Distance Education Innovations and New Learning Environments: Com ...

Chapter 2

Background

Introduction

The last chapter argued that emerging technologies have created new opportunities for teaching and learning. The tools and technologies employed in successful distance education ventures are now increasingly blended with traditional instructional formats, developing what is known as blended learning environments. Despite a growing body of experimental and practical knowledge concerning the “best practices” of teaching in distance and blended contexts, there is a great need for instructional design theories to guide and prescribe existing instructional solutions. Before exploring what the literature has to offer, it is advisable to first define the topic.

The Distinction Between Descriptive Theories and Prescriptive Theories

In his groundbreaking book, The Sciences of the Artificial, Herbert Simon argued that there are two categories of theory: descriptive and prescriptive (Simon, 1996). Descriptive theories explain how and why things are. For