This edited volume with selected expanded papers from CELDA (Cognition and Exploratory Learning in the Digital Age) 2011 (http://www.celda- -conf.org/) will focus on Ubiquitous and Mobile Informal and Formal Learning in the Digital Age, with sub-topics: Mobile and Ubiquitous Informal and Formal Learning Environments (Part I), Social Web Technologies for new knowledge representation, retrieval, creation and sharing in Informal and Formal Educational Settings (Part II), Virtual Worlds and Game- -based Informal and Formal Learning (Part III), Location- -based and Context- - Aware Environments for Formal and Informal Learning Integration (Part IV) There will be approximately twenty chapters selected for this edited volume from among peer- -reviewed papers presented at the CELDA (Cognition and Exploratory Learning in the Digital Age) 2011 Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in November, 2011.

Games and simulations have emerged as new and effective tools for educational learning by providing interactivity and integration with online resources that are typically unavailable with traditional educational resources. Design, Utilization, and Analysis of Simulations and Game-Based Educational Worlds presents developments and evaluations of games and computer-mediated simulations in order to showcase a better understanding of the role of electronic games in multiple studies. This book is useful for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to gain a deeper comprehension of the relationship between research and practice of electronic gaming and simulations in the educational environment.

The volume consists of twenty-five chapters selected from among peer-reviewed papers presented at the CELDA (Cognition and Exploratory Learning in the Digital Age) 2013 Conference held in Fort Worth, Texas, USA, in October 2013 and also from world class scholars in e-learning systems, environments and approaches. The following sub-topics are included: Exploratory Learning Technologies (Part I), e-Learning social web design (Part II), Learner communities through e-Learning implementations (Part III), Collaborative and student-centered e-Learning design (Part IV). E-Learning has been, since its initial stages, a synonym for flexibility. While this dynamic nature has mainly been associated with time and space it is safe to argue that currently it embraces other aspects such as the learners' profile, the scope of subjects that can be taught electronically and the technology it employs. New technologies also widen the range of activities and skills developed in e-Learning. Electronic learning environments have evolved past the exclusive delivery of knowledge. Technology has endowed e-Learning with the possibility of remotely fomenting problem solving skills, critical thinking and team work, by investing in information exchange, collaboration, personalisation and community building.

As an increasing amount of information is made available online, the assumption is that people who visit Web sites will be able to strategize their learning to optimize access to this information. Constructing Self-Discovery Learning Spaces Online: Scaffolding and Decision Making Technologies raises awareness of the strategies supporting self-driven learner efficacy on a number of site types. This book reflects on existing literature about self-discovery learning and what learners need in terms of scaffolding to help them make the right decisions, assess their own level of learning, vet information strategically, collaborate with other learners, and build their own skill sets.

A volume in Current Perspectives on Applied Information Technologies Series Editors Charalambos Vrasidas and Gene V Glass This volume provides examples of current developments on the role of ICT for education, development, and social justice within an international context. Chapters draw on advanced contemporary thinking from scholars and practitioners in the field to present case studies of how ICT can be used to promote sustainable development and social justice. Social justice is understood in a wide sense as the pursuit of democracy, justice and development in the struggle against any form of oppression; it is within this context that ICT is explored as a tool for social change. ENDORSEMENT: This book's central and critical premise, namely that we have now to analyze critically how information and communication technologies can be better used to promote development and social justice, makes it especially timely now that the computer can be said to be part of a global system. - John Willinsky, Stanford University The objectives of this book are: * To analyze the philosophical, historical, political, and cultural backgrounds and contexts that are constitutive of contemporary challenges and tensions in the role of ICT for education, development, and social justice around the world; * To appreciate the contextual and international dimensions of the tensions and challenges faced by educators around the world and contribute to ongoing efforts to sketch a vision for addressing their needs; * To explore ways in which ICT in education can promote social justice and contribute toward sustaining communities around the world

Artificial instructional methods no provide the learning community with exercise specific teaching skills and learning situations that strengthen educator instincts and intuition about best practices. ""Digital Simulations for Improving Education: Learning Through Artificial Teaching Environments"" contains research and current trends used in digital simulations of teaching, surveying the uses of games and simulations in teacher education. An essential resource for teachers, educational technologists, and simulation developers, this book helps solve problems in teaching and learning through introduction of the potential and benefits of practice with digital simulations.

