Selected Major Issues in Instructional/Communication Technology: An Islamic Perspective Dilruzwaz A. Siddiqui Instructional/Communication Technology has come to mean, in a nar- row sense, media hardware or a set of tools enabling human beings to overcome their physical limitations. Etymologically, it means one or more techniques, both concrete and abstract, that help human beings solve problems. By extension, instructional technology (IT) means all tools at our disposal for facilitating learning. Tickton (1971) defines the purpore of IT as making "education more productive and more individual, to give instruction a more scientific base, and to make instruction more powerful, learning more immediate, and access more equal." While the technology itself might be neutral as a medium and as a means of instructional com- munication, it is the n a t w of its use, in terms of timely and appropriate messages, that is the key to understanding its consequences. It is this final factor upon which society needs to focus. The tecent combination of computer, video, fiber optics, satellite tele- vision, and other state-of-the-art technologies has enabled a small group to control the lives of billions. Instructional technology has also Merited its own share of this instantaneous global power. As a dt, traditional boundaries between IT and mass media communication have blurred so much that IT sounds like a misnomer. It has now become a platitude to say that the nation that controlled the sealanes in the nineteenth century, or that controlled the airways in the twentieth century, controlled the whole world. In the twenty-first cen- tury, it appears that whoever controls the airwaves will control the world and whatever is beyond it. Thus the most explosive confluence of hard- Dilnawaz A. Siddiqui, is a p f e s o r in the Department of CommunicatiOn, Clarion University of Pennsylvania, Clarion, Pennsylvania. Siddiqui: Instructional/Communicatim Technology 313 ware techniques has mused huge vital tesearch questions about the con- sequences of the psychology, as well as the politics, of power and control over emerging technologies and their myriad uses for humanity. Appmpriate amwets call for consideration of basic philosophical views of life, humanity, and the universe. In western IT literature, these have either been ignod completely or subdued by superficial concerns over the design and development pmcess of instruction. On top of this, commercial interests continue to seek for opportunities to sell their wares even in the name of teaching. In a recent survey of IT literature, the category "society and culture" was mted last but one (Ely 1991). Even in learner-related issues, the neu- ral anatomy of cognition attracted the most attention, to the almost total neglect of the psycheethical aspects of human existence. An exception is the assertion by Johnsen and Taylor (1991) that both instruction and IT "are human inventions that spring from human values and human de- signs. They are value-satumted and operate in the social world quite un- like phenomena in the physical world." Probably in the same vein, Bed- nar et al. (1991) urge us "to reexamine all of the assumptions of any field and particularly one that purports to improve the human condition." It is my expectation that this realization will mature, one day, into a viable movement. Why Johnny cannot yet read despite our most sophis- ticated instructional technologies can only be answered by looking be- yond the neural networks of his mind and into the entire Social milieu in which he lives. The problem seems to lie in the very myopic and exclu- sively economic or occupational skill-oriented goal of western education. Islam, in contrast to such materialistic ideologies as communism and capitalism, stmses universal value-based character-building education. It tries to build, maintain, and strengthen a healthy societal climate and structure mund the learner from the womb, to the lap, through home and school, and to global human society. Early modem (post-Rendssance) education models in the West were influenced by this balanced and all- mund development of individual chatacter that Islam has always stmssed. The remainder of this paper seeks to lay the groundwork by identi- fying some important issues from the broad Islamic view: theoretical as- sumptions behind the identification and analysis of IT issues and the de- velopment of six sets of relevant issues classified under the categories of humanity, message, medium, methods, milieu, and measurement. Theoretical Assumptions According to Johnsen and Taylor (1991), the theoretical bases of traditional western IT are found in the 1950s mechanistic teleology of 314 The American J o d of Islamic Social Sciences 103 Tyler, which p”upposes that each instructional activity has a measurable purpose. This behavioristic view was later promoted during the 1960s by Skinner’s teaching machines and, still later, by the IT movement itself. Its earlier applications were seen in the military-industrial complex, fol- lowed by similar ones in the education and training sector. The direction of research and development was increasingly inward, into the learner’s mind, to the ever-greater neglect of broader Societal factors. Here I have attempted to show that, in addition to individual mental respanses to preformulated instructional stimuli, a learner’s mental behav- ior is affected by other vital factors based on the inevitable linkage be- tween One’s belief, attitude, and behavior (Siddiqui 1988). Before specific critical issues in modem education are discussed, the logical assumptions upon which the analysis is based should be made clear. They are: 1. Human communication phenomena (verbal and nonverbal) are never completely value-free. 2. One’s actions are based on conscious or subconscious beliefs, values, and views on life, humanity, and standards of right and wrong. 