Instructional Technology & Instructional Design

The Collaboratory for Interactive Learning Research, or C.I.L.R. (pronounced as “killer”) was founded in March 2006 as a research and development facility of the Instructional Technology & Instructional Design program, here at the Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Currently, the facility is housed within the Department of Curriculum & Instruction of the College of Education & Human Services.

Our Mission:

The Collaboratory engages in the research, development and evaluation of interactive learning applications with emerging technology and evaluating the effects of instructional design technology on learning, performance and assessment in an interactive learning environment.

Our Objectives:

The Collaboratory serves as:

1. An development and evaluation center for interactive learning applications
2. An in-house test bed for interactive learning applications developed

We would like to see the Collaboratory (as the name suggests) as a place for collaborative research and development work. Researchers interested in similar research area are welcome to contact C.I.L.R. for possible collaboration.

The Collaboratory is jointly directed by Dr. Peter Fadde [info] and Dr. C. Sebastian Loh [info], and is supported by a team of Senior Consultant: Dr. Sharon A. Shrock [info] and Dr. William Coscarelli [info].

Our Commitments:

The Collaboratory is committed to:

• theoretically grounded research, both basic and applied, that contributes to our understanding of how learning and performance may be enhanced by technology
• research and development that will establish a leading-edge capability in the state of Illinois for technology-enhanced learning, performance and assessment, at all levels of education, training, and work, and
• developing partnerships and research collaborations with other institutions, business and agencies in the state, the nation, and internationally.

Our Achievements:

In 2007, our serious game mod, Saving Adryanee, won a Finalist entry at the 2nd Serious Games Showcase & Challenges: an international serious game competition held by the Interservice/Industrial Training, Simulation & Education Conference (I/ITSEC) and sponsored by Autodesk.

Official Website:

The official web site of the Collaboratory is http://idt.siu.edu/cilr. A list of CILR’s past and present research projects is also available.