Networked learning is learning in which information and communications technology (ICT) is used to promote connections: between one learner and other learners; between learners and tutors; between a learning community and its learning resources. Networked learning is an area which has great practical and theoretical importance. It is a rapidly growing area of educational practice, particularly in higher education and the corporate sector.

This volume brings together some of the best research in the field, and uses it to signpost some directions for future work. The papers in this collection represent a major contribution to our collective sense of recent progress in research on networked learning. In addition, they serve to highlight some of the largest or most important gaps in our understanding of studentsa (TM) perspectives on networked learning, patterns of interaction and online discourse, and the role of contextual factors. The range of topics and methods addressed in these papers attests to the vitality of this important field of work. More significant yet is the complex understanding of the field that they combine to create. In combination, they help explain some of the key relationships between teachersa (TM) and learnersa (TM) intentions and experiences, the affordances of text-based communications technologies and processes of informed and intelligent educational change.

Teaching and Learning in the Digital Age is for all those interested in considering the impact of emerging digital technologies on teaching and learning. It explores the concept of a digital age and perspectives of knowledge, pedagogy and practice within a digital context.

By examining teaching with digital technologies through new learning theories cognisant of the digital age, it aims to both advance thinking and offer strategies for teaching technology-savvy students that will enable meaningful learning experiences.

Illustrated throughout with case studies from across the subjects and the age range, key issues considered include:

• how young people create and share knowledge both in and beyond the classroom and how current and new pedagogies can support this level of achievement
• the use of complexity theory as a framework to explore teaching in the digital age

• the way learning occurs one way exchanges, online and face-to-face interactions, learning within a framework of constructivism, and in communities
• what we mean by critical thinking, why it is important in a digital age, and how this can occur in the context of learning
• how students can create knowledge through a variety of teaching and learning activities, and how the knowledge being created can be shared, critiqued and evaluated.

With an emphasis throughout on what it means for practice, this book aims to improve understanding of how learning theories currently work and can evolve in the future to promote truly effective learning in the digital age. It is essential reading for all teachers, student teachers, school leaders, those engaged in Masters Level work, as well as students on Education Studies courses.

This book is the result of a research symposium sponsored by the Association for Educational Communications and Technology [AECT]. The fifteen chapters were developed by leaders in the field and represent the most updated and cutting edge methodology in the areas of instructional design and instructional technology. The broad concepts of design, design thinking, the design process, and the design studio, are identified and they form the framework of the book. This book advocates the conscious adoption of a mindset of design thinking, such as that evident in a range of divergent professions including business, government, and medicine. At its core is a focus on "planning, inventing, making, and doing." (Cross, 1982), all of which are of value to the field of educational technology. Additionally, the book endeavors to develop a deep understanding of the design process in the reader. It is a critical skill, often drawing from other traditional design fields. An examination of the design process as practiced, of new models for design, and of ways to connect theory to the development of educational products are all fully explored with the goal of providing guidance for emerging instructional designers and deepening the practice of more advanced practitioners. Finally, as a large number of leading schools of instructional design have adopted the studio form of education for their professional programs, we include this emerging topic in the book as a practical and focused guide for readers at all levels.

Virtual worlds offer engaging, rich visual and auditory experiences to their users. In them, players guide computer-based avatars through virtual landscapes filled with realistic buildings, objects, characters, and the avatars of other players. In the commercial realm, games and online virtual communities attract millions of devoted fans who spend large amounts of time and money in these worlds. In recent years, interest in virtual worlds as platforms for instruction and training has rapidly grown as researchers and designers focus on their potential power as learning environments. Educational virtual worlds are designed to incorporate situated learning concepts of collaborative knowledge building among communities of learners in contexts that closely mimic the real world.

In this, the first text written specifically on how to design virtual worlds for educational purposes, the authors explore: the history and evolution of virtual worlds (commercial and educational), the theories behind the use of virtual worlds for learning, the design of curricula in virtual worlds, design guidelines for elements experienced in virtual worlds that support learning, and design guidelines for learning quests and activities in virtual worlds. They also examine the theories and associated design principles used to create embedded assessments in virtual worlds. Finally, they offer a framework and methodology to assist professionals in evaluating off-the-shelf virtual worlds for use in educational and training settings.

