Book Reviews

Designing Instruction for Technology-Enhanced Learning

Designing Instruction for Technology-Enhanced Learning / Patricia L. Rogers (editor). Hershey, PA: Idea Group Publishing, c2002. 274pp. ISBN 1-930708-28-9 (cloth)

Technology of all manner and form has been introduced into learning environments from primary education through professional training. In many cases, instructors find it easier to become familiar with the technology, than to attain the complementary knowledge to most effectively use the technology to enhance teaching and learning. This text aims to address that connection between the technological skills and the application of those skills for instruction to a variety of audiences and in a variety of learning environments.

Divided into sections covering principles of instruction design, applications for learners in primary and secondary education, applications for learners in higher education, and other specialized scenarios, the thirteen chapters cover a broad range of issues and a diversity of perspectives. Other than the first two chapters focusing on fundamentals of instructional design, most chapters discuss specific applications, activities and models.

Clearly, this book has been designed as a textbook, with each chapter beginning with objectives and concluding with questions for further consideration. The preface describes the contributions as a resource for "teacher-designers at beginning and intermediate levels of designing instruction that is enhanced by new technologies."

The greatest value of this book is that it provides a foundation of instructional design history and theory followed by multiple examples of application of those principles to various settings. The contributions are all written in a style that is simultaneously informative and informal. One drawback is that each of the chapters seems to stand on its own rather than build upon previous chapters. Approaching the book from cover to cover will present the reader with repeated, and perhaps redundant, discussions of the instructional theories. Connected to a curriculum, the themes frequently revisited -- instructional design principles, relevance of audience, use and incorporation of appropriate technologies, implementation of assignment or activity, and evaluation -- would certainly be meaningful.