This book argues that integrating artistic contributions - with an emphasis on culture and language - can make Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects more accessible, and therefore promote creativity and innovation in teaching and learning at all levels of education. It provides tools and strategies for managing interdisciplinary learning and teaching based on successful collaborations between researchers, practitioners and artists in the fields of the Arts and STEM subjects. Based on contributions by educators, scientists, scholars, linguists and artists from around the globe, the book highlights how we can demonstrate teamwork and collaboration for innovation and creativity in STEAM subjects in the classroom and beyond. The book reflects the core of human rights education, using local languages and local knowledge through art as a tool for teaching human rights at school, and bringing to light questions on diversity, ecology, climate change, environmental issues, health and the future of human beings, as well as power relations between non-dominant (minorities) and dominant (the majority) groups in society.

At the centre of the methodology used in this book is STEM learning variability space that includes STEM pedagogical variability, learners' social variability, technological variability, CS content variability and interaction variability. To design smart components, firstly, the STEM learning variability space is defined for each component separately, and then model-driven approaches are applied. The theoretical basis includes feature-based modelling and model transformations at the top specification level and heterogeneous meta-programming techniques at the implementation level. Practice includes multiple case studies oriented for solving the task prototypes, taken from the real world, by educational robots. These case studies illustrate the process of gaining interdisciplinary knowledge pieces identified as S-knowledge, T-knowledge, E-knowledge, M-knowledge or integrated STEM knowledge and evaluate smart components from the pedagogical and technological perspectives based on data gathered from one real teaching setting. Smart STEM-Driven Computer Science Education: Theory, Methodology and Robot-based Practices outlines the overall capabilities of the proposed approach and also points out the drawbacks from the viewpoint of different actors, i.e. researchers, designers, teachers and learners.

Technology Literacy Applications in Learning Environments presents readers with a view of technology literacy in a learning environment. While word processing skills are important, the development of technology skills covers the areas of presentation software, storage, human interaction, and virtual reality. Instructional technology is dedicated to discovering and developing the pedagogical skills of teaching and learning in a technology-enhanced learning environment. Technology Literacy Applications in Learning Environments discusses many important topics, such as: the defining aspects of instructional technology skills, the use of technology literacy in higher education, and the growing digital divide. This book provides readers a series of examples and guides that support instructional technology literacy, making it a necessary collection addition for academics, researchers, educators, and IT professionals everywhere.

"Respecting Childhood" critically examines modern day views and practices related to children and childhood.
It begins with a discussion of how Western society conceptualizes and often idealizes children as being fragile, innocent and 'incompetent' (or 'immature'). Childhood is often reduced by adults to being seen as preparation for the future, instead of being viewed as a stage of life worthy of respect in its own right. This is evidenced in parenting styles, practices and structures in schools, and media representations. As a result of these views of childhood, many extreme ways of living and working with children have been proposed, from over-permissiveness on the one hand, to a call for a 'back to basics' strict style of discipline and education on the other.
Childhood is now seen as being so complex that parents and teachers frequently feel the need to seek out and follow often conflicting 'expert advice' on how to raise and teach children, rather than following their natural instincts and common sense.
"Respecting Children" advocates a more balanced approach, calling for views of children that allow them to be children, and to live their childhood in the present, rather than constantly having to follow the dubious proposition of 'maximizing' their learning and development in order to become more competitive, successful adults in the future.

Each chapter explores a different aspect of children's lives, such as their relationships with others, their capabilities, their behaviour, and looks to how these compare in the different contexts of society, home and school life. 'Windows on research', case studies and discussion questions engage the reader, making this book accessible for undergraduate students of courses such as Childhood Studies, Early Childhood Education and Education Studies, and to those of MA Education and MA Childhood and Society programmes.

