Technology can be a powerful tool for transforming learning. It can help affirm and advance relationships between educators and students, reinvent approaches to learning and collaboration, shrink long-standing equity and accessibility gaps, and adapt learning experiences to meet the needs of all learners. Technology-Supported Teaching and Research Methods for Educators provides innovative insights into the utilization and maintenance of technology-supported teaching and research methods for educators. The content within this publication represents the work of e-learning, digital technologies, and current issues and trends in the field of teaching and learning in the context of contemporary technologies. It is a vital reference source for school educators, professionals, school administrators, academicians, researchers, and graduate-level students seeking coverage on topics centered on the integration of effective technologies that will support educators and students.

Implementing and Researching Technological Innovation in Language Teaching takes a case study approach to investigate the integration of the interactive whiteboard (IWB) into the teaching of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in French schools. The study highlights the advantages of collaborative action research for stimulating and supporting language teachers in innovative experimentation, and seeks to enhance our understanding of the challenges and opportunities inherent in this process. Utilising a framework which can inform further research into innovative practices with other interactive technologies, this book offers a research design and instruments suitable for assessing classroom adoption of the IWB. In this way, the study provides insights into general processes of technological innovation in language teaching and learning which is of relevance to further research and teacher development in today's new learning environments.

The more complex instructional design (ID) projects grow, the more a design language can support the success of the projects, and the continuing process of integration of technologies in education makes this issue even more relevant. The Hanndbook of visual languages for instructional design: Theories and practice serves as a practical guide for the integration of ID languages and notation systems into the practice of ID by presenting recent languages and notation systems for ID; exploring the connection between the use of ID languages and the integration of technologies in education, and assessing the benefits and drawbacks of the use of ID languages in specific project settings

In this book we outline an optimistic, aspirational and unashamedly ambitious agenda for schooling. We make cautious use of the concept of 'future proofing' to signal the commitment of the various authors to re-thinking the purposes, content and processes of schooling with a view to ensuring that all children, from all backgrounds are prepared by their education to make a positive contribution to the futures that are ahead of them. The book focuses on issues relating to technology and social justice to re-examine the traditional relationship between schools and technology, between schools and diverse learners, and between schools, children and knowledge. Drawing from examples from around the world, the book explores practical ways that diverse schools have worked to celebrate diverse understandings of what it means to be a learner, a citizen, a worker in these changed and changing times and the ways different technologies can support this agenda.

Most of the chapters in this book are extended papers from Research Learning in Virtual Environments (reLIVE08), an international conference held by the UK Open University in Milton Keynes in November 2008. Authors of the best papers and presentations from the conferences were invited to contribute to Research Learning in Virtual Worlds, the first book to specifically address research methods and related issues for education in virtual worlds.

The book covers a range of research undertaken in virtual worlds. It opens with an accessible introduction both to the book and to the subject area, making it an ideal springboard for those who are new to research in this area. The subsequent ten chapters present work covering a range of research methodologies across a broad discipline base, providing essential reading for advanced undergraduate or postgraduate researchers working in education in virtual worlds, and engaging background material for researchers in similar and related disciplines.

A volume in Lifespan Learning Series Editors: Paris Strom, Auburn University, and Robert D. Strom Arizona State University Parents feel that a fast-paced lifestyle requires constant hurry to complete the next task and causes them to lose control over how time is spent. This environment makes it more difficult to build relationships with their children and teach them to honor priorities, care about others, maintain health, manage conflicts, and achieve balance. Our cross-cultural studies of families have found that the most important gift parents can give their children is spending time together. Being together without multitasking or other interruptions increases sharing, in depth conversations, learning, and closeness. This book shows how to prepare children for school by providing the following experiences. Parents have a new obligation, introducing their children to the Internet. Parent and child Internet visits are presented for each chapter with guidelines for teaching online. Information about child development stages are provided for parents on additional Web sites. You can link to these Web sites at Information Age Publishing http: //www.infoagepub.com/stromyoung- children Parents and children spend more time watching television together than doing other things. Conversation questions are provided as a tool that parents can use to find out how children interpret events they see and detect learning needs. Children will more likely become creative adults if they receive support for imagination and curiosity. Examples illustrate the merits of playing alone, playing with friends, and pretending with parents. Boys and girls like bedtime stories and are motivated to read when they see parents read for pleasure. Children's books that are recommended for discussion reinforce values parents hope to convey. Parents are responsible for teaching foundation lessons about socialization. Methods are described to foster development of child self-control, getting along with others, managing fears, and setting goals. Parents benefit from feedback on how well their goals and practices reflect principles of child development. A parent self-evaluation form includes questions and answers to identify personal strengths and learning needs. This book is for parents, grandparents, and other educators of young children ages 3 to 8.

