A Survey of Current Research Questions In

A Survey of Current Research Questions in Frontiers in Education Conference Proceedings

Jake Burghar and Jennifer Turns

January 2000 (Draft)

One way of generating research questions that could be addressed in PETTTs research on The Arthritis Source is to look at the types of research being discussed at educational conferences. This report will discuss an analysis of the current research published in one such conference, Education Technology Research and Development. This analysis is intended to answer two questions: (1) What kinds of questions are being asked in current research in this field, (2) How could these categories of questions could apply to PETTTs research on The Arthritis Source.

Method

A brief survey of article titles in Frontiers in Education Conference Proceedings was conducted, in which the table of Contents from 1997 to the present was analyzed to find general trends in the kinds of research questions being asked in this field.

After reading through the selected Table of Contents, nine categories of research questions were generated. These question categories were based on first impressions of the nature of the research in the publication, and it is important to stress that they are just suggestions. The articles being surveyed were not actually read, though some of their abstracts were reviewed to get a better idea as to their purpose.

Once question categories had been defined, each of the article titles from the dates being studied was placed each into one of the categories. When this process was completed, the question categories—and the placement of the titles in those categories—were revised to better fit my understanding of the research. The resulting categories and their descriptions are listed in Question One.

From these question categories and their associated articles, potential research questions and article titles for PETTTs research on The Arthritis Source were generated. These questions are listed in Question Two.

Question One: What Kind of Questions Are Being Asked

In the following pages, each of the nine categories is described and the articles that were selected as fitting each category are listed. The nine question categories are:

q  What techniques can be used when designing technology-oriented distance learning applications?

q  What techniques can be used when designing educational technology applications?

q  How can educational technology be implemented?

q  How do students interact with educational technology?

q  How can educational technology support collaboration?

q  How can we assess student learning?

q  How can we assess the effectiveness of educational technology?

q  How have instructors at other locations used technology in the teaching of a particular subject?

q  What applications have other instructors designed to teach their subjects?

What techniques can be used when designing technology-oriented distance learning applications?

The titles of these articles suggested that their content discussed issues in designing distance learning. Some of these papers appear to be about teaching a particular type of subject, such as engineering, via a particular medium, such as the Web. Other titles suggest broader approaches on adapting in-person learning to a distance learning format.

A good example of an article that belongs in this category is “Delivering a Complete 2-Yr Engineering Science Curriculum in Asynchronous Mode on the Web.” It discusses both the type of subject and the particular media type to be used in the distance learning format. It also deals with a common issue in many of the papers in this analysis: the “asynchronous” nature of individual-driven web instruction.

The articles selected for this category are:

·  Design of a Web-Based Education Environment, Thomas G. Cleaver and Robert L. Toole, 1999

·  Educational Innovations in Multimedia Systems, Wayne Burleson, Aura Ganz and Ian Harris, 1999

·  Design Patterns for Developing GUI Applications,Yonglei Tao, 1999

·  Delivering a Complete 2-Yr Engineering Science Curriculum in Asynchronous Mode on the Web, Donald A. Dellow and William C. Beston, 1999

·  Transforming a Traditional Course into a Long Distance Course, Mukasa E. Ssemakula, 1999

·  A Multi-Use Architecture for Technology-Based Delivery of Curricula, William Swart, Stephen Zahorian, Vishnu Lakdawala, James Leathrum and Oscar Gonzales, 1999

·  Design for a Network-Based Education system that Evolves by Peer and Instructor Interaction, Alvin Surkan, 1998

·  Implementing Novel Instructional Techniques Via the Web, Chaya Gurwitz, 1998

·  The Design, Development and Evolution of Web-Based Materials Featuring Computer-Animated Simulations, Sam Villareal, Clint Wynn, Dawn Eastwood and Behbood Zoghi, 1998

·  PC-Based Video Conferencing: Guidelines for Opening a Remote Section of a Course, Allen Stix, Jean Coppola and Susan Merritt, 1999

·  Process-centered Environments for Web-Based Instructional Modules, Hany H. Ammar, AbdulMobeen Mohammed and Osama Abdalla, 1999

·  An Interactive Multimedia Platform for Telelearning, Voicu Groza, Dan Ionescu and Nicolas Georganas, 1999

·  Experimental Multimedia-Delivered Course Formats, David Meyer, Chris Niessen and Albert Reuther, 1999

·  Component Framework for Web-Based Learning Environments, Timothy E. Lindquis, Kevin A. Gary, Harry E. Koehnemann and Herbert Nwankwo, 1999

·  CHARLIE: A Computer-Managed Homework, Assignment and Response, Learning and Instruction Environment, D. Steven Barker, 1999

·  Maja: A Way To Design Multimedia/Hipermedia Software To Teach Engineering., Manuel Pérez Cota, Amparo Rodríguez Damián, Jacinto González Dacosta and Santiago Castelo Boo, 1999

·  Writing Web-Based Quizzes with Mallard(TM), Donna Brown, 1999

·  An Adaptive System Identification Java Simulation for Internet Based Courseware, Anand Xavier and Andreas Spanias, 1998

·  A Browser-based System to Support & Deliver DE, Wendy Doube, 1998

·  HWSAM: A Web-based Automated Homework Submission System, Sam Hsu, 1998

What techniques can be used when designing educational technology applications?