The capabilities and possibilities of emerging game-based learning technologies bring about a new perspective of learning and instruction. This, in turn, necessitates alternative ways to assess the kinds of learning that are taking place in the game-based environments. The field has been broadening the focus of assessment in game environments (i.e., what we measure), developing processes and methodologies that go beyond psychometrics practices (i.e., how we go about assessment in games), and implementing the game-based assessment (GBA) in real contexts. The current state of the field calls for a revisit of this topic to understand what we have learned from the research on this topic, and how the GBA work changed how the field thinks about assessment beyond game environments. Accordingly, this comprehensive volume covers the current state of research, methodology, and technology of game-based assessment. It features four major themes: what we are measuring in games, how GBA has influenced how people do assessment beyond games, new methods and practices, and implementations of GBA. The audience for this volume includes researchers, graduate students, teachers, and professional practitioners in the areas of education, instructional design, educational psychology, academic and organizational development, and instructional technology.

A volume in International Social Studies Forum: The Series Series Editors Richard Diem, University of Texas at San Antonio and Jeff Passe, University of North Carolina, Charlotte The purpose of this volume is to provide a review and analysis of the theory, research, and practice related to geospatial technologies in social studies education. In the first section, the history of geospatial technologies in education, the influence of the standards movement, and the growth of an international geospatial education community are explored. The second section consists of examples and discussion of the use of geospatial technologies for teaching and learning history, geography, civics, economics, and environmental science. In the third section, theoretical perspectives are proposed that could guide research and practice in this field. This section also includes reviews and critiques of recent research relevant to geospatial technologies in education. The final section examines the theory, research, and practice associated with teacher preparation for using geospatial technologies in education.

With increasing global challenges, the Belt and Road initiative seems to offer one possible platform to think about different possibilities and pathways to promote international collaboration and development covering Asia, Europe, Africa, and other countries. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in education, as a key focus, provides valuable perspectives for governments, inter-governmental and non-governmental agencies wanting to innovate and advance both ICT and education independently and collaboratively. This book highlights the burgeoning of ICT in education in eleven countries, with particular emphasis placed on the context of the Belt and Road Initiative. ICT has increasingly important roles in education including improve teaching and learning qualities, as well as equity in education. The prominent contributors describe the state-of-the-art of ICT in education in eleven countries based on six major themes (policy perspectives, infrastructure, educational resources, ICT integration into practices, students' ICT competence, and teachers' professional development). We hope the in-depth discussions included in this book would provoke more academic and policy insights globally.

The effective communication of science through language, including reading, writing, listening, speaking, and visual representation, is an essential part of scientific learning, understanding, and practice. Language is the medium by which scientific reasoning occurs, whether be it formal language or symbolic representations of scientific phenomena. Sustainable Language Support Practices in Science Education: Technologies and Solutions presents cases on the results of a study done in Australia on first-year university students and the impact of new techniques of language acquisition on science education. The project covered biology, chemistry, and physics. Nearly 3,400 students were involved in the project, drawn from the University of Canberra, the University of Technology-Sydney, the University of Sydney, the University of Tasmania, and the University of Newcastle in Australia. This book serves as the latest research available on meta-cognitive assessment and language needs for a diverse student body; it is a vital resource for academics and practitioners designing and implementing science education around the world today.

Distance education technology combines communication with educational and intelligent methods to develop software and hardware systems that support learning activities with spatiotemporal flexibilities. ""Future Directions in Distance Learning and Communication Technologies"" presents theoretical studies and practical solutions for engineers, educational professionals, and graduate students in the research areas of e-learning, distance education, and instructional design. This book provides readers with cutting-edge solutions and research directions pertinent to these evolving fields.

This work discusses issues relating to distance education and distributed learning. There are essays covering: rethinking assessment for the online environment; the role of collaborative learning in social and intellectual development; and the embodiment of knowledge in virtual environments.

Primary and secondary school students, college students, and corporate employees are all engaging more and more in some form of online or blended online/face-to-face education. Given the large number of pedagogical and design choices that we must make, however, where do we begin when designing new environments? This book argues that it is important for us to consider how technological design choices interact with pedagogical choices and cognitive states to affect learning behaviors. Specifically, this book focuses on synchronous, text-based chat and asks two questions: first, since research has often reported that chat environments promote conversational equity, which features of this technology seem to help create conversational equity; and second, how this change impacts the content of small group discussions. Using ethnographic-style observations and quasi-experimental studies, this book shows how changing conversational media influences (or does not) the resulting discussion among students. Based on these findings, Chatting to Learn examines the broader implications for the design of conversational environments, whether for educational or business use.

