A Thinking Practices Framework for Instructional Technology.

This paper examines some of the theoretical changes that have led the field of instructional and educational technology into a time of critical transactions. It begins by outlining some of the standard notions and assumptions within the field of instructional technology, and goes on to examine how they may be changing as a result of influences of socio-cultural theories of learning and instruction. These theories are used to develop a framework for analyzing thinking practices within the different communities of practice that are connected with the field of instructional technology. This "Thinking Practices" framework combines (1) Lave and Wenger's concepts of activities, identities, trajectories, and artifacts/tools within communities of practice, (2) Collin's distinction between "conserving" and "learning" communities of practice, and (3) Perkins's "five facets of learning environments." The application of this framework is illustrated with a small, exploratory case study involving students in a graduate-level instructional technology program. Implications of this framework for practices and methodologies in the field are discussed. (Contains 26 references.) (AEF)