This invaluable new text on ICT offers support, guidance and inspiration to anyone training to teach or currently teaching in primary schools, as well as those studying Education Studies at undergraduate or postgraduate level. The book encourages teachers - and pupils - to realise the potential of the full range of ICT resources. It provides primary teachers with the knowledge, skills and confidence to plan, teach and assess their own ICT lessons, as well as to use ICT creatively across the whole curriculum. This is not a how to guide or collection of lesson plans, but instead balances research-based theory with everyday experiences, challenging you to understand teaching methods and how they translates into a range of suitable teaching strategies for the whole class, small group or individual using ICT.

Virtual Immersive and 3D Learning Spaces: Emerging Technologies helps push the conceptual and applied boundaries of virtual immersive learning. Virtual immersive spaces bring with them plenty of promise, of sensory information-rich learning experiences that will enable a much wider range of experiential learning and training-delivered to computer desktops, augmented reality spaces, digital installations, and mobile projective devices. This work explains how these spaces may be exploited for effective learning in terms of the technologies, pedagogical strategies, and directions.

"E-Training Practices for Professional Organizations" is an essential reference for anyone interested in the integration of e-business, e-work and e-learning processes. The book collects, for the first time, the proceedings from the 2003 IFIP eTrain Conference held in Pori, Finland.

The text serves as a multi-disciplinary resource for information on the research, development and applications of all topics related to e-Learning. The first half of the book discusses theories, paradigms and their applications in academia and industry. The last half of the book examines learning environments, design issues and collaboration among the corporate, governmental and academic sectors.

With academic and professional contributors, "E-Training Practices for Professional Organizations" reflects the multi-faceted and exciting nature of e-training studies. This volume presents the balanced view of past developments and current research necessary to truly reach the potential of this burgeoning field.

The call to integrate web-based and blended tools into the classroom forces educators and researchers to rethink their assumptions about teaching-and education in general. Although a considerable amount of exploration has occurred in this field, the breadth and scope for dialogue and experimentation must be broadened.Web-Based and Blended Educational Tools and Innovations contributes to this search for better teaching methods by exploring the technical, social, cultural, organizational, human, cognitive, and commercial impact of technology in education. This volume outlines the impact of Web-based technology on the design, implementation, and evaluation of the learning and teaching process, as well as the development of new activities, relationships, skills, and competencies for the various actors that is implied in such processes.

Why should every student take a computing course? What should be the content of these courses? How should they be taught, and by whom? This book addresses these questions by identifying the broader reaches of computing education, problem-solving and critical thinking as a general approach to learning. The book discusses new approaches to computing education, and considers whether the modern ubiquity of computing requires an educational approach that is inherently interdisciplinary and distinct from the traditional computer science perspective. The alternative approach that the authors advocate derives its mission from an intent to embed itself within an interdisciplinary arts and science context. An interdisciplinary approach to computing is compellingly valuable for students and educational institutions alike. Its goal is to support the educational and intellectual needs of students with interests in the entire range of academic disciplines. It capitalizes on students' focus on career development and employers' demand for technical, while also engaging a diverse student body that may not possess a pre-existing interest in computing for computing's sake. This approach makes directly evident the applicability of computer science topics to real-world interdisciplinary problems beyond computing and recognizes that technical and computational abilities are essential within every discipline. The book offers a valuable resource for computer science and computing education instructors who are presently re-thinking their curricula and pedagogical approaches and are actively trying new methods in the classroom. It will also benefit graduate students considering a future of teaching in the field, as well as administrators (in both higher education and high schools) interested in becoming conversant in the discourse surrounding the future of computing education.

Enhancing Learning Through Human Computer Interaction is an excellent reference source of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) applications and designs. This premier reference source provides a complete analysis of online business training programs and e-learning in the higher education sector. It describes a range of positive outcomes for linking information management techniques, which exploit the educational benefits of Web-mediated learning in computer-supported collaborative learning. Case studies depicting practical approaches for increasing the human dimension of HCI are also included to supply researchers and practitioners with innovative real-life examples.

