Chairperson
Chris Dede, Graduate School of Education, George Mason University
STATEMENT OF THE SUBJECT
Instructional design is moving beyond passive, presentational,
assimilative strategies for teaching and learning. New models for
pedagogy stress active, collaborative, contextualized learning
experiences; these learner-centered strategies are based on authentic
real world problems and guided by expert coaches and facilitators.
Emerging information technologies empower these innovative
instructional design models via such capabilities as case-based
reasoning webs, shared synthetic environments, and virtual
communities. Understanding how to use these new media to increase the
effectiveness of consumer health information is vital to the evolution
of this field.
KEY ISSUES, INCLUDING THE ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY
Exploratory studies of how to adapt the pedagogies, described above, for
health education are needed. Crucial technologies include hypermedia
(such as the World Wide Web),distributed simulation, virtual reality,
and telepresence (via telecommunications, communicating both cognitive
and affective interactions across barriers of distance and time). The
research agenda for consumer health applications should alter to
reflect the availability of these new delivery methods.
ROLES, RESPONSIBLITIES, AND PRIORITIES OF KEY SECTORS
Developers of consumer health information services should master these
new media and incorporate them into conventional approaches to design
and delivery. The emphasis should not be on automating traditional
instructional models using new technologies, but rather on exploring
the potential utility of alternative pedagogical strategies.
Researchers should study the effectiveness of these learner-centered
pedagogies in changing the mental models and the behaviors of the
public. Formative evaluation is central, as is research on the
strengths and limits of new media for various aspects of health
education.
The public and private sectors should alter their research agendas to
emphasize exploratory studies of these new media.
NEXT STEPS
Designers, researchers, and funders concerned with health education
should become familiar with ongoing work on learner-centered design
strategies and innovative delivery media.
Applications of these new media in fields other than consumer health
information services should be studied to determine their potential
transferability to this domain.
Pilot studies using these new media and pedagogies should be funded.
New models for formative and summative evaluation of learner-centered
health applications should be developed.
Chris Dede
cdede@gmu.edu
URL: www.virtual.gmu.edu