During the next five years, instructional design will be a field with a real edge in
the area of distance learning and hybrid courses. There is a growing awareness that teaching
and learning with or via technology is not the same as learning in the classroom. To make this
type of learning the "best that it can be," teaching and learning must be looked at in new ways.
This month's DESIEN FOCUS article by Nishikant (Nish) Sonwalkar of MIT highlights the
need for "a new design framework to provide a flexible approach for incorporating technology
within the context of pedagogy," and gives us some rich food for thought and practice.

At the same time that we are welcoming contemporary instructional design theorists, we pay
tribute to a pioneer in the field, Robert Gagne, who recently passed away. Please read the
tribute to Gagne in the DESIEN ENDNOTE and visit the Web site listed there to see how
relevant his theories are to the world of teaching and learning via technology.