New Trends in Educational Technology and Instructional Design Principles for Online and Remote Teaching, and Courseware Design

Dear Colleagues,

As guest editors of the Special Issue of Education Sciences, we are planning to focus on the topic of “New Trends in Educational Technology and Instructional Design Principles for Online and Remote Teaching, and Courseware Design”.

Educational technologies became central to the delivery of education across the globe. The definition of educational technology (EdTech) and instructional technology (IT) can be used interchangeably. The field of educational technology consists of theory and practice with ethics in the educational process for different sectors. In this process, instructional design (ID) principles and strategies provide contributions with emerging technologies for learning and teaching in educational technology and learning environments in world development.

New approaches in EduTech and ID models continue to emerge for solving new learning problems. New thoughts and events have revealed how important educational technology and instructional design processes are in every learning environment and family life, as a very basic need, which cannot be noticed, especially during the pandemic period. This situation led to the development of new ideas, learning analytics, and learning design models, from face-to-face teaching to teaching outside the classroom. The most important of these, in addition to the use of instructional technologies, revealed how the principles of instructional design can be used effectively in distance learning and online learning. Its effects were quickly recognized in online course design, e-learning design, and distance learning strategies. Now, even if face-to-face interactions continue, learning interactions outside the classroom environment may seem to continue in the fields. This situation has increased the need for practical feedback and evaluation strategies and methods of online learning to improve and measure the performance of the individual through human–technology interaction. These approaches and trends have clearly demonstrated the need to develop new learning environments for the fields of instructional technology and instructional design post-pandemic, which reveals that the adaptation of students of different generations and levels to technology and the required interactive learning environments will continue to evolve in the 21st century. For this reason, remote learning/teaching has started to carefully use the principles of instructional design in online learning and e-learning design. We understand that generations are changing rapidly in accessing, perceiving, and evaluating information. Psychology, technology, and learning environments are the main areas that affect the new generation of students. Thus, these generations will see the effects of new approaches within the scope of effective instructional design principles in their course design strategies. The design of visuals, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, programming, and new learning technologies will continue to be effective in the design of these courses.

We have been experiencing how the pandemic has affected online learning in distance learning and teaching strategies and learning environments, since the beginning of computer-based teaching until today. Therefore, distance education and instructional design principles for distance education can be effectively used for courseware design or course design during COVID-19. Additionally, the Instructional Design (ID) framework should be developed for the pandemic, as well as other crises and unexpected learning conditions. New approaches and new, effective learning environments will be used efficiently for future distance learning and assessment processes. These will lead to different course designs by considering the applications of identity rules and new ways of using technological tools and approaches, with teaching strategies in our classrooms and outside the classroom. With the studies in this Special Issue, readers will see the effects and importance of the approach of instructional design models for developing online applications, new methods in distance education, and solving unexpected problems. In short, students will learn how the fields of educational technology and instructional design can be used to realize the systematic solution of learning problems in ordinary and extraordinary situations in the process of remote learning/teaching and course design. Based on these considerations, readers will gain the ability to use course objectives, online education tools, assessment and evaluation tools, writing tools, and learning management tools in distance learning for the design of online courses.

The Special Issue covers articles on instructional design, educational technology, instructional technology, pedagogy, industrial education, measurement and assessment, new technologies, multimedia learning, humanism and technology, online learning, remote learning/teaching, e-learning, and other related topics, such as learning environments, e.g., digital designs, gamification, virtual reality, augmented reality cloud applications, integrated e-learning, mobile learning design, microlearning, social learning, interface design, interactive learning materials, digital learning, Internet of Things (IoT), interactive video, visual designs, courseware design, artificial intelligence (AI), multimedia learning methods, and ID principles and models and networks in education for future learning as well as during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The aim of this Special Issue is to offer readers information regarding conventional teaching styles and remote teaching, online learning styles, as well as a clear vision of how to apply learning and teaching strategies in different learning environments for face-to-face learning, integrated e-learning, and remote learning. It also aims to help to improve communication with students to develop and use online/remote teaching strategies effectively.

Prof. Dr. Rushan Ziatdinov
Prof. Dr. Ismail Ipek
Guest Editors

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