Educational technology in the broadest sense is knowledge and competence forimproving the educational process: for using hardware (equipment), software (methods), and "underware" (underlying organizational structures). This volume in the Special Programme on Advanced Educational Technology presents the results of a NATO Advanced Research Workshop on educational systems design as a new educational technology. The objective of the workshop was toadvance our knowledge about the comprehensive systems design approach for improving educational systems. The workshop was organized for the transdisciplinary interaction of three scientific groups representing design science, organizational/systems science, and educationaltechnology. Participants were selected based on their scholarship as members of one or more of these three groups. The book opens with theframing papers sent by the editors to participants prior to the workshop, then presents five sets of thematic contributions: the conceptual and empirical contexts of comprehensive systems design, the systems design focus, a systems view of designing educational systems, the educational context of systems design, and high technology focus in systems design.

Evolution of Information Technology in Educational Management As the editors of this volume we are very happy to publish a selection of the papers that were presented at the eighth Conference of Working Group 3.7 of the International Federation for Information Processing which was held in July 2008. The focus of Working Group 3.7 is on ITEM: Information Technology in Educational Management (for more information, please visit our website http: //item.wceruw.org/), and the theme of its 2008 conference was on the Evolution of Information Technology in Educational Management. Our Working Group started its activities (officially we were not an IFIP Working Group at that time) in 1994 in Israel, so it made sense to look at how ITEM has evolved over the years and to reflect on what its future may be. The conference took place in Darwin (northern Australia) which even during the Australian winter is a very pleasant location for having a conference. The town of Darwin was given its name by the Captain of the Beagle (the ship on which Darwin travelled when he made the investigations on which he based his Theory of Evolution) who came to the area and named the town after the giant of science he admired

Technology is currently playing a vital role in revolutionizing education systems and progressing academia into the digital age. Technological methods including data mining and machine learning are assisting with the discovery of new techniques for improving learning environments in regions across the world. As the educational landscape continues to rapidly transform, researchers and administrators need to stay up to date on the latest advancements in order to elevate the quality of teaching in their specific institutions. Machine Learning Approaches for Improvising Modern Learning Systems provides emerging research exploring the theoretical and practical aspects of technological enhancements in educational environments and the popularization of contemporary learning methods in developing countries. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics such as game-based learning, intelligent tutoring systems, and course modelling, this book is ideally designed for researchers, scholars, administrators, policymakers, students, practitioners, and educators seeking current research on the digital transformation of educational institutions.

The aim of this book is to present readers with state-of-the-art options which allow pupils as well as teachers to cope with the social impacts and implications of information technology and the rapid technological developments of the past 25 years. The book explores the following key areas: the adaption of curricula to the social needs of society; the influences of multimedia on social interaction; morals, values and ethics in the information technology curriculum; social and pedagogical variables which promote information technology use; and social implications of distance learning through the medium of information technology. This volume contains the selected proceedings of the TC3/TC9 International Working Conference of the Impact of Information technology, sponsored by the International Federation for Information Processing and held in Israel, March, 1996.

This volume focuses on using visual research methods with children and young people. Featuring insights from academic experts and established professionals from visual industries, it explores a range of issues from visual ethics to children's interaction with place.

The 'Digital Divide' is now a part of the American lexicon. Legislators and public policy makers argue that computer access makes a significant difference in learning outcomes and test scores. But is this truly the case? This is the key question addressed in this meticulous investigation. This book determines whether students with Internet access at have higher standardized test scores than those without Internet access. It also measures a variety of other variables - including household income levels and parents' educational levels - as other predictors of performance on standardized tests. The objective and rigorous method reveals the truth of how Internet access impacts test score performance. The results are of obvious importance to legislators, policy makers, and parents concerned with enhancing student performance. The Impact of Home Internet Access on Test Scores should be part of any collection in education, public policy, and sociology.

During the last few years economics and business education have emerged as one of the largest fields of study in higher education. At the same time, the pressing concern for improving the quality of higher education has led to a definite need for more knowledge about effective instruction and innovation in economics and business education. The book brings together many examples of reform in economics and business education. Special attention is paid to the problem-based learning approach, which over the past ten years, has developed as a very important innovation in higher education. The book contains contributions from a variety of institutions on the necessity of curriculum reform, the choice of instructional methods, assessment and testing, and management of change. It is of interest for teachers in higher education, educational psychologists, and any person interested in educational innovation in economics and business administration.

Collecting and presenting the latest research and development results from the leading researchers in the field of e-learning systems, ""Web-Based Intelligent E-Learning Systems: Technologies and Applications"" provides a single record of current research and practical applications in Web-based intelligent e-learning systems. This book includes major aspects of Web-based e-learning systems standards and certifications, design and development, key techniques, prototypes, products, and applications. Readers interested in the technologies and applications of distance education, online learning, and training will find this book a starting point for the understanding of the notions, techniques, and methods related to the research and developments of Web-based e-learning systems.