3. An over-relativistic attitude results in chaos and conflicts, in the long m, rather than continuity and stability. 4. One’s beliefs have behavioral consequences that affect the lives of other p p l e . 5. A healthy society pmupposes societal consensus on core (universal) values, such as honesty, a measure of autonomy in critical thinking and action, justice, peace, and unity. 6. To establish such a societal otder, all individuals and institutions must attempt to contribute to these positive core values. 7. Members of a healthy society should try to promote positive beliefs, attitudes, and actions and eradicate, or at least manage, negative ones. 8. Unity in core values and diversity in peripheral ones will promote a creative, innovative, and concurrently sound human society. 9. Technology can be effectively utilized only if its use is based on the core moral principles stated above. 10. Therefore, instructional technologists cannot truly be value-neutral in their professional practice in terms of selecting and sequencing the content, concepts, or illustrations geared to facilitating -1eaming. Salient Issue Areas The Ely (1991) study of IT trends and issues classifies relevant con- tents and rank-otders the categories as: instructional process, technical de- velopments, management (general), management of the IT field, manage- Siddiqui: Jnstructiona.VCommunicatim Technology 315 ment of IT services, personnel, society and culture, and, finally, tesearch and theory. As can be seen, broader s o c i a c u l ~ l issues have not teceived enough attention. Of the trends indicated, four are related to the instmc- tional development process, three to IT hardware, two to the professional education of technologists, and one each to impact analysis and IT research. While several issues within each trend are identified, not even one of them discusses individual or societal values. It is mostly the non- western educators who have vented their greater concern about IT being the end tather than a means (UNESCO 1989). Here, I will attempt to identify and analyze major issues from a broader Islamic view spelled out in the following sequence: Humanity (author, learner, designer, instructor, administrator); Message (content); Medium (instructional tools); Method (techniques, processes, strategies, management); Milieu (instructional, societal climate); and Measurement (assessment, research evaluation). Strangely enough, values in the westem message design are not taken into account at any evaluation stage, for the concept of "evaluation" has been relegated to considering the extent to which predetermined learning objectives have been met. For Muslim IT experts, however, the f i s t and foremost concern is what change an instructional objective will bring about in the learner's psycho-ethical fabric. The mission and meaning of human existence thus becomes all-important in Islamic education and training. Humanity. The modem western individual is the product of powerful forces, among which are the weakening Judeo-Christian ethic; the r e d - tant widespread atheism, the Darwinian idea of the survival of the fittest that, in turn, gives rise to fierce competition rather than cooperation; stark utilitarianism; and materialism. This view of human existence has been contrasted with the Islamic perspective in Table 1 on the following page. Message. As regards message design, Islamic IT must ensw that curricu- lum contents are consistent with a sound view of life based on the human mission to serve the divine causes of truth, justice, equity, and peace, as defined in the Qur'an (1636), through both verbal and nonverbal means (Qur'an 90:7-10) in all domains: cognitive, affective, and psychomotor. All of the off-the-shelf messages currently available, particularly t h e in the form of data bases in the social sciences and humanities, have been written from non-Muslim viewpoints. The most stupendous challenge to Muslim IT experts is to make them usable from the Islamic penpective. This calls for the active involvement of Muslim experts in acquainting the "gatekeepers" with the potential possessed by Islamic values and practices 316 Table 1: Western and Islamic Views of Humanity The American Joumal of Islamic Social Sciences 103 Darwinian evolved animal Instinctual nature without a human mission Has no cote values Homo Fkonomus Materialistic, individualistic, ativistic, dog-eat-dog Islamic View Born free and innocent (6: 164) Divine spirit infused (32:9; 1529) Combines determinism (33:38) and free will (18:29) In need of divine guidance, in- heritor of it through prophets; human mission as vicegerent of God (230; 2455) Has core values (30:30) viola- tion of which is sin (1025-7) Is accountable for hifiet sins (99:6-8; 49~13) Multidimensional success is the goal of life: spiritual, social, economic, and political (4:114) Concern for others (3:llO); sac- rificial nature seeks clarity at the belief level (18:88) Fat behind in science and tech- nology, hatdwatt and software for solving various problems that humanity is facing now, and will face in the future. The challenge for Muslim instructional designets is not only to defend their ideas, which are currently under attack from all sides, but to use their professional skills to present them so effectively that their truth will manifest itself and petsuade the audience. Only then will the forces controlling entrance into data bases be adequately cooperative. At the public level, we find strong resistance to out viewpoints, yet at the profes4onal level them is a gteatet search for altemative values and