Information and communication technologies play a crucial role in a number of modern industries. Among these, education has perhaps seen the greatest increases in efficiency and availability through Internet-based technologies. E-Learning as a Socio-Cultural System: A Multidimensional Analysis provides readers with a critical examination of the theories, models, and best practices in online education from a social perspective, evaluating blended, distance, and mobile learning systems with a focus on the interactions of their practitioners. Within the pages of this volume, teachers, students, administrators, policy makers, and IT professionals will all find valuable advice and enriching personal experiences in the field of online education.

This book describes the current state of the art of various types of immersive learning: in research, in practice, and in the marketplace. It discusses advanced approaches in the design and development for various forms of immersive learning environments, and also the emerging innovations in assessment and research in the field. In addition, it demonstrates the opportunities and challenges in implementing advances in VR and immersion at scale in formal and informal learning. We are living in a time of rapid advances in terms of both the capabilities and the cost of virtual reality, multi-user virtual environments, and various forms of mixed reality. These new media potentially offer extraordinary opportunities for enhancing both motivation and learning across a range of subject areas, student developmental levels, and educational settings. With the development of practical and affordable virtual reality and mixed reality, people now have the chance to experience immersive learning both in classrooms and informally in homes, libraries, and community centers. The book appeals to a broad readership including teachers, administrators, scholars, policy makers, instructional designers, evaluators and industry leaders.

Do computers foster cultural diversity? Ecological sustainability? In our age of high-tech euphoria we seem content to leave tough questions like these to the experts. That dangerous inclination is at the heart of this important examination of the commercial and educational trends that have left us so uncritically optimistic about global computing. Contrary to the attitudes that have been marketed and taught to us, says C. A. Bowers, the fact is that computers operate on a set of Western cultural assumptions and a market economy that drives consumption. Our indoctrination includes the view of global computing innovations as inevitable and on a par with social progress--a perspective dismayingly suggestive of the mindset that engendered the vast cultural and ecological disruptions of the industrial revolution and world colonialism. In Let Them Eat Data Bowers discusses important issues that have fallen into the gap between our perceptions and the realities of global computing, including the misuse of the theory of evolution to justify and legitimate the global spread of computers, and the ecological and cultural implications of unmooring knowledge from its local contexts as it is digitized, commodified, and packaged for global consumption. He also suggests ways that educators can help us think more critically about technology. Let Them Eat Data is essential reading if we are to begin democratizing technological decisions, conserving true cultural diversity and intergenerational forms of knowledge, and living within the limits and possibilities of the earth's natural systems.

This volume includes a variety of first-hand case studies, critical analyses, action research and reflective practice in the digital humanities which ranges from digital literature, library science, online games, museum studies, information literacy to corpus linguistics in the 21st century. It informs readers of the latest developments in the digital humanities and their influence on learning and teaching. With the growing advancement of digital technology, humanistic inquiries have expanded and transformed in unfathomable complexity as new content is being rapidly created. The emergence of electronic archiving, digital scholarship, digitized pedagogy, textual digitization and software creation has brought about huge impacts on both humanities subjects and the university curricula in terms of nature, scope and design. This volume provides insights into what these technological changes mean for all the stakeholders involved and for the ways in which humanities subjects are understood. Part 1 of this volume begins with a broad perspective on digital humanities and discusses the current status of the field in Asia, Canada and Europe. Then, with a special focus on new literacies, educational implications, and innovative research in the digital humanities, Parts 2-4 explore how digital technology revolutionizes art forms, curricula, and pedagogy, revealing the current practices and latest trends in the digital humanities. Written by experts and researchers across Asia, Australia, Canada and Europe, this volume brings global insights into the digital humanities, particularly in the education aspect. It is of interest to researchers and students of cultural studies, literature, education, and technology studies. The strongest point of this collection of work is that, it brings important concepts to the study of digital literacies, for example, looking at it from the perspective of new literacies, languages and education. Daniel Churchill, Associate Professor, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong With a rapidly growing advancement in digital tools, this book has made a relevant contribution by informing readers what the latest development of these tools are, and discusses how they can aid research, libraries, education and even poets across different continents. Samuel Kai-wah Chu, Associate Professor, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong

