Distance learning has existed in some form for centuries, but modern technologies have allowed students and teachers to connect directly, no matter what their location, using the internet and mobile devices. Mobile Pedagogy and Perspectives on Teaching and Learning explores the tools and techniques that enable educators to leverage wireless applications and social networks to improve learning outcomes and provide creative ways to increase access to educational resources. This publication is designed to help educators and students at every level optimise the use of mobile learning resources to enhance educational experience and improve the effectiveness of the learning process regardless of physical location.

Educational informatics represents the convergence of key aspects of information science, computing, and education while exploiting Web-based techniques and standards. This book provides a rigorous definition of and theoretical framework for educational informatics, while relating to the human aspects of educational information systems. Web-Based Learning Through Educational Informatics: Information Science Meets Educational Computing explores the role of information seeking and retrieval in the development of information systems to support personalized and autonomous learning by introducing key concepts from information science.

This book introduces readers to the current status of smart learning in China by providing extensive and accurate data from different contexts of smart learning. In particular, it investigates smart learning in smart cities, which extends the concept of smart learning to cover both formal and informal learning, and to support life-long learning. With digital technologies and the Internet becoming increasingly integrated into learning, the demand for smart learning has grown steadily, especially in smart city scenarios. As the need for life-long learning is on the rise, smart learning environments in cities should be equipped to meet people's demands. Smart learning/education is also one of the key applications of smart cities. Though the book's content mainly focuses on the educational technology field, research in cities and industries is also included. This book offers a valuable resource for graduate students in educational technology, smart learning environment and smart city researchers, cooperative university managers, and all others who are interested in smart learning industries.

This book introduces new concepts and mechanisms regarding the usage of both social media interactions and artifacts for peer education in digital educational games. Digital games in general, and digital educational games in particular, represent an area with a high potential for interdisciplinary innovation, not only from an information technology standpoint, but also from social science, psychological and didactic perspectives. This book presents an interdisciplinary approach to educational games, which is centered on information technology and aims at: (1) improving digital management by focusing on the exchange of learning outcomes and solution assessment in a peer-to-peer network of learners; (2) achieving digital implementation by using forms of interaction to change the course of educational games; and (3) providing digital support by fostering group-formation processes in educational situations to increase both the effects of educational games and knowledge exchange at the individual level. In addition to a systematic analysis of the relationship between software architecture, educational games and social media applications, the book also presents the implemented IT systems' architectures and algorithmic solutions as well as the resulting applicable evaluation findings from the field of interactive multimedia learning.

The proper exploitation of Web-based technologies towards building responsive environments is highly critical. Novel Developments in Web-Based Learning Technologies: Tools for Modern Teaching addresses diverse conceptual, social, and technical issues in the modern era's broad learning and teaching concepts. This significant reference provides professionals, researchers, and practitioners with up-to-date research in developing innovative and more effective learning systems by using Web-based technologies.

Empowerment is the overarching idea used in this book. The term has a variety of meanings in different sociocultural and political contexts, including "self-strength, control, self-power, self-reliance, own choice, life of dignity in accordance with one's values, capable of fighting for one's rights, independence, own decision making, being free, awakening, and capability" (The World Bank, 2002, p. 10). However, the World Bank report observed that most definitions focus on issues of "gaining power and control over decisions and resources that determine the quality of one's life" (p. 10). This interpretation of empowerment provides a useful starting point for the development of the series of interconnected arguments explored here. Establishment of the basis for understanding, identifying and developing strategies through education necessary for individuals to be able to make choices that inf- ence the quality of their lives is the main aim of this book. There are a number of assumptions and boundaries that frame this analysis. First, the book focuses on "agents"; however, empowerment is often conceptualised in terms of relationships between agency and structure (e. g. , Alsop, Bertelsen, & H- land, 2006). Agency could be defined as "an actor's or group's ability to make purposeful choices - that is, the actor is able to envisage and purposively choose options" (p. 11).

Technology has broadened learning opportunities for students in the modern age. No longer limited by proximity and location, learners can utilize online education environments to attain their advanced degrees. Optimizing Open and Distance Learning in Higher Education Institutions is a pivotal reference source for the latest scholarly material on the development of e-learning programs and other technologies in university settings. Highlighting numerous topics such as quality assurance, learning measurement, and skill training, this book is ideally designed for administrators, teachers, academics, researchers, and professionals interested in emerging trends for open and distance education.

