This book is about empirically tested knowledge and principles that inform the design of instructional and evaluation systems, and the use and promise of media and technology within such systems.

Historically, psychology has informed the design of instructional and evaluation systems in different ways. A behavioral perspective emphasizes the role of the environment in determining behavior–a factor external to the learner. A cognitive perspective focuses on the role of cognitive processing and constraints in determining learning–factors that are internal to the learner. This volume presents the affordances approach–which addresses how the environment and the affordances within it interact with cognitive processes to determine learning. Insights into this interaction are presented. It is the book’s contention that the affordance approach represents an advancement over the behavioral and cognitive perspectives; it is an evolution within the cognitive approach–not an alternative to it.

The Design of Instruction and Evaluation: Affordances of Using Media and Technology is intended for education practitioners responsible for the implementation of media and technology in classrooms, for researchers and faculty, and for use as a text in courses on media and technology use in educational settings, instructional design, and psychology of learning.

This book is about empirically tested knowledge and principles that inform the design of instructional and evaluation systems, and the use and promise of media and technology within such systems.

Historically, psychology has informed the design of instructional and evaluation systems in different ways. A behavioral perspective emphasizes the role of the environment in determining behavior–a factor external to the learner. A cognitive perspective focuses on the role of cognitive processing and constraints in determining learning–factors that are internal to the learner. This volume presents the affordances approach–which addresses how the environment and the affordances within it interact with cognitive processes to determine learning. Insights into this interaction are presented. It is the book’s contention that the affordance approach represents an advancement over the behavioral and cognitive perspectives; it is an evolution within the cognitive approach–not an alternative to it.

The Design of Instruction and Evaluation: Affordances of Using Media and Technology is intended for education practitioners responsible for the implementation of media and technology in classrooms, for researchers and faculty, and for use as a text in courses on media and technology use in educational settings, instructional design, and psychology of learning.