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The article discusses the Association for Educational Communications and Technology Research Symposia, a-biannual event which draws the best minds within the members of the organization. The symposia are designed to bring a small group of scholars together in a format that encourages in-depth dialogue, and different perspective on a predefined topic or problem. As a preparation for the researchers and researches' gathering, all papers pertinent to the symposia are required to be passed two months prior to the actual meeting date. The selection process will then take place wherein only those papers thoroughly perused are to be presented.

The purpose of this paper is to clarify the philosophical and methodological variations of phenomenological research methods and their role in the field of educational communication and technology (ECT). Phenomenology is a qualitative research methodology concerned with investigating phenomena as they manifest through lived-experiences. The unit of analysis resides in the intentional meanings of phenomena. Analysis of those intentionalities, however, has evolved over the past century; phenomenologists have viewed intentionality as something that is: described (transcendental phenomenology), interpreted (hermeneutic phenomenology), or resists centering and embraces contexts, situations, and the partial (post-intentional phenomenology) (Vagle 2014, 2018). To conduct phenomenological research, then, one must be able to articulate the specific philosophical underpinnings associated with each approach and the suitability of each approach. To support researchers and practitioners in the field, this paper explicates philosophical and methodological variations of more prominent phenomenological research approaches as well as related issues and affordances. In doing so, this paper offers scholars in the field various perspectives in which to ground future phenomenological research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Learning technologies continue to grow in complexity, making it increasingly difficult to understand their impacts on stakeholders using traditional research methods. While comparison and treatment studies, may show if a digital learning tool improved learning, the why, when, and how questions of user experience are often left unexplored. This paper provides a description of Critical CinéEthnography, a research approach that leverages the many forms of media that result from today’s learning technologies, including video, personal artifacts, and screen images. This approach provides researchers with the ability to build deep qualitative depictions of the stakeholders’ complex digital learning experiences, while also allowing an outcome that can more easily communicate with a practitioner audience. Critical CinéEthnography supports the building of a complex picture of participants as they actively use technologies. The video results can be easily shared with academics and practitioners alike using widely available online platforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is now common practice for instructional designers to incorporate digitally recorded lectures for Podcasts (e.g., iTunes University), voice-over presentations (e.g., PowerPoint), animated screen captures with narration (e.g., Camtasia), and other various learning objects with digital audio in the instructional method. As a result, learners are spending more time learning from audio-enhanced digital learning materials for both formal and informal purposes. In this paper, we present digital time-compression as a way to reduce the amount of time learners will spend on a learning task, while still maintaining acceptable intelligibility, pitch, and scores on important dependent measures (e.g., recall, recognition, comprehension, satisfaction). Research dating back to the 1950s is reviewed and framed in the context of multimedia learning environments. Recent research developments are reviewed and a discussion is provided emphasizing several design principles for this technology. Recommendations for future research are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Higher education institutions are using virtual telepresence systems to engage in collaborative course redesign and research projects. These systems hold promise and challenge for inter-institutional work in STEM areas. This paper describes a case study involving two universities in the 4-VA consortium, and the redesign of a shared STEM lab. The purpose of this study was to investigate pedagogical needs across related content areas, and to use findings to make informed lab design recommendations that support beliefs and best practices involving knowledge acquisition. The researchers used several data collection points involving human subjects, site visits and technology testing and evaluation. Results emphasize the need for remote presence in the student-centered and distributed space. Design recommendations are organized into the following categories: general lab space, projection and display, storage, cable management and outlets, videoconferencing, use and management of the lab, computing and mobile devices, software, and training. Further research is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From I Birth of a Nation i to Leni Reifensthal's propaganda films, to the rise of the Hollywood blockbuster, to the spread of popular cinema across the world, the technology of the motion picture has changed the world at large, a world within which education functions. Keywords: Creativity; Technology; Education; Research; Future; Learning EN Creativity Technology Education Research Future Learning 207 212 6 03/27/23 20230301 NES 230301 I Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. Similarly, the invention of the diode in 1904 and the triode in 1906 may not impacted education directly within their immediate years (or even decades). [Extracted from the article]

In this paper, four teachers shared their experiences using the following free Web 2.0 tools with their students: Jing, Wix, Google Sites, and Blogger. The teachers found that students reacted positively to lessons in which these tools were used, and also noted improvements they could make when using them in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study reports on action research conducted using a resource wiki. Participants included 48 certified teachers and pre-service teachers enrolled in a face-to-face graduate course supplemented with online activities. Data collected include student reflections that indicate the use of a wiki at the university level is a feasible means of online collaboration, facilitates constructing new knowledge, and provides a medium of modeling technology integration into the classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides information on the Association for Educational Communications and Technologies' (AECT) Research Symposium, a bi-annual event designed for the exchange of ideas that would culminate in the publication of a Symposium Proceedings and AECT white paper. The goal is to bring a small group of scholars together in a format which encourages in-depth dialogue, and different perspectives on a predefined topic or problem. This format also has a mechanism to coalesce those different perspectives into a final white paper that would be submitted to the board as an official AECT white paper which they may chose to promote.