"Towards Learning and instruction in Web 3.0," which includes selected expanded papers from CELDA (Cognition and Exploratory Learning in the Digital Age) 2010 (http: //www.celda-conf.org/) addresses the main issues concerned with evolving learning processes, innovative pedagogies, and technology-based educational applications in the digital age. The convergence of these two disciplines continues to increase and in turn, affects the academic and professional spheres in numerous ways. "Towards Learning and Instruction in Web 3.0 "addresses paradigms such as just-in-time learning, constructivism, student-centered learning and collaborative approaches which have emerged and are being supported by technological advancements such as simulations, virtual reality and multi-agents systems. This volume touches on both technological as well as psychological and pedagogical issues related to the developments of Web 3.0.

"Theoretically wise and practically powerful, this book is about how to take full advantage of advances in technology and the learner autonomy they afford, rather than simply adapt to or deny them. It issues a clarion call to language educators and administrators interested in building on recent advances in language learning via the informal avenues of digital communications." --Mark Dressman, Professor Emeritus, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, US, Professor and Chair of English at Khalifa University, UAE "This important and original book challenges us to rethink the design and delivery of the language learning opportunities universities provide for their students. Drawing on Complex Dynamic Systems Theory, Self-Determination Theory and her own empirical explorations of informal online language learning, Denyze Toffoli paints a portrait of today's university language learner that is novel, unexpected and urgent." --David Little, Fellow and Associate Professor Emeritus at Trinity College, Ireland This book takes a fresh look at both context and the language learner in an attempt to shed light on the holistic and ever-changing system of the contemporary L2 speaker's language development. Drawing on complex dynamic systems theory as a means to more fully understand the holistic nature of contemporary language learning, the author attempts to bridge the longstanding gap between formal language provision in Higher Education institutions, and more informal language acquisition achieved through activities such as listening to music, watching films and television, and playing games. Based on a theoretical understanding of the interplay between these contexts, contents and practices, the author offers suggestions concerning the shape of language centres in higher education and the role of teachers in readying the contemporary language learner for autonomous lifelong and lifewide language development. This book will be of particular interest to language teachers, teacher trainers, and higher education administrators.

In this book about a hundred papers are presented. These were selected from over 450 papers submitted to WCCE95. The papers are of high quality and cover many aspects of computers in education. Within the overall theme of "Liberating the learner" the papers cover the following main conference themes: Accreditation, Artificial Intelligence, Costing, Developing Countries, Distance Learning, Equity Issues, Evaluation (Formative and Summative), Flexible Learning, Implications, Informatics as Study Topic, Information Technology, Infrastructure, Integration, Knowledge as a Resource, Learner Centred Learning, Methodologies, National Policies, Resources, Social Issues, Software, Teacher Education, Tutoring, Visions. Also included are papers from the chairpersons of the six IFIP Working Groups on education (elementary/primary education, secondary education, university education, vocational education and training, research on educational applications and distance learning). In these papers the work in the groups is explained and a basis is given for the work of Professional Groups during the world conference. In the Professional Groups experts share their experience and expertise with other expert practitioners and contribute to a postconference report which will determine future actions of IFIP with respect to education. J. David Tinsley J. van Weert Tom Editors Acknowledgement The editors wish to thank Deryn Watson of Kings College London for organizing the paper reviewing process. The editors also wish to thank the School of Informatics, Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics of the Catholic University of Nijmegen for its support in the production of this document.

Instructional quality can make or break the learning experience, especially in digital environments where the expressional nuances of interpersonal communication are lost. The most effective distance education instructors and experts are those who recognize the educational needs of students and are able to address those needs through creative use of the technological tools available to them. Identification, Evaluation, and Perceptions of Distance Education Experts explores the current and future trends, needs, and priorities that affect the development of distance education in a postmodern world. This premier reference work will be of significance to those interested in online learning, teaching and training, communication, and education across multiple sectors such as universities, colleges, schools, profit/non-profit e-organizations, and e-commerce.

Educational technologies continue to advance the ways in which we teach and learn. As these technologies continue to improve our communication with one another, computer-assisted foreign language learning has provided a more efficient way of communication between different languages. Computer-Assisted Foreign Language Teaching and Learning: Technological Advances highlights new research and an original framework that brings together foreign language teaching, experiments and testing practices that utilise the most recent and widely used e-learning resources. This comprehensive collection of research will offer linguistic scholars, language teachers and students as well as policymakers a better understanding of the importance and influence of e-learning in second language acquisition.