Let an award-winning school library media specialist who has implemented a local area network (LAN) in her media center help you plan this important addition to your media center while avoiding the pitfalls. This hands-on practical guide contains all the information the network novice needs to plan, fund, create, and maintain a LAN in the media center. Based on the experience of the school library media specialist who received the 1994 Follett/AASL "Microcomputer in the Media Center Award" for creating a local area network in the high school media center, this guide describes the procedures for planning, designing, funding, installing, organizing, training, evaluating, and maintaining a LAN in a library media center setting. Step-by-step nontechnical instructions and advice for creating an information network are presented in an understandable format. How to expand into a school-district wide area network (WAN) and gain access to the Internet are also discussed. This comprehensive work takes the network novice from dream to implementation, maintenance, and evaluation of a local area network. It covers funding sources, tips for writing technology grants, requests for proposals from vendors, staff inservice and student training, evaluation and assessment, student internships, technology teams, troubleshooting equipment, and network administration. Useful forms, simple network schematic diagrams, a model school-board approved electronic resources policy, a glossary of technical terms, and sample assessment tools are included. No other book walks the library media specialist through every step in creating a LAN. Media professionals who want to provide networked electronic information to thestaff and students but are not sure of how to proceed will benefit from this clear, nontechnical guide to the process.

This book addresses the gap in the literature concerned with global case studies of successful Digital, Mobile and Open Education. The book shares experiences from international teaching and learning projects at all levels of Education, and provides advice for future policy and investment in digital teaching and learning and Open Education projects. It also provides an expectation on the future capacity and sustainability of Open Education.

This book features a selection of extended papers presented at the 8th IFIP WG 12.6 International Workshop on Artificial Intelligence for Knowledge Management, AI4KM 2021, held in Yokohama, Japan, in January 2021, in the framework of the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, IJCAI 2020.*The 14 revised and extended papers presented together with an invited talk were carefully reviewed and selected for inclusion in this volume. They present new research and innovative aspects in the field of knowledge management and discuss methodological, technical and organizational aspects of artificial intelligence used for knowledge management. *The workshop was held virtually.

When facilitating high-quality education, using digital technology to personalize students' learning is a focus in the development of instruction. There is a need to unify the multifaceted directions in personalized learning by presenting a coherent and organized vision in the design of personalized learning using digital technology. Digital Technologies and Instructional Design for Personalized Learning is a critical scholarly resource that highlights the theories, principles, and learning strategies in personalized learning with digital technology. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics, such as collaborative learning, instructional design, and computer-supported collaborative learning, this book is geared towards educators, professionals, school administrators, academicians, researchers, and students seeking current research on the area of personalized learning with digital technology.

This book analyses the classroom blending of face-to-face and online technologies in the teaching and learning of second languages. Its theoretical framework integrates the rapidly changing and developing fields of both applied linguistics and computer-assisted language learning (CALL). It examines such themes as the normalization of the computer and the rise of mobile devices, the development of open educational resources, flipped learning, gamification, and the increased focus on communication and problem-solving tasks in class. The author illustrates how the design or 'bricolage' of blended learning is part of a radical shift in our conceptualisation of the learning environment. Building on the framework established in its first edition, this book will appeal to teachers-in-training, scholars and practitioners of second language education.

This volume provides new insights on creativity while focusing on innovative methodological approaches in research and practice of integrating technological tools and environments in mathematics teaching and learning. This work is being built on the discussions at the mini-symposium on Creativity and Technology at the International Conference on Mathematical Creativity and Giftedness (ICMCG) in Denver, USA (2014), and other contributions to the topic. The book emphasizes a diversity of views, a variety of contexts, angles and cultures of thought, as well as mathematical and educational practices. The authors of each chapter explore the potential of technology to foster creative and divergent mathematical thinking, problem solving and problem posing, creative use of dynamic, multimodal and interactive software by teachers and learners, as well as other digital media and tools while widening and enriching transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary connections in mathematics classroom. Along with ground-breaking innovative approaches, the book aims to provide researchers and practitioners with new paths for diversification of opportunities for all students to become more creative and innovative mathematics learners. A framework for dynamic learning conditions of leveraging mathematical creativity with technology is an outcome of the book as well.