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses about the research and theories of the Association of Educational Communications and Technology, innovative research in instructional design and accomplishments of the journal TechTrends.

The article talks about the works of the scholars that includes Dr. Jonathan Plucker in the filed of creativity, who is an educational psychologist at Johns Hopkins University and a professor of talent development in the School of Education. It talks about design and cultural dynamics that supports creativity, working with colleagues to teach and conduct research, dealing with the elements, providing insights into the implications of studying creativity and adjustments in the teaching methods.

For a variety of reasons, education research can be difficult to summarize. Varying contexts, designs, levels of quality, measurement challenges, definition of underlying constructs, and treatments as well as the complexity of research subjects themselves can result in variability. Education research is voluminous and draws on multiple methods including quantitative, as well as, qualitative approaches to answer key research questions. With increased numbers of empirical research in Instructional Design and Technology (IDT), using various synthesis methods can provide a means to more deeply understand trends and patterns in research findings across multiple studies. The purpose of this article is to illustrate structured review or meta-synthesis procedures for qualitative research, as well as, novel meta-analysis procedures for the kinds of multiple treatment designs common to IDT settings. Sample analyses are used to discuss key methodological ideas as a way to introduce researchers to these techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The field of instructional design and technology (IDT) aims to understand the interactions occurring among people and learning resources during educational experiences to inform design. This article illustrates the utility of mobile eye-tracking for research with children as a tool for IDT researchers and practitioners. Mobile eye-tracking can collect precise information concerning the learners’ visual attention and interactions in authentic environments, unlike traditional eye-tracking using a laboratory or stationary computer. Mobile eye-tracking also can be used effectively in out-of-school settings where learners walk around and interact with diverse resources. By presenting a qualitative interaction analysis, we illuminate how mobile eye-tracking supports investigating explorations in a hands-on museum. The analysis shows patterns of visual and bodily interactions with exhibits and with family members. Implications include how mobile eye-tracking can contribute to a researcher’s understanding of the child’s idiosyncratic viewpoint to examine in detail learners’ interactions and educational resources’ affordances at various educational settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human Performance Technology (HPT) is the applied study and practice of improving organizational performance through training and non-training interventions. For practitioners working in this area that identify themselves as an HPT practitioner, organizational training and performance (OTP) specialist, or instructional designer-offering the right intervention set requires understanding of how humans work and function internally and within organizations that are bounded by environmental, societal, and economic realities. The HPT field is rooted in a multi-disciplinary knowledge base and has its own models and theories, which are generally developed by practitioners to guide their practice. Because HPT follows a systematic, data-driven process akin to action research, HPT practitioners are applied researchers even if they do not see themselves as such. What we need is more collaboration between scholars, practitioners, professional associations, and businesses to create a culture of engagement and involve everybody in the validation of applied research and theory development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia that can be edited by users, is growing both in the number of content articles written as well as the number of registered users. Students rely on Wikipedia (Purcell et al., 2012) and Wikipedia, through tools, is enabling users to make better decisions regarding the information they find (Gray, 2013; Kyrios, 2013; Lamb & Johnson, 2013). However, are teachers and librarians in secondary schools learning to embrace the online encyclopedia? This exploratory study surveyed classroom teachers and librarians/library staff regarding their perceptions of the effects of Wikipedia use by students in research assignments, their perceptions of the need for school policy regarding the use of Wikipedia by students, and regarding their knowledge of the Page Assessment Guide designed to help users judge the reliability of the information on a page. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mendeley is a free, web-based tool for organizing research citations and annotating their accompanying PDF articles. Adapting Web 2.0 principles for academic scholarship, Mendeley integrates the management of the research articles with features for collaborating with researchers locally and worldwide. In this article the features of Mendeley are discussed and critiqued in comparison to other, similar tools. These features include citation management, online synchronization and collaboration, PDF management and annotation, and integration with word processing software. The article concludes with a discussion of how a social networking tool such as Mendeley might impact the academic scholarship process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which extends the current literature on hybrid courses and online degree programs by emphasizing the importance of evaluating the hybrid degree program as a whole and by raising questions and considerations that should be discussed by administrators, faculty and support staff when designing, developing and implementing a hybrid degree program. The description of the term "hybrid course" is discussed. The study includes the method, programmatic implications for hybrid degree programs and conclusion.

It is becoming increasingly vital to publish and share research as well as get citations for the purpose of researcher visibility. The publishing options available for research distribution seem endless. It really is an academic jungle out there! This article reviews why early career researchers and graduate scholars should consider their research impact in the digital age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]