In this book, we put forward a holistic conceptual framework for implementing Scholarship of Learning and Teaching (SoLT) in higher education. Unlike previous SoLT studies, which usually focus on a specific aspect, here various aspects are integrated into a holistic framework. Further, it identifies three main stakeholders, namely, the higher education institution, teaching staff, and students. These stakeholders are in turn connected by four interlocking themes: staff professional development, enhancement of student learning experiences, assessment, and digital technologies. Presenting chapters that address these four themes, this book supports the advancement of SoLT in higher education in relation to existing theories and emerging practices. By helping academics and leaders in higher education to implement SoLT for the improvement of student learning and teaching practices, it also makes a valuable contribution to the field of teacher education.

"The complementary areas of comparative, international and development education occupy a critical part of the landscape in educational policy debates in a global context. This volume brings together a distinguished group of international scholars and practitioners who focus on key policy issues in a variety of national settings throughout the regions of Asia/Pacific, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, North America and Latin America. The topics they address are critical for the future of education in a globalized context and include issues such as social justice, quality assurance, governance, access and equity, marketization, and the role of new media and technology among others. Representing both theoretical and practical approaches to these topics this volume illuminates the many challenges facing education for the twenty-first century learner"-- Provided by publisher.

Workplace e-learning as a socially and culturally negotiated and perpetuated phenomenon remains uncommon, as does the availability of taxonomies that further analyze this idea critically, paradigmatically, and perspectivally. Socio-Cultural Impacts of Workplace E-Learning: Epistemology, Ontology and Pedagogy develops and discusses a socio-cultural sensitivity taxonomy for the socio-culturally based research and study of workplace e-learning. It focuses on the 'what if' and 'why' of workplace e-learning as groundwork for more relevant, meaningful, and applicable workplace adult education and training from workplace e-learning.

The Educational Media and Technology Yearbook has become a standard reference in many libraries and professional collections. Examined in relation to its comp- ion volumes of the past, it provides a valuable historical record of current ideas and developments in the ?eld. Part I, "Trends and Issues," presents an array of chapters that develop some of the current themes listed above, in addition to others. Part II, "Library and Information Science," concentrates upon chapters of special relevance to K-12 education, library science education, school learning resources, and various types of library and media centers-school, public, and academic among others. In Part III, "Leadership Pro?les," authors provide biographical sketches of the careers of instructional technology leaders. Part IV, "Organizations and Associations in North America," and Part V, "Graduate Programs in North America," are, resp- tively, directories of instructional technology-related organizations and institutions of higher learning offering degrees in related ?elds. Finally, Part VI, the "Medi- raphy," presents an annotated listing of selected current publications related to the ?eld. For a number of years we have worked together as editors and the sixth with Dr. Michael Orey as the senior editor. Last year as the senior editor, Orey decided to try and come up with a list of the top programs rather than just the list of all the programs. This has proven to be problematic. First of all, bias exists when we are rating a ?eld in which our program is within those to be rated.

This book presents a challenging and multi-faceted research project that required state-of-the-art methodological approaches. The project involved analyzing data collected from 10,000 research articles published in ten leading journals in the area of educational technology over 20 years, from January 1994 to December 2014; advanced analytic approaches such as latent semantic analysis; and expert insights and interpretations of the subject matter. It captures the trends in a number of research streams within the discipline of educational technology and identifies the point in time when a massive change took place. This is a significant achievement given that, in epistemology and philosophy of science, there have always been discussions of paradigm shifts, but researchers have always identified them qualitatively. This is the first work to identify a paradigm shift using rigorous quantitative methods. The analysis procedure involved big data and sophisticated analysis, which supported the identification of clusters at several breakpoints from which the richest set was selected in order to provide the most detailed analysis. This comprehensive analysis also shows what has been published and by whom in those ten top-tier journals. This work makes a highly significant contribution to the field of learning technologies and provides the groundwork and a significant data source for other scholars, both new and experienced, to build on and expand in their work.

History teachers and school library media specialists will find this guide a valuable resource for creating technologically advanced, resource-based instructional units in American and World History in grades 7-12. It is filled with 150 recommended primary source Internet sites about history ranging from ancient civilizations to 1998 and is stocked with exciting, interesting, and challenging questions designed to stimulate students' critical thinking skills. Dr. Craver, who maintains an award-winning interactive Internet database and conducts technology workshops for school library media specialists, provides an indispensable tool to enable students to make the best use of the Internet for the study of history. Each site is accompanied by a summary that describes its contents and usefulness to history teachers and school library media specialists. The questions that follow are designed specifically to stimulate critical thinking skills. Critical thinking skills are deemed essential for students if they are to succeed academically and economically in the twenty-first century. An annotated appendix of selected primary source databases includes the Internet addresses for 60 additional primary source sites.