wil- lingness to listen. Siddiquk Instructi~Communicatim Technology 317 Consistent with hi+er role as a vicegemt of God, the instructional planner and designer must promote lasting universal truths without being prejudiced (Qur’an 4:l; 49: 13). While the Qur’an and the hadith literatme contain all of the foundational principles for a just and judicious societal order, Muslims are obligated to apply them effectively and dynamically in order to meet the needs of specific circumstances happening at dif- ferent times and in diverse cultural milieux. Muslim instructional planners and designers must devise tools and means to help experts in various disciplines achieve this purpose without compromising any principles. In addition, they must be equipped to assist Muslim organizations in up- dating and adjusting themselves in accordance with the c m n t speed, complexities, and other relevant societal demands. This must be done while bearing in mind that some of these demands may, at times, not necessarily be in the best intemts of the ummah or humanity at large. What we must remember, however, is that the Qur’an commands Mus- lims to be vigilant and observant, active as well as appropriately re- sponsive to all new challenges (Qur’an: 4:95; al Fiiniqi 1992). Muslims also need to heed the hadith that truth is the lost property of the believer and that it should therefore be taken wherever and whenever it is found. Curriculum/instructional planners and designers must search con- stantly for core Islamic values and promote them by all Islamically ac- ceptable means. Here we must state that Muslims have to be extremely careful to avoid lewd and immodest contents and illustrations while de- vising, adopting, and adapting any mesages. All permissible (i.e., th- that do not violate Islamic morality) forms of creative and innovation pre- sentation skills and techniques should be used to make the message as motivating as possible. They should be cost-effective as regards time and money (Qur’an 7:31-3). As Islamic values are flexible, practical, and bal- anced (Qur’an 2:158), IT practitioners must avoid only what is impermis- sible. There is great mom for aesthetic and artistic talents to make the message appealing and suited to the leamers’ advanced organizers. Traditional education contents are not based on any valid needs analysis, are archaic in content and illustration (if not always in concepts), and elitist and pedantic in language. curtent messages in so-called mod- em Muslim educational publications are contradictory in their ideas and thus confusing. Moreover, they are mostly imlevant to the teal problems faced by Muslims and thus ineffective in relieving their plight, my- opically materialistic, secular-humanistic, atheistic, devoid of any sense of accountability, and unable to prepare the human nxources for tackling new internal and external challenges. Thus it is vital to conduct a thorough analysis of existing educational curricula and the potential subtle and subliminal messages located in their contents and laming environments. 318 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 103 Medium. Now that the patamount significance of the message in cunicu- lat contents has been established, it is necessary to stm that the instruc- tional medium is also important in terms of modem technology. While Muslims cannot accept completely the assettion that the medium is the message, we cannot afford to ignore its tremendous power and contribu- tions as regards message access and dissemination on a scale never before seen in human history. Neither should we forget that the medium is only an instment and that it should not be allowed to affect negatively the message’s content, veracity, or impact. Besides understanding the relative role of the medium and the mes- sage, humanity should also be concerned about the values of those who conttol the medium and with what message they ate disseminating. As pointed out earlier, instructional technology has been confined tradition- ally to the activities of a single classroom in the academic context of a lesson unit. This is no longer true, for fat-teaching distance learning tech- nologies ate capable of making the message accessible instantaneously and concurrently to billions of leatnem actoss the globe. A case in point is the recent use (or misuse) of these powerful and sophisticated media by the coalition forces to wage and justify a horren- dous war against Iraq that devastated the lives, economy, and military might of an innocent Muslim people. A similar ptocess is now taking place on an international scale to brainwash and ptejudice the public, par- ticularly school children, against Muslims and Islam, The West hailed its victory in the Gulf war as the victory of the media. In essence, it was a crude display of one-sided media control and military might by the sole superpower against a third-rate developing nation. The level of sophistication teached by the instructional and mass communication media is mind-boggling in terms of speed, access, variety, reliability, replicability, and affotdability. However, it is the considetation of affotdability (cost) that is most responsible for the serious discrepan- cies that face pootet nations trying to gain access to all of this tech- nology. And then, within each nation there are even more differences in accessibility based on the utban-rutal as well as other continua. These rich-poor differences in media affordability also cause gteater problems vis- A-vis petson-machine-method intetface. For example, acces- sibility is related to affotdability, which, in tum, is related to the income levels of the leame& families. Individuals from low-income families have a higher level of computer phobia than those