Design Principles for 21st-Century Educational Technology: Connecting Theory and Practice

Design principles are universal and may be translated onto the newest trends and emergent technologies. In this research study we combined the perspectives provided by two sources to create a set of recommended design principles for technology-enhanced learning environments. One source was the How People Learn framework (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 2000). The second source was a series of interviews conducted with pacesetters in the field of educational technologies. With the knowledge gained from these two sources, we created our own set of design principles. These principles can guide the evaluation of how educational technologies are used or help instructional designers in creating exemplary ways to implement technologies.