To meet the dynamic academic demands of twenty-first century digital learners, many institutions of higher learning are offering more online classes than ever before that are accessible to both traditional and non-traditional learners. As such, a growing demand for online courses implies that participating institutions provide faculty with appropriate professional development programs to ensure the design and delivery of quality online courses. The Handbook of Research on Virtual Training and Mentoring of Online Instructors is a critical scholarly resource that highlights the issues, challenges, and online engagement experiences to enhance effective teaching and learning in this learning environment. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics such as media literacy, professional development, and virtual learning environments, this book is geared towards educational administrators, educators, and instructional designers interested in quality online instruction.

The proliferation of information and communication technology tools in recent years has led many educators to revise the way they teach and structure their learning environments. The growth of technology applications in teaching and training is not only gaining momentum, it is becoming a significant part of today's educational scene.This book presents research and case studies to explain how these technology-rich learning environments can be structured and positive results can be achieved. The authors, based on their extensive research data present the pedagogical and organizational implications of technology-rich learning environments and, more importantly, they provide practical models, ideas and exemplars for educators to actualize the full potential of technology in the future.

With the ever-increasing usage of distance learning programs in academia, the need for well-designed automated systems has become vital to the success of open and distance education. Practical solutions should be discovered and disseminated to meet the software needs of instructors, academic researchers, and software engineers.System and Technology Advancements in Distance Learning meets this need, outlining computational methods, algorithms, implemented prototype systems, and applications of open and distance learning. It is targeted toward academic researchers and engineers who work with distance learning programs and software systems, as well as general participants of distance education.

This book focuses on developing methods for constructing learning paths in terms of "learning resources" (learning contents), "learning approaches" (learning method), and "learning quality" (learning performance) to support learning. This book defines different teaching approaches for learning activities and organizes them into a learning path which indicates the learning sequence. This book introduces how to automatically generate well-structured learning resources for different students. Also, this book introduces a method about how to generate adaptive learning approach to learn learning resources for different students. Finally, this book introduces a method to monitor and control learning quality. The adaptive learning path expresses well-structured learning contents, using which approach to access those learning contents, and in which sequence to carry out the learning process. The learning path comes with a monitoring tool to control the learning progress, which helps to make students having a balanced development on different knowledge and abilities. Researchers who worked in E-learning area, both education and computer sciences people.Educators who worked in educational institutes, such as Universities, Schools, etc. They would like to use or study E-learning tools/technologies/methods in their own work.And technicians who run/design educational websites will understand the appeal of this work.

This volume examines the many aspects of the integration of ICT into the school of the future. It describes the experiences of different countries in developing models of schools of the future with ICT at the foundation. It provides insights into the essential conditions for developing future new learning environments supported by ICT. It includes perspectives from both developed and developing countries as they prepare for future educational systems of the Information Age.

What happens when a new social technology is imposed on the established social technology of the school? This book presents an unusual application of critical cultural analysis to a series of empirical case studies of educational uses of information and communication technologies (ICTs). Drawing on research conducted over a ten-year period in three different regions of the Anglo-American “developed” world, it examines themes arising from the struggle for the social spaces and emerging cyber spaces of schooling; the role of identity projects in educational change; and the paradoxes which arise from these processes. The resulting analysis offers a rich--and sobering--perspective on the rush to technologize classrooms.

Developments in online learning and its design are areas that continue to grow in order to enhance students' learning environments and experiences. However, in the implementation of new technologies, the importance of properly and fairly overseeing these courses is often undervalued. Project Management Approaches for Online Learning Design boldly focuses on this unique area of virtual learning by adopting a theoretical point of view and discussing the planning, organising, securing and managing of resources to bring about the successful completion of online learning goals and objectives. This reference source brings together project management based approaches with an exclusive focus on each online learning design project.

Technology use has become increasingly popular in education. Due to cultural influences and access issues, advances in digital teaching and learning in Chinese education have been slow; however, certain regions have been able to successfully integrate technology into their curriculum and instruction techniques. Digital Transformation and Innovation in Chinese Education is an essential reference source featuring the latest scholarly research on utilizing technology in Chinese learning and instruction, and it provides insights to classroom transformations within the context of Chinese culture. Including coverage on a broad range of topics and perspectives such as MOOCs, blended learning, and e-learning, this publication is ideally designed for academicians, researchers, and students seeking current research on technological innovation in Chinese education.

