Within the last decade, synergetic fusion of the progress in telecommunications technologies with the progress in computing technologies, plus accompanying developments in the cognitive sciences, has accelerated the rate of change ofmany services and functions that are basic to the operation of a modern society. Among these services and functions, education is beginning to undergo a dramatic transformation in terms of its design and delivery. Not only is distance education becoming a much more common and much more viable alternative to the conventional classroom-based model for educational delivery, but also within this conventional context, many unconventional learning and teaching strategies, based on the exploitation of possibilities offered by the new technologies, are being implemented. This chapter examines current and projected developments in educational practice brought about by the new technologies, in particular telematics, the result of the fusion of telecommunications and informatics. It also examines the implications of these new educational delivery systems for the practice of instructional design. We start with a review of the technological trends that have opened up the possibilities of telematics in education. © 1997 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. All rights reserved.
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