What lies beyond effectiveness and efficiency? Adventure learning design

a r t i c l e i n f o Educational technology and instructional design research has focused on evaluating interventions and innovations in terms of their effectiveness, efficiency, and appeal. While such indicators of learning outcomes are important, designers should also strive for engaging, socially just, and transformational instruction. To illuminate the capabilities of adventure learning, we evaluate three such projects in terms of effectiveness, efficiency, engagement, social justice, and transformational capability. Findings indicate the diverse impact adventure learning has had on K-16 learners and teachers. Educational technology and instructional design research have traditionally focused on the design and research of learning environments that are effective, efficient, and appealing (Wilson, Parrish, & Veletsianos, 2008; Merrill, 2008). Our focus on effectiveness and efficiency however, has led to the development of electronic learning environments that often result in disappointed students and instruc-important indicators of instructional outcomes, a holistic view of educational processes must encompass numerous other learning and instructional goals. For instance, Hmelo-Silver, Duncan, and Chinn (2007) note that educational objectives should go beyond strict notions of learning, encompassing outcomes valued by society, such as students' ability to collaborate. More importantly, for the purposes of this paper, Wilson, Parrish, and Veletsianos (2008) argue that instructional outcomes should be assessed using a broader lens and judged according to (a) effectiveness, (b) efficiency, (c) engagement, (d) " goodness, " and (e) transformational impact. Effectiveness refers to the ability of a program to achieve its proposed goals — for example, language learning software that succeeds in enabling learners to hold a basic conversation in a foreign language is considered to be effective; efficiency means doing so with the least resources possible — regarding the aforementioned software, if it enables learners to achieve basic conversational skills in 6 hours instead of the 10 hours that would have been required had the learner enrolled in a course, then the software can be considered to be efficient; engagement refers to students investing themselves in the experience of learning, immersing themselves in the learning experience, enjoying the process, and being involved in learning; " goodness " highlights the social sensitivity of instruction — this indicator refers to broader social justice issues such as enabling children of all backgrounds a moral and just treatment; and, last, transformation notes the powerful impact that instruction can have on learners — transformational instruction changes learners and the way they act, think, …