Mathematics teachers and school library media specialists will find this book a valuable resource for using the Web to promote critical thinking in the high school mathematics classroom. It is filled with instructional strategies and an expansive set of activities that cover a broad array of mathematics topics spanning from prealgebra through calculus. Teachers using the questions and activities in this book will help their students meet the standards set forth by the National Council for Teachers of Mathematics.

Various types of mathematics related sources on the Internet are outlined within this book, including data and simulations related to real world situations such as saving funds and computing interest earned for college, purchasing a home, or decoding train and plane schedules. The author develops a framework for critical thinking in mathematics and helps teachers create a supportive classroom environment. Each activity highlights a web source, the mathematics topics involved, the appropriate grade levels of study, possible student investigations, and related web sources for continued exploration, promoting a student-centered inquiry.

This book discusses the significance of flexible scripting to structure CSCL against the framework of "Script theory of guidance" and reports on findings from two empirical studies on the effects of flexible scripting on collaboration in CSCL scenarios. In the first empirical study flexibility was accomplished through adaptivity, and through adaptability in the second. The results of these studies show that adaptive and adaptable scripts enhanced the quality of collaborative knowledge construction processes as well as learners' collaboration skills, compared to inflexible scripts. The findings presented in this book will contribute to theory building of the scripting approach in CSCL. The authors propose two innovative ways of achieving flexible scripting and address the mechanisms by which adaptive versus adaptable script influences collaborative knowledge construction. Moreover, the adaptive and adaptable scripting approaches provide hands-on examples for practitioners and contribute to their understanding of teaching design in CSCL settings.

As the linguistic, cognitive and social elements of our lives are transformed by new and emerging technologies, educational settings are also challenged to respond to the issues that have arisen as a consequence. This book focuses on that challenge: using psychological theory as a lens to highlight the positive uses of new technologies in relationships and educational settings, and to advocate technological learning opportunities and social support where the misuse and abuse of ICT occurs. The Impact of Technology on Relationships in Educational Settings sets out to explore the role of ICTs in relationship forming, social networking and social relationships within our schools and has grown out of the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST); Action on cyberbullying, involving 28 participating countries, and two non-COST countries, of which Australia is one. This cutting edge international text offers cross-cultural, psychological perspectives on the positive uses of new and emerging technologies to improve social relationships and examples of best practice to prevent virtual bullying. This comes at a time when much of the focus in current writings has been on the more negative aspects which have emerged as new technologies evolved: cyberbullying, cyber-aggression and cybersafety concerns. This text is ideally suited to researchers and practiitioners in the fields of Educational and developmental psychology, as well as those specialising in educational technology and the sociology of education.

This book is a product of a dissertation project that was completed in December 2006. This project investigated teachers' experiences in relation to teaching and learning using the hybrid-context instructional model. The dissertation itself has been noted as one of the best in providing practical tips for teachers in this area. The study methodology is included as appendix B. To answer the questions raised during the interviews, the findings of the study have been supplemented and supported with extensive literature review of empirical studies to provide theoretical and practical solutions. The literature review draws from total Internet, blended, and hybrid instruction studies. The literature on the total Internet instruction has relevance in that the Internet piece of the hybrid-context course shares the same course management systems and requires the same approaches and principles as do total Internet instruction. The book discusses the conceptual and descriptive presentations of the hybrid-context model, media, applicable teaching philosophies; strategies best accomplished in each medium; various ways of linking the face-to-face and the Internet activities; the why and how the study participants transitioned into teaching hybrid-context courses, teachers' expectations, etc. The discussion on 'labor of love' is the core of this book as the discussion has captured the surprises the study participants met in a way that is not reflected in the current literature. Built into this discussion are the amounts of things teachers had to learn in order to function well as hybrid-context model teachers. The contents of this book will aide teachers who teach in any way using the Internet. Therefore, any establishment/individual using the Internet for teaching and learning will benefit from the contents of this book. Also, the administrators will find this book a selling point to encourage more participation in the adoption of the hybrid-context instructional model as well as realizing what the teachers would need to successfully implement this phenomenon.

