This book explores Ambient Intelligence as applied to the classroom, while especially focusing on the use of personalized education to optimize the learning process. In the years to come, the dynamics of learning spaces in higher education will need to evolve and adapt to a constantly changing digital society, as learners and educators alike attune their learning competences and teaching skills. Ambient Intelligence is another way that Artificial Intelligence is being utilized in a plethora of real-world situations, amongst which classrooms and other learning spaces offer fitting settings and ideal environments for employing this assistive technology. The book presents a complete and novel approach to deploying the Ambient Intelligent Classroom, based on three interrelated aspects - the Social, the Technological and the Educational, - in order to provide a rich three-dimensional learning environment. This book is intended for education technologists and AI researchers, as well as for those tech-savvy readers interested in applying technology to the future of learning spaces. Educators in particular will find valuable insights and guidelines on how to shape the evolution of their own classroom.

Advancements in technology in modern societies have resulted in an abundance of new educational tools and aids. Analyzing the effects of different mobile educational applications can provide insight into how technology can promote or discourage purposeful learning among students and educators alike. The Handbook of Research on Mobile Technology, Constructivism, and Meaningful Learning is a crucial scholarly resource that examines the use of newly-developed technology on classroom education. Featuring pertinent topics that include collaborative learning, social media integration, virtual reality, and critical thinking dispositions, this publication is ideal for educators, academicians, students, and researchers that are interested in expanding their knowledge on recent trends and technologies that are enhancing the educational field.

Online education plays an important role across numerous industries. These processes and strategies can be adopted into the library and information science programs for use in assisting with educational developments. Library and Information Science in the Age of MOOCs is a critical scholarly resource that explores the ideas on how library and information science professionals implement the use of massive open online courses in the library and information science domain. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics, such as distance learning, technology enhanced learning, and online learning, this book is geared towards academicians, librarians, and researchers seeking current research on solving problems related to massive open online courses.

It is necessary for online teaching designers and developers to understand the roles played by open source products in developing and supporting an online learning system. Utilizing Open Source Tools for Online Teaching and Learning: Applying Linux Technologies covers strategies on using and evaluating open source products for online teaching and learning systems. By going through each phase of the development process, this book provides comprehensive coverage on the application of open source products to meet the goals and objectives of instructional technology.

This book addresses the links between climate change and the threats it poses to sustainable development, from a distance education perspective. Discussing current trends and challenges in sustainable development education, climate literacy and innovations in climate change education, it contributes to the global debate on the implementation of education for sustainability. It also assesses the role that e-learning can play in this process, addressing pedagogical concepts as well as the wide range of technological options now available.

Web sites are increasingly being used by educators in place of traditional content media and instructional approaches such as textbooks and lectures. This new teaching philosophy has led to myriad questions concerning instructional design principles, learners' cognitive strategies, human-Internet interaction factors and instructional characteristics of Web media that transverse political, geographical and national boundaries. Instructional and Cognitive Impacts of Web-Based Education is a compendium of materials by noted researchers and practitioners that addresses national and international issues and implications of Web-based instruction and learning, offering suggestions and guidelines for analyzing and evaluating Web sites from cognitive and instructional design perspectives.

In the last decade, due to factors of ICT infrastructural and broadband maturation, rising levels of educational attainment and computer literacy, and diversification strategies, e-learning has exploded in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. However, significant barriers remain in the region's e-learning development: lack of research on outcomes and effectiveness, paucity of Arabic language learning objects, monopolies and high cost of telecommunications, cultural taboos, accreditation, censorship, and teacher training. This unique volume is the first comprehensive effort to describe the history, development, and current state of e-learning in each of the 20 MENA countries from Algeria to Yemen. Each entry is expertly written by a specialist who is acutely familiar with the state of e-learning in their respective country, and concludes with a bibliography of key reports, peer-reviewed books and articles, and web resources. E-Learning in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) proves itself as a vital compendium for a wide readership that includes academics and students, transnational program directors, international education experts, MENA government departments, commercial vendors and investors, and ICT development and regulatory agencies involved in e-learning in the Middle East.

Students often enter higher education academically unprepared and with unrealistic perceptions and expectations of university life, which are critical factors that influence students' decisions to leave their institutions prior to degree completion. Advances in educational technology and the current availability of vast amounts of educational data make it possible to represent how students interact with higher education resources, as well as provide insights into students' learning behavior and processes. This volume offers new research in such learning analytics and demonstrates how they support students at institutions of higher education by offering personalized and adaptive support of their learning journey. It focuses on four major areas of discussion: * Theoretical perspectives linking learning analytics and study success. * Technological innovations for supporting student learning. * Issues and challenges for implementing learning analytics at higher education institutions. * Case studies showcasing successfully implemented learning analytics strategies at higher education institutions. Utilizing Learning Analytics to Support Study Success ably exemplifies how educational data and innovative digital technologies contribute to successful learning and teaching scenarios and provides critical insight to researchers, graduate students, teachers, and administrators in the general areas of education, educational psychology, academic and organizational development, and instructional technology.

Institutions of higher education have increasingly embraced distance education with the number of students enrolled in online courses rapidly rising in colleges and universities throughout the world. Given its popularity and increased usage, it is imperative that administrators and instructors monitor the current state and future directions relating to distance education in order to meet the needs and challenges of tomorrow. Distance Learning Technology, Current Instruction, and the Future of Education: Applications of Today, Practices of Tomorrow provides present and prospective directions of online education from various research fields, reporting on discussions from students, faculty members, researchers, and practitioners. This innovative publication contains significant and unique research findings influencing future developments in technology-enhanced education and industry.