This book provides an up-to-date study of technical, pedagogical and managerial issues in Web-based learning. The successful application of Web-based learning provides enhancements in workforce performance, helps to lower costs, and encourages innovation for Web-based and distance learning.It presents a selection of 20 refereed papers given at the First International Conference on Web-Based Learning from over 70 submissions by academic researchers and industry developers from 19 different countries. It provides an excellent resource for students, researchers and practitioners involved in Web-based learning.The proceedings have been selected for coverage in:* Index to Scientific & Technical Proceedings (ISTP CDROM version / ISI Proceedings)* Index to Social Sciences & Humanities Proceedings (R) (ISSHP (R) / ISI Proceedings)* Index to Social Sciences & Humanities Proceedings (ISSHP CDROM version / ISI Proceedings)

Student engagement relies on the students and their willingness to participate in the learning process and can be enhanced through the application of various technologies within learning environments. However, strategies for implementing these technologies need research and development to be implemented effectively. The Handbook of Research on Fostering Student Engagement With Instructional Technology in Higher Education is a comprehensive academic publication that focuses on the engagement of learners with academics in higher education and especially how this engagement can be fostered with the integration of new technologies. Featuring an array of topics such as gamification, digital literacy, and social networking, this book is ideal for instructors, educators, administrators, curriculum developers, instructional designers, IT consultants, educational software developers, researchers, academicians, and students.

This book investigates e-learning practices at American and Australian institutes of higher learning, their status quo, best-practice examples, and remaining issues. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, it combines three studies - two using quantitative methods and a third using qualitative methods - in order to gauge the status quo of e-learning. The first study addresses the dominant cultural dimensions, revealing that the main explanation for the results may be the fact that most suppliers of the Australian university's e-learning system had an East Asian cultural background and predominantly traditional perspectives on learning. In Study 2, the findings indicate that the levels of e-learning practice at the Australian and US universities surveyed were above average, although the American university was ranked higher in terms of e-learning practices. In turn, Study 3 investigates current problems in e-learning practice on the basis of four aspects - pedagogy, culture, technology and e-practice - and determines that cultural sensitivity and effective cultural practices show room for improvement, while key technological challenges and issues like faculty polices, quality, LMS, and online support need to be overcome. In general, the outcomes suggest that it is essential for the Australian university surveyed to further develop and update its e-learning system, especially in terms of e-practice, using the same technologies that pioneering countries like America are employing. Indeed, the combination of adopting patterns successfully used in other countries, and adjusting them to the Australian culture, represents the best strategy for educational decision and policy makers. This book provides the basis for designing a culture-sensitive framework for higher education e-learning practice in American and Australian contexts. Moreover, students' and teachers' experiences with e-learning in a comparative higher education context can help higher education instructors and university managers to understand how e-learning relates to, and can be integrated with, other experiences of learning and teaching.

New Zealand schools have experienced unprecedented change during the lastdecade. Radicalrestructuringoftheframeworksforbothcurriculumand qualificationsfollowedamovementtowards self-managementin 1989. The curriculum framework, consisting of seven essential learning areas, has been progressively introduced with completionnotexpecteduntil 2002. Thenew Qualifications Framework, based on unit standards, was launched in 1994. The introduction of unit standards signalled an emphatic movement towards the use of internal assessment for awarding qualifications at the seniorsecondaryschoollevel. Eachcoursehadunitstandardsdefined, which described the outcomes and the performance criteria that would be used to determine whether or not the standard had been achieved. Approximately five to eight standards would be used for each full year course and each standard had a number of credits associated with it. The plan, which has since been modified, was for these credits to contribute to a National Certificate of Educational Achievement, at years 12 and 13, and other, subject specific, National Certificates. Secondary schools were faced with the task of recording and reporting 1 unit standardresults to theNew Zealand Qualifications Authority . This, by itself, was not a major issue as the significant suppliers of CSIS had modules availablewhichsatisfiedthis need. Atthistimeamodelwasbeingpresented to school audiences demonstrating how the recording, reporting and evaluation ofassessment data, relating to the curriculumframework, could be relatively straight forward IF there was a common assessment 'currency' across the school. This model was converted into software form for demonstration purposes.