The titles of these articles suggested that their content discussed how to design a wide variety of educational technologies that did not necessarily correlate with distance learning. This category does contain many articles that could potentially apply to the “distance learning” category, but the articles included here did not have any explicit features of remote education in their titles.

A good example of an article that belongs in this category is “Developing Effective Multimedia-based Laboratory Modules.” Although the laboratory modules may be usable in distance learning, there is nothing implicit in the title that says that they will be used remotely.

The articles selected for this category are:

·  Customization of Visualizations in a Functional Programming Environment, J. Angel Velázquez-Iturbide and Antonio Presa-Vázquez, 1999

·  SKIT, An Open Architecture for Courseware Authoring, Atze Dijkstra, Martijn Schrage and Doaitse Swierstra, 1999

·  Electronics Laboratory Practices Based on Virtual Instrumentation, P. Marino, J. Nogueira and H. Hernandez, 1999

·  Educational Applications of Reconfigurable Hardware Based Virtual Instruments, María José Moure, María Dolores Valdés and Enrique Mandado, 1999

·  Design of a Generic, Interactive, Virtual and Remote Electrical Engineering Laboratory, H. H. Saliah, E. Nurse and A. Abecassis, 1999

·  Teaching Electric Power Systems Analysis Using Visually Attractive Tools, Agustín A. Irizarry-Rivera, 1999

·  The Course Development Matrix: A Tool for Improving Program Development, James B. Sinclair and Janice D. Bordeaux, 1999

·  Developing Effective Multimedia-based Laboratory Modules, Janet D. Hartman, 1999

·  Assessment of Web-based Information Needs for Medical Device Design, Christopher T. Shen, Mark C. Tsai, Paul Yock and Kenneth L. Melmon, 1999

·  A Framework and Reusable Tools for Developing Interactive Course Web Sites, Henri Naccache, Timothy Lindquist and Susan Urban, 1998

·  An Interface Compositional Framework for Data Flow-Oriented Analysis and Design, Mohammed Ghriga and Paul Kabore, 1998

·  Web-based Interactive Course Homepage Builder, Bijan Mobasseri and Xiaoqin Fei, 1998

·  Virtual Classroom with the Use of a Learning Module, Joseph Cataldo, 1998

·  The Virtual Learning Environment System, Anup Kumar, Raj Pakala, R. Ragade and J. Wong , 1998

·  Multimedia Collaborative Content Creation - the MSU LectureOnline System, Gerd Kortemeyer and Wolfgang Bauer, 1998

·  Development of Personal-Computer-Based Instructional Aids for Introductory Technology Courses: Initial Accomplishments, Howard Smolleck, 1998

·  Stimulating Introductory Engineering Courses with Java, Ronald Danielson and Sally Wood, 1998

·  Using Networked Tools to Enhance Student Success Rates in Large Classes., Edwin Kashy, Michael Thoennessen, Y Tsai, Nancy E Davis and S. L. Wolfe, 1999

·  Using a Hypertext Instructional Design Methodology in Engineering Education, Susan A Mengel, William J. Adams and Marion Hagler, 1999

·  Development of Educational Tools: a Web-Oriented Approach, Denis Dion Jr., Antoine Escobar, Jacques Tremblay and Denis Laurendeau , 1999

·  Delivering a Lab Course in a Web-Based Learning Environment, Robert McCartney, Bob Weiner and Karl R. Wurst, 1999

·  Intelligent Learning Environments: Using Educational Technology To Assist Complex Problem Solving, Thad Crews, 1999

·  Development and Integration of Web-based Software Tutorials for an Undergraduate Curriculum: Control Tutorials for Matlab, Dawn Tilbury and William Messner, 1999

·  Developing An Active Learning Environment With Courseware Approach, Asad Azemi, 1999

·  Developing Reusable Multimedia Tutorials, Curtis Carver, George Stone and Charles Powell, 1999

·  Development of an On-line Teaching Portfolio for Freshman Design, Xin Che and Guangming Zhang, 1999

·  Using a High-Level Language to Describe and Create Web-Based Learning Scenarios, M Rodriguez-Artacho, M. Sami F. Verdejo, J. I. Mayorga and M. Sami Y. Calero, 1999

How can educational technology be implemented?

The titles of these articles suggested that their content discussed how technologies could be integrated with a particular curriculum or institution as a whole. While the previous two categories discuss techniques in designing technology, this category discusses how those applications can be used in educational settings. Many of the articles sound as if they are introductions or overviews to the idea of technology mediated distance learning.

A good example of an article that belongs in this category is “Engineering for Middle School: A Web-based Module for Learning and Designing with Simple Machines.” It discusses the application being used and how that application can be tailored to a specific audience, middle school students.