A selection of international perspectives on on-line learning and the virtual university. The essays are divided into three sections: Overview and Theoretical Background; Projects and Tools; and Conclusions and Visions.

Institutions of higher education are at the forefront of the technological interface with life and society. Such technological innovations within university research centers, university library resource developments, and new tools available for teaching and learning, are nurturing in new educational approaches and debates concerning the appropriate use of new technologies. Cases on Digital Technologies in Higher Education: Issues and Challenges provides a collection of practical case studies exploring the application of digital technologies in higher education along with strategies to address new challenges facing educational institutions in the 21st century. This book establishes a selective synthesis of research on technology to help guide individuals within institutions of higher education faced with technological change. Focusing greatly on engineering education, it addresses technological concerns in order to find solutions that will help maximize the utility of new digital technologies and minimize their adverse effects in a variety of learning environments.

E-learning has evolved with numerous IT-enabled affordances, including many that involve digital imagery and informational graphics. Not only are traditional images like drawings, blueprints, and photos widely used in e-learning, but also many new graphics have become useful learning aids. Digital Imagery and Informational Graphics in E-Learning: Maximizing Visual Technologies offers useful methods for creating digital imagery as well as leading pedagogical theories and research on the implementation of inherited images. This advanced publication features applied, hands-on strategies related to capturing and authoring tools used to acquire and create graphics.

Although the advancement of educational technologies is often discussed in a teaching capacity, the administration aspect of this research area is often overlooked. Studying the impact technology has on education administration not only allows us to become familiar with the most current trends and techniques in this area, but also allows us to discover the best way forward in all aspects of education. The Handbook of Research on Technology-Centric Strategies for Higher Education Administration is a pivotal resource covering the latest scholarly information on the application of digital media among aspects of tertiary education administration such as policy, governance, marketing, leadership, and development. Featuring extensive coverage on a broad range of topics and perspectives including virtual training, blogging, and e-learning, this book is ideally designed for policy makers, researchers, and educators seeking current research on administrative-based technology applications within higher education.

This book explores in detail the role of laboratory work in physics teaching and learning. Compelling recent research work is presented on the value of experimentation in the learning process, with description of important research-based proposals on how to achieve improvements in both teaching and learning. The book comprises a rigorously chosen selection of papers from a conference organized by the International Research Group on Physics Teaching (GIREP), an organization that promotes enhancement of the quality of physics teaching and learning at all educational levels and in all contexts. The topics covered are wide ranging. Examples include the roles of open inquiry experiments and advanced lab experiments, the value of computer modeling in physics teaching, the use of web-based interactive video activities and smartphones in the lab, the effectiveness of low-cost experiments, and assessment for learning through experimentation. The presented research-based proposals will be of interest to all who seek to improve physics teaching and learning.

The face of education is constantly being transformed due to rapid changes in technology. It is imperative that leadership trends and techniques be evaluated in the educational field, particularly in reference to alternative learning programs. The Handbook of Research on Administrative Leadership in Open and Distance Learning Programs is a pivotal scholarly resource that discusses emerging issues surrounding the administration of non-traditional education practices. Highlighting relevant topics that include policy development, quality assurance, accreditation, and assessment systems, this publication is an ideal reference source for educators, academicians, graduate students, and researchers that are interested in the progression of open and distance education.

Despite the modernization of the educational process both in colleges and universities, the main way of transferring information from teacher to learner remains their personal contact in classrooms and educational literature. One of the effective ways to optimize teaching and learning is the technological approach to the organization of the educational process. Modern Technologies for Teaching and Learning in Socio-Humanitarian Disciplines aims to systematize technologies for teaching social and humanitarian disciplines and discuss educational technologies that the modern teacher can and should possess including tools for person-oriented learning and for setting and achieving learning goals. The content within this publication examines interactive technologies, social educators, and visual storytelling and is designed for educators, researchers, academicians, administrators, and students.

A major investment in professional development is necessary to ensure the fundamental success of instructors in technology-integrated classrooms and in online courses. However, while traditional models of professional development rely on face-to-face instruction, online methods are also gaining traction-viable means for faculty development.Virtual Mentoring for Teachers: Online Professional Development Practices offers peer-reviewed essays and research reports contributed by an array of scholars and practitioners in the field of instructional technology and online education. It is organized around two primary themes: professional development models for faculty in online environments and understanding e-Learning and best practices in teaching and learning in online environments. The objective of this scholarship is to highlight research-based online professional development programs and best practices models that have been shown to enhance effective teaching and learning in a variety of environments.

As the field of Information and Communication Technologies rapidly expands, the applications to language learning continue to grow. Computer-Enhanced and Mobile-Assisted Language Learning: Emerging Issues and Trends compiles the latest research into computer-enhanced language learning, as well as the integration of mobile devices into new language acquisition. Though new information is constantly coming out as technologies continue to evolve, this important new follow-up publication will be distributed worldwide among academic and professional institutions and will be instrumental in providing researchers, scholars, students, and professionals access to the latest knowledge related to research on computer-enhanced and mobile assisted language learning.