse an OAD showed that it is effective for gaining insight into collaborative processes in which discussants in an OAD do or do not engage. Use of the instrument in other contexts would test and potentially strengthen its reliability and provide further insight into the collaborative processes in which individuals engage in OADs. Analysis of an OAD using the instrument revealed that participants engaged primarily in processes related to social presence and articulating individual perspectives, and did not reach a stage of sharing goals and producing shared artefacts. The results suggest that the higher-level processes related to collaboration in an OAD may need to be more explicitly and effectively promoted in order to counteract a tendency on the part of participants to remain at the level of individual rather than group or collaborative effort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Provides information about the process of instructional development and implementation of educational technology innovations. Steps for the development of implementation profile instrument; Conditions that facilitate the implementation of educational technology innovations; Trends in instructional design and technology.

For more than 2 years, Scratch programming has been taught in Taiwanese elementary schools. However, past studies have shown that it is difficult to find appropriate learning methods or tools to boost students' Scratch programming performance. This inability to readily identify tutoring tools has become one of the primary challenges addressed in Scratch programming studies. To cope with this problem, we propose an innovative approach, which combines an Annotation-based Scratch Programming ( ASP) tool with the problem-solving-based teaching approach in Scratch programming pedagogy. The ASP tool was developed to enable students to create, review and share Scratch programming and homework annotations. In a quasi-experimental study, we have evaluated Scratch programming pedagogy at a North Taiwanese elementary school to investigate the effects of instructional-tools-supported programming instructional modes on Scratch programming performance. The experimental results show that students who received ASP tool support in conjunction with a problem-solving-based teaching approach performed significantly better than the other groups. Based on our findings, the innovative approach was believed to play an important role in improving the learning patterns of younger pupils. Therefore, we suggest that teachers consider incorporating the innovative method into their teaching environments in order to boost students' learning achievements in the area of Scratch programming and the subsequent learning process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role that layered, time-synchronised media might play in the design of interactive learning environments is examined both in terms of their initial construction, and also in regard to how they might be later re-engineered and shared. Although the eventual scale of adoption of the new Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) media types will be governed by commercial factors, their wide availability would offer considerable benefit to the development of innovative forms of educational interactive multimedia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the Implementation Profile Inventory (IPI) in educational technology. Two versions of the IPI were tested in a study. One form addressed the implementation of a new technology while the other form addressed the implementation of a new process. The participants were recruited through online server groups. Participants were directed to the online version of either the technology form or the process form of the IPI. In addition to determining the IPI's ability to measure differences among occupational groups, the study measured the accuracy of the individual profile scores.

The article focuses on ways of minimizing training waste in order to calculate the return on investment in training. One way to reduce training waste is to avoid duplication in the training syllabus. This can be done by establishing which is the most effective among the different courses for a similar topic. Furthermore, the idea of training people just in time rather than just in case should be considered. Training people just in case they may need those knowledge and skills will probably be very wasteful. Even if they do encounter the need in the future, it is possible that they will forget what they learned and the skills will fade away over time.