Game-based learning environments and learning analytics are attracting increasing attention from researchers and educators, since they both can enhance learning outcomes. This book focuses on the application of data analytics approaches and research on human behaviour analysis in game-based learning environments, namely educational games and gamification systems, to provide smart learning. Specifically, it discusses the purposes, advantages and limitations of applying such approaches in these environments. Additionally, the various smart game-based learning environments presented help readers integrate learning analytics in their educational games and gamification systems to, for instance, assess and model students (e.g. their computational thinking) or enhance the learning process for better outcomes. Moreover, the book presents general guidelines on various aspects, such as collecting data for analysis, game-based learning environment design, system architecture and applied algorithms, which facilitate incorporating learning analytics into educational games and gamification