from high-income families. The more affotdable one attempts to make instmctional media for low-income families or institutions, the less motivating it is likely to be in terms of packaging. Siddiquk Instructicmal/Communicaticm Teclmology 319 Both active and passive uses of electronic media (i.e., television and computers), as well as their tremendous benefits, are said to have negative impacts that genedly are covered by a blanket term: entropy. Several of the most frequently cited drawbacks include: a) Reduced reading habits or passive listening (confined mainly to such visual electronic media as television). Too much television watching, in addition to the negative ef- fects of the vicious messages themselves, may result in passive listening and thus affect critical thinking; b) Decreased writing ability; c) Shorter attention span; and d) Reduced ability on the part of teachers to convey the message verbally. However, it is important to remember that the bene- fits of modem instructional media far outweigh the disadvantages. Method. This element involves processes, stmtegies, and techniques. The general guiding principles of communication adopted and shown in the Qur’an and the Sunnah wisdom, good advice, and the general welfare of the community (Qur’an 16: 129, all delivered in a pleasant and merci- ful manner. Communication techniques should appeal to all God-given faculties and not tilt too much towards any one of the human senses. God created human beings in the best possible mold, which is characterized by optimal proportion and balance as key to his/her superiority over all other forms of life (Qur’an 40:64). This quality of balance is not confined to human beings as a species, but collectively, as the Muslim ummah was intended to be the best when it comes to leading a balanced life (Qur’an 2:143). Thus a balanced attitude in communicating with others is a ster- ling quality of a good Muslim. It is easier for many Muslim nations to purchase the latest hardware developed by instructional and communication technology expetts than to produce professionals who are competent in software planning, design, development, and evaluation based on the above-mentioned principles of communication. The dearth of expert instructional systems designers is widespread throughout the developing world and is acute among Mus- lims. In some cases, the situation is aggravated by a lack of a w a m e s and support for training such educational pemnnel on the part of national economic planners and other key decisionmakers. The earlier they see this flaw, the better they can cope with the challenges that lie ahead Traditional IT in the West, pmccupied as it is with design and de- velopment processes, has used many models of instructional development. One of them, known as Instructional System Development (ISD), consists of ten sequential steps: needs assessment, goal establishment, task analy- sis, specification of objectives, development of assessment strategies, selection of media, production of materials, formative evaluation, any ne- cessary revision(s), and summative evaluation (Schiffman 1986). 320 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 103 In the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor areas, more or less the same steps are followed. The differences only appear at the time of devis- ing instructional strategies and selecting the media. For example, PIC- f e m c e has to be given to concept clarification for cognitive domain ob- jectives, role modeling for affective objectives, and demonstration for psychomotor ones. Johnsen and Taylor (1991), who belong to the minority of instruc- tional technologists emphasizing human values, illustrate very clearly how IT, since its inception, has been in the trap of behaviorism. According to them, this means that the teacher assumes the responsibility for student learning in terms of stimulus-response. The planner prespecifies and thus decides the mastery level, which often is limited to the extent of the coutse ware’s technology. This state of affairs reinforces the impression in the students’ minds that education is something that happens to them rather than something that they can control or participate in actively. Clark and Sugrue (1988) stress the need for IT to get out of this trap by shifting the paradigm from behaviorism to one featuring the i n c d use of cognitive theories. In addition, other learning theories, such as informa- tion processing, should also be fully utilized in the field. Another trap in which IT still finds itself is its continued use of tra- ditional models of instructional design, such as the one developed in the early 1970s at Syracuse University’s Instructional Development Institute (IDI). Hardly any significant improvement in critical thinking, creativity, and artistic talent has been introduced into the ptocess. A Muslim instructional technologist must also set limits within which motivating and instructional strategies and techniques can be used. Ob- viously, they should not adopt uncritically any methods that have gained currency elsewhere. Islam encourages creativity and innovation, as is clear from its contributions to all fields of science and technology as well as human endeavor. Islam seeks to combine practicality with long-term implications for society at large. Thus it would not, for example, approve the use of pornography as high-interest motivational material to en- courage student interest in reading. Regrettably, this was done by a non- Muslim teacher (see Abdus-Sabur 1993). Muslim professionals need to learn techniques from the West and other areas, and there is a great deal of room for both adoption and adaptation of all useful devices that are Islamically acceptable. At