Information technologies and instructional design in technical communication: a redefinition

How can we harness the power of computerized pedagogy without valorising technology for technology's sake? How can we capitalize on computers and the Internet to continue moving distance learning out of the realm of correspondence courses? The answer lies in redefining technical communication's relationship to information technologies and instructional design using the social construction model as tool. Our instructional theory should follow a model of effective technical communication embedded in social structures, and our teaching practices should provide for socially constructed learning environments. The paper describes the information transfer and the social construction models and identifies the attributes of social learning perspectives. It then shows how these attributes are demonstrated in various computer mediated settings at one university.