The articles selected for this category are:

·  The Future of Information Engineering Technology Education, Ashraf Saad, 1999

·  Instructional Technology Environments for Engineering Outreach, James B. Patton, 1999

·  Introducing Java into the Teaching of Distributed Systems, Lan Jin, Bo Hatfield and Hui-Chuan Cheng, 1999

·  Technology in Education, Mark Burgin, 1999

·  Interconnected Learning in construction Education, Amitabha Bandyopadhyay, 1998

·  How the WWW environment and Tele-learning build Teaching System Architecture?, João Rafael Galvão, Jose Magno Lopes and Mario Rui Gomes, 1999

·  Multimedia Based Distance Education Through the Internet, Abhay Bakshi and Biswajit Das, 1999

·  Intellectual Collectives - New Faculty Alliances for Collaborative Learning, Richard Reis and Melissa Regan, 1998

·  Paradigms for On-Line Learning: A Case Study in the Design and Implementation of an Asynchronous Learning Networks (ALN) Course, John Bourne, Eric McMaster, Jennifer Rieger and J. Olin Campbell, 1999

·  Using Virtual Reality to Construct Knowledge, Steve Downey, 1998

·  Instructional Technology for Cross-Disciplinary Learning, Thaddeus Crews, Jr. , 1998

·  An Extended Model for Interactive Learning systems, Marco Scherer, 1998

·  Distance Learning - How to Include Laboratory Experiments over the Internet?, S. Manian Ramkumar, 1998

·  Developing a Participatory Textbook for the Internet, Timothy R. Larson, 1999

·  Using Management Concepts in Planning for Distance Education, Lucy C. Morse, 1999

·  Distance Delivery and Laboratory Courses, R. Gregg Bruce, 1999

·  Innovations in large-scale supported distance teaching: transformation for the Internet, not just translation, Linda Carswell, Marian Petre, Blaine Price and Pete Thomas, 1999

·  Lifelong Learning and The Virtual Campus -A Proposal for Asynchronous Learning, Rod Ibieta, 1998

·  Innovations in a Global Distance Education Program, Kim Randall and Eugene G. McGuire, 1999

·  K12 and the World Wide Web, Susan A Mengel, 1999

·  Challenges of Delivering Undergraduate Engineering Programs to Place-Bound Members of the Technical Work Force, Edwin C. Jones, Jr., Lee Van Brocklin and Richard Horton, 1999

·  Stimulating Development of Technology Based Teaching/Learning Modules Through a Technical Elective, John Hawley and Billy L. Crynes, 1999

·  Engineering for Middle School: A Web-based Module for Learning and Designing with Simple Machines, Ann McKenna and Alice Agogino, 1999

·  Carnegie Mellon Online: Web-Mediated Education, Daniel Rehak, 1999

·  A Distance Learning Program in Action, Adi B. Anani, 1999

·  Network Based Project Learning In Engineering Education, Hannu Markkanen, 1999

·  A Distributed Laboratory: Supporting Practical Experience in Distance Learning, Denis Gillet, Christophe Salzmann, Haniph A. Latchman and Oscar D. Crisalle, 1999

·  Web-Based Organization Of Relevant Knowledge For Web-Oriented Instruction And Learning, William James, 1999

·  Using Courseware Authoring to Mentor Faculty of the Future, Brian Hoyt, Edward Mastascusa, Michael Hanyak, William Snyder and Thomas Rich, 1998

·  Yet Another Virtual Classroom over the Internet, Sam Hsu, Abhi Pandya and Rajesh Patel, 1998

·  Improving World Wide Web and Library Research, James Stenger and Joanne Goode, 1998

·  Emerging Curriculum Issues in Digital Libraries, Curtis A. Carver Jr., John M. D. Hill and Udo W. Pooch, 1999

·  Learning Science by Doing Science on the Web, Suzanne Keilson, Elliot King and Megan Sapnar, 1999

·  A Web-based & Group Learning Environment for Introductory Environmental Engineering Course, Jaime Graulau, Subhash Kari, Susan J. Masten and Jon Sticklen, 1999

·  Why the Distinction between On-campus and Distance Learning is Blurring, John R. Chandler, A. Dean Fontenot, Marion O. Hagler and William M. Marcy, 1999

·  A Hybrid Distance-Learning/Face-to-Face Class Experiment, Kevin Bolding, 1999

·  Different Degrees of Distance: The Impact of the Technology-based Instructional Environment on Student Learning, Sarah E. Irvine, Teresa L. Hein and Daniel Laughlin, 1999

·  Design and Development of a Hybrid Instruction Model for a New Teaching Paradigm, Oge Marques, Jeffrey Woodbury, Sam Hsu and Stéphane Charitos, 1998

·  Experiment Substitution In-Class Discussions With Email Discussions, Celia Schahczenski, 1998

·  Virtual Universities: Are Dual Mode Universities the Solution?, Gordon Davies and Elizabeth Stacey, 1998

·  A Teaching Environment for the Development of Parallel Real-Time Programs, Célio Morón, José Ribeiro and Nilton da Silva, 1998

·  Improving Engineering Communication through the Long-distance Classroom, Marian Barchilon and Robert Baren, 1998