the present time, changes in hatdware technology are coming so fast and in such large numbers that instructional designers have been un- able to derive the maximum benefit from the resulting scientific and en- gineering potentials. As a result, the outer limits of professional training and development of IT are becoming fuzzier in both content and scope. Siddiqui: Instructional/Communicatim Technology 321 Milieu. This factor can be defined as the interaction between society's de- mands on media and what these media do to society. Most of the studies dealing with leaming difficulties and problems of education in the West have focused either on the interaction between the learner and the media he/she is exposed to or, to a lesser extent, on administering m w insti- tutional leaming environments. For the most part, the instructional re- search on why Johnny cannot read has concentmted on Johnny's mind or on the language level of the contents. Rarely has any attention been paid to broader societal factors: the role of conflicting and confusing messages of the mass media, value content, commercial designs of the media con- trollers, and the resultant social milieu characterized by crime, other m o d aberrations, and het.etofore unknown diseases rampant in the West. Protagonists of systemic and systematic thinking-supposedly the instructional systems designers themselves-ought to have figured out by now that any positive or negative change in one element of the broader societal system is bound to affect other elements. What seems to have happened in the field is that the focus has become so MITOW that just one element (the learner) is focused on to the neglect of other important ele- ments of his/her milieu (i.e., family, neighborhood, media, and those poli- tical, economic, and social values which, bereft of any spiritual anchors, have been corrupted). Any effort to assess instmctional needs, organiza- tional improvement, or broader educational reform must view the learner's social milieu as integml to the planning process. The total control exercised by resourceful commercial forces has popularized profit-motivated thinking in all aspects of life in the West. Even the church has been unable to resist the resulting tide of consumer- ism and commercialism, which means that it also has lost its ability to lead society out of the mess created by human greed. Powerful multi- national corporations have successfully injected the cultural onslaught into developing countries, most of which are worried about the long-term devastating impact of such a development on their people. Some Muslim populations that are aware of such dangers have called upon their own governments to resist this cultural invasion by refusing to yield to western pressure. Any attempt to follow this advice is branded by western media as "the h a t of Islamic fundamentalism." The multi- national~' main goal is to avoid the "needless" expense of adapting their advertisements and bulk-produced warn to diverse cultural sensitivities. In essence, such intemational networks as CNN are serving these business interests by globalizing western socioeconomic and political norms and values, as hinted at in the Media Lab project of MIT (Brand 1987). In- stead of guarding the interests of their people, governments and other public institutions have no option but to serve these MITOW economic in- 322 'Ihe American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 103 terests. Public calls for ethical considerations in business activities are conveniently ignored by simply discussing them in the media to satisfy people and to pretend that something is being done. Another issue concerning the IT milieu is the extent to which educa- tional institutions limit the accessibility of outside unregistered leatners who could benefit from such programs in the absence of such restrictions. In the academic milieu, teacher resistance to new technologies sometimes takes the same form as that put up by unions to fight the introduction of robots in manufacturing industries for fear of being replaced. Measurement. All research measures change on the basis of one indepen- dent variable or another. Media reseamh has historically passed t h u g h phases: the medium itself; uses of the medium; effects of the medium; and improvement of the medium (wimmer and Dominick 1991). Current IT research is spotadic and diffused, and its tools are undeveloped. The 1960s saw a plethora of studies in which media, or one aspect of it, were treated as an independent variable, while learning gain was used as the main dependent variable. Clark and Sugrue (1988) advised: future research should aim to determine necessaLy conditions for leaming, i.e., the unique aspects of a medium for the instruction delivered by the medium that models the cognitive processes re- quid for successful performance on particular learning tasks. There is now a demand that IT, like other branches of engineering, be considered an applied social science. Thus there is need for decision- oriented teseaTch rather than conclusion-oriented reseamh. In other words, most IT reseatch should be evaluative in nature and not geared to cau- sality. From the Islamic yiew, it is essential that the effectiveness of the message and the medium be measured in terms of the extent to which it conforms to Islamic ptinciples. This is a tall order. It is therefore the duty of Muslim instructional planners, designets, and evaluators to design clear general and specific m-ment criteria. Any depatture(s) by non- Muslim IT specialists from expected norms or criteria should not be att- ributed to them. Rather, Muslims should d d e r them thtjr own failure. Possibilities. As the problematic aspects of IT have been discussed, it