Title
Teaching Professor
Department
IPT
Contact Information
Office: 150E MCKB
Phone: 801-422-3674
Email: jason@byu.edu
Website: jkmcdonald.com
I am a native of Provo, UT. Currently I live with my wife and youngest son in Spanish Fork, UT. Professionally, before coming to teach at BYU I worked in the instructional media industry, most recently as the director of digital products for the Deseret Book Company and a media portfolio director for the LDS Church.
I have taught both graduate and undergraduate university students. I have also taught in industry settings, both corporate and non-profit. Topics I have taught include:
Instructional design processes (introductory and advanced)
Integrating technology in the classroom
Product management
Project management
The history of instructional design
Instructional simulations
Human-computer interactions, user interface design, and usability practices
Using stories and film for culture change
Theories of learning
Theories of design
In my current research I study what I call the instrumentalist and calculative tendencies of contemporary education, particularly as seen in online learning and other educational technologies. By this I mean trends that prioritize the technical values of efficiency, optimization, quantification, standardization, and interchangeability, and that, in large measure, are the reasons why so much education is dull, uninspiring, rigid, and inflexible. I explore the role that many digital technologies and instructional design processes play in why and how this occurs. I also study how we can move beyond such instrumentalist values, and avoid redefining all educational issues in terms of problems that can be solved through the implementation of the right process or product. My goal is to champion an ethos of education where students and teachers together can develop their individual potentials, in contrast to systems where the primary concern is teaching competencies and enforcing standards that are the same for all.
-
Nancy Peery Marriott Excellence in Mentoring —
2022
- Sponsor: David O. McKay School of Education, Brigham Young University
-
Research and Theory Division, Theory Spotlight Competition (2nd place) —
2021
- Sponsor: Association for Educational Communications and Technology
-
Design and Technology SIG Design & Technology Outstanding Design Case Award —
2020
- Sponsor: American Educational Research Association
-
Best Zone Paper —
2008
- Sponsor: American Society for Engineering Education
- Computer-based instruction for engineering education in the developing world
Journal: Journal of Computing in Higher Education
Date: 2024
Journal: TechTrends
Date: 2024
Journal: Journal of Computing in Higher Education
Date: 2023
Volume: 24
Issue: 2
Pages: 18-36
Journal: The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning
Date: 2023
URL: https://edtechbooks.org/foundations_of_learn/the_future_of_the_field_is_not_design
Publisher: EdTech Books
URL: https://edtechbooks.org/foundations_of_learn/the_future_of_the_field_is_not_design
Journal: Foundations of learning and instructional design technology: Historical roots & current trends (2nd ed.)
Date: 2023
URL: https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ijdl/article/view/34682
Volume: 14
Issue: 1
URL: https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/ijdl/article/view/34682
Pages: 34-42
Journal: International Journal of Designs for Learning
Date: 2022
Publisher: Springer
Volume: 66
Issue: 1
Pages: 90-101
Journal: TechTrends
Date: 2021
Volume: 22
Issue: 1
Pages: 48-66
Journal: Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
Date: 2021
Volume: 77
Pages: Article 101045, 25 pages
Journal: Design Studies
Date: 2021
Volume: 18
Issue: 1/2
Pages: 57-79
Journal: Journal of Design Research
Date: 2019
Volume: 68
Issue: 2
Pages: 633-651
Journal: Educational Technology Research and Development
Date: 2019
Volume: 62
Pages: 1-35
Journal: Design Studies
Date: 2019
Publisher: Springer Nature Switzerland AG
Editors: M.J. Bishop, Elizabeth Boling, Jan Elen, Vanessa Svihla
Issue: 5th
Pages: 375-399
Journal: Handbook for Research in Educational Communications and Technology
Date: 2018
Publisher: Association for Educational Communications and Technology
Volume: 63
Issue: 4
Pages: 440-450
Journal: TechTrends
Volume: 61
Issue: 5
Pages: 486-493
Journal: TechTrends
Publisher: Springer
Volume: 69
Issue: 3
Pages: 1641-1663
Journal: Educational Technology Research and Development
URL: https://edtechbooks.org/jaid_11_3/_considering_what_fa
Publisher: Ed Tech Books
Volume: 11
Issue: 3
URL: https://edtechbooks.org/jaid_11_3/_considering_what_fa
Journal: Journal of Applied Instructional Design
URL: https://edtechbooks.org/theory_comp_2021/framework_phronetic_LDT_mcdonald
Publisher: Ed Tech Books
URL: https://edtechbooks.org/theory_comp_2021/framework_phronetic_LDT_mcdonald
Journal: Theories to influence the future of learning design and technology
URL: https://edtechbooks.org/jaid_10_2/i_can_do_things_beca
Volume: 10
Issue: 2
URL: https://edtechbooks.org/jaid_10_2/i_can_do_things_beca
Journal: Journal of Applied Instructional Design
URL: https://olj.onlinelearningconsortium.org/index.php/olj/article/view/3470
Volume: 27
Issue: 2
URL: https://olj.onlinelearningconsortium.org/index.php/olj/article/view/3470
Pages: 137-169
Journal: Online Learning
Journal: Postdigital Science and Education