Educational initiatives attempt to introduce or promote a culture of quality within education by raising concerns related to student learning, providing services related to assessment, professional development of teachers, curriculum and pedagogy, and influencing educational policy, in the realm of technology.

This book describes the emerging practice of e-mail tutoring; one-to-one correspondence between college students and writing tutors conducted over electronic mail. It reviews the history of Composition Studies, paying special attention to those ways in which writing centers and computers and composition have been previously hailed within a narrative of functional literacy and quick-fix solutions. The author suggests a new methodology for tutoring, and a new mandate for the writing center: a strong connection between the rhythms of extended, asynchronous writing and dialogic literacy. The electronic writing center can become a site for informed resistance to functional literacy.

How can we ensure we use technology effectively with young children?

Using New Web Tools in the Primary Classroom is for all teachers interested in the application of new web-based ICTs to primary teaching. It offers a justification for using Web 2.0 tools and explores tangible ways in which technologies such as blogs, wikis, podcasting, media sharing and social networking sites can enhance classroom practice, teaching and learning.

Considering key issues such as how children learn, curriculum, policy, and children 's prior experiences of ICT, this book focuses on the expectations and needs of the child and how technology can be unlocked to meet those needs now and in the future. Key ideas considered include:

• Diverse views of social software in education
• Using web tools to create and reinforce stimulating learning environments
• Teacher skills and the availability of suitable technology
• Competing demands of government policies and curriculum
• Practical ideas for enriching learning through social software: Children as producers of knowledge, as explorers, and as communicators.

Enhanced with reflective questions and tasks to support your own thinking, and with practical ideas for using web-based ICTs in a range of subjects and in topic work, Using New Web Tools in the Primary Classroom is a rich resource for all student and practising primary school teachers. Those on Education Studies courses interested in new internet technologies and their potential to enhance learning within primary schools will also find much food for thought.

The objective of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop "Learning electricity and electronics with advanced educational technology" was to bring together researchers coming from different domains. Electricity education is a domain where a lot of research has already been made. The first meeting on electricity teaching was organized in 1984 by R. Duit, W. Jung and C. von Rhoneck in Ludwigsburg (Germany). Since then, research has been going on and we can consider that the workshop was the successor of this first meeting. Our goal was not to organize a workshop grouping only people producing software in the field of electricity education or more generally in the field of physics education, even if this software was based on artificial intelligence techniques. On the contrary, we wanted this workshop to bring together researchers involved in the connection between cognitive science and the learning of a well defined domain such as electricity. So during the workshop, people doing research in physics education, cognitive psychology, and artificial intelligence had the opportunity to discuss and exchange. These proceedings reflect the different points of view. The main idea is that designing a learning environment needs the confrontation of different approaches. The proceedings are organized in five parts which reflect these different aspects.

The virtual campus: Trends for higher education and trainingwas the theme of the IFIP Working Conference on which this book is based. lt was a joint event of Working Groups 3.3 and 3.6, Research and distance Education respectively, of IFIP Technical Committee 3 for Education. International dissemination and promotion of cooperation are IFIP aims that we particularly wanted to address. This is why we opened the event to non WG members and have established a virtual forum on the WEB that has been widely visited. The programme for the 27 to 29 November 97 in Madrid included invited speakers from leading institutions in the field, reviewed and selected contributions from an open call for papers, on-site demonstrations of !arge European projects and discussion sessions involving distant and present participants. The event attracted experts from 23 countries. About a hundred persons were involved, from all over the world. The spread and accessibility of information and communication technologies are rapidly changing p!"actices in learning and research activities, both in professional and academic settings. The number, variety and scale of experiences reported in recent publications shows a growing international involvement concerning not only small groups of researchers but also institutions fully committed in that direction.