is now apppriate to consider some positive future trends in the field. Ely (1991) lists the following prospects in this reg& 1. Diversity of d e n t population will lead to development of altema- tive instructional delivery systems. Siddiquk hstru&~Communicatim Technology 323 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. There will be an increased demand from business, industry and govemment for newer technologies, including thase for wat efforts, in view of the history of IT. There will be new job opportunities for IT graduates, especially in the underdeveloped international market. There will be an increased demand for satellite causes, 8s well as fot training petsonnel in the use of interactive video and other state-of- the-art technologies. More learners Will demand access to electronic data bases in modem languages and othet languages of the developing world. More sophisticated expert systems will be more widely available (i.e., user-friendly, menu-driven, voice-touch). Increased personal desire by learners to control theit environments. IT will assist educational institutions to meet the new demands made on them. Conclusions and Recommendations The West has made tremendous scientific and technological p m g m . Its development in the hardware and software portions of instmctional- communication technologies has enabled the West to control almost all aspects of life in the rest of the world, especially in the post-Cold War period. Muslims must learn the technology, how to manage it, and the relevant psychological bases and communication theories of message design. In view of the inevitable Iinkage between people’s beliefs, attitudes, and actions, the question as to who controls these communication tech- nologies assumes momentous significance for everyone. This issue is tied integrally to the following questions: What are the values of the control- ling nations, what message are they giving to the rest of the world, and what effect(s) is this having? This paper has attempted to address, from an Islamic perspective, these and other peztinent questions in regard to various aspects of instructional technology. The issues and concerns were classified under the following categories: humanity, message, medium, method, milieu, and measurement. There is a great deal of commonality in the concems related to IT when viewed fmm both the western and the Islamic perspectives. How- ever, the narrow economic goals of the western view are in sharp contrast to the broader view of human life from the Islamic viewpoint. In view of the BAB linkage (belief+attitude+behavior), I offer a few recommendations: Belief. In short, this involves mcognizing the importance of and the need for communication technology to be based on fie principles of wisdom, good advice, and kindness (empathy) toward one’s audience; the distinc- tion between morality and technology; and the significance of both. The relevant factors here are the realization of the need for a) stable and univetsal moral values and of the speed and diverse dynamic capabilities of modem technology; b) a broad concept of personal and collective development that covers the spiritual, educational, sociocultural, political, and economic spheres; c) management skills in planning, organizing, im- plementing, and evaluating everything by Islamic principles of permis- sibility (hakdt) and impermissibility (hur&n); d) effective communication among Muslim educationists and with others based on a positive and balanced attitude; and e) the conviction that whenever Muslims searched for hardware technology and engineering and software inStrUctiona1 tech- nology, they led the world in contributing to all branches of science and knowledge in geneml. Attitude. This element refers to the willingness and commitment (i.e., a timely transition from identifying needs to sincerely seeking their imple- mentation) to realize and implement the value of effective instructional- communication technology. This change in attitude will enable us to see our general goals and specific objectives more clearly, critically, and ana- lytically. Some of these objectives should include generating an aware- ness of IT’s impottance among economic and educational policy- and decisionmakers and convincing us that everyone, regardless of occupation or profession, is engaged in the laming and/or education process of someone else. All organizations, regardless of size (i.e., mosques, commu- nity centers, libraries and museums, business or government agencies), should become involved in education and training. And, finally, a sound plan and policy conducive to realizing the identified objectives must be designed and implemented. Behavior. Actual implementation of the formulated plan in line with per- tinent policies and measurement criteria involves updating or establishing anew relevant professional development organizations and institutions to train IT specialists; conducting seminars and workshops or providing formal instruction and training in up-to-date instructional/communication technology; and the timely and valid measurement of IT’s impact on cog- nitive (belief), affective (attitudelpolicy), and conative (behavior) learning. Siddiquk Instruction@hmmunication Techology 325 References Abdus-Sabur, Q. "Towards Establishing an Islamic Philosophy of Educa- tion." Paper presented at the MSA-IIIT workshop, 5 February 1993. Bednar, A. et al. "Thmry into Practice." Paper sponsored by AT&T. Bloomington, Indiana: Center for Excellence in Education, Indiana Univetsity, 1991. Brand, S. The Media Lab: Inventing the Future at MIT. New York Viking, 1987. Clark, R. and B. Sugrue. "Research on Instructional Media 1978-1988." 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