Dr. Norbert M. Seel
Visiting Professor
Profile
Dr. Norbert M. Seel is currently a visiting professor in the Instructional Systems program. He is also Professor and Chair at Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg, Germany, in the field of research on learning and instructional design. Previously, he was Professor of School Education and Empirical Research on Teaching at Dresden University of Technology, Dresden, Germany. From 1994 through 1997 he was the Dean of the Faculty of Educational Sciences at Dresden University of Technology and responsible for the policies of this new faculty. From 1988 through 1993 he was Full Professor and Director of the Department of Telecommunications & Further Education at the German Institute for Research on Distance Education affiliated with the University of Tuebingen, Germany. Before joining this institute, Dr. Seel was teaching and research assistant as well as the managing director of the Media-Center of the University of Saarland, Germany. Moreover, he was teaching assistant in the department of education at the University of Saarland as well as at the College of Education. In 1989 he performed the habilitation at the University of Saarland and got the venia legendi for both educational science and educational psychology. Before he started a scientific career, Dr. Seel was a secondary school teacher.
Education
Ph.D., Educational Psychology, University of Saarland, Germany
M.A., Educational Science, Albert-Ludwigs University of Freiburg, Germany
Research
Dr. Seel has interests in social and mathematical psychology, as well as educational psychology and technology with a strong emphasis on quasi-experimental designs. His recent research involves the areas of model-based learning and instruction, inductive reasoning and complex problem solving, the investigation of discovery learning within technology-enhanced environments, processes of decision making in instructional design, and the search for research-based principles of instructional design.
Publications
Dr. Seel has written six monographs, among them the textbooks "Psychology of Learning" (2nd ed.) and “World Knowledge and Mental Models” that serve as standard books in the fields of epistemology, linguistics, and cognitive psychology. He has also edited seven volumes on instructional design and technologies, and is the author of over 100 refereed journal articles and book chapters in the area of cognitive psychology, educational psychology, instructional design, and media development.
| Courses Frequently Taught | |
| EDG 6362 | Instructional Systems Research Seminar |
| EDP 5216 | Theories of Learning and Cognition |