This book addresses the issues confronting educators in the integration of digital technologies into their teaching and their students' learning. Such issues include a skepticism of the added value of technology to educational learning outcomes, the perception of the requirement to keep up with the fast pace of technological innovation, a lack of knowledge of affordable educational digital tools and a lack of understanding of pedagogical strategies to embrace digital technologies in their teaching. This book presents theoretical perspectives of learning and teaching today's digital students with technology and propose a pragmatic and sustainable framework for teachers' professional learning to embed digital technologies into their repertoire of teaching strategies in a systematic, coherent and comfortable manner so that technology integration becomes an almost effortless pedagogy in their day-to-day teaching. The materials in this book are comprised of original and innovative contributions, including empirical data, to existing scholarship in this field. Examples of pedagogical possibilities that are both new and currently practised across a range of teaching contexts are featured.

This proceedings volume brings together the results of a corporate discussion on research, academic teaching and education in the field of business and economics in the context of globalization. The contributions examine leadership and sustainability, quality and governance and the internationalization of higher education. With a particular focus on business education and business schools, the book discusses the labor market and modernization as well as contemporary trends and challenges. By including both academic papers and contributions from industry, it forges research links between academia, business and industry.

The following forms the proceedings of the NATO-supported Advanced Study Institute held at the University of Salford, located near Manchester, England, during the period 16-28 August, 1992. The need for this Institute was stimulated by the 1 recommendations from the NATO-supported Research Workshop, held in 1990 , which stated that the role of advanced educational technology in the delivery of technology education be explored in considerable detail. The Institute focused on the key elements of: i) the philosophical and educational foundations for the use of advanced educational technologies in the delivery of technology education, ii) advanced educational technology, and iii) the development of integrated implementation plans employing research from both elements. The partiCipants comprised some 60 selected leaders in the field of science and technology education, drawn from the practitioner, doctoral and post-doctoral levels, and included decision-makers in local and national administration and government in the NATO and CEE (Central and Eastern European) countries. The participants were addressed by a number of keynote speakers expert in various fields. The papers presented and the responses on the participants to the issues developed through the poster sessions, are summarised in these procedings. It is hoped that the work encapsulated herein makes for interesting reading, and assists and educates those active in these areas of educational endeavour.

The aim of this volume entitled Digital Technologies: Sustainable Innovations for improving Teaching and Learning is to contribute in the global discussion on digital technologies as the means to foster sustainable educational innovations for improving the teaching, learning and assessment from K-12 to Higher Education. It compiles papers presented at the CELDA (Cognition and Exploratory Learning in the Digital Age) conference, which has as its goal continuing to address these challenges and promote the effective use of new tools and technologies to support teaching, learning and assessment. The book consists of four parts and showcases how emerging educational technologies and innovative practices have been used to address core global educational challenges; spanning from rethinking and transforming learning environments across educational contexts to effectively cultivating students' competences for the digital smart society of the future. The book comprises Part I: Transforming the Learning Environment; Part II: Enriching student learning experiences; Part III: Measuring and Assessing Teaching and Learning with Educational Data Analytics; Part IV: Cultivating student competences for the digital Smart society. It targets researchers and research students, educational professional practitioners (including teachers, educators and education leaders) as well as education policy makers, who are interested in keeping up-to-date on the global development in this field.

This is a volume in ""Perspectives in Instructional Technology and Distance Education Series"". Editors: Charles Schlosser and Michael Simonson of Nova Southeastern University. ""The Perfect Online Course: Best Practices for Designing and Teaching"" was edited under the assumption that a perfect online course can be delivered following different instructional methods and models for design and for instruction, and by implementing different teaching or instructional strategies. Such methods, models, and strategies are framed within quality educational guidelines and must be aimed towards attaining the online course's learning goals. The book seeks to make a contribution to the existing body of literature related to best practices and guidelines for designing and teaching distance courses, specifically online education. The process of selecting works suitable for this compilation included an extensive review of the journals ""Quarterly Review of Distance Education"" and ""Distance Learning"". The book begins by covering literature related to general approaches and guidelines, continues with proposed methods and models for designing and instruction, and ends with instructional strategies to achieve engagement through interaction. The book is divided into four independent, yet interrelated, parts and a concluding section: Part I: Introduction; Part II: Best Guidelines and Standards; Part III: Best Instructional Methods and Models; Part IV: Best Engagement Strategies; and the concluding section, And Finally..., with words from Simonson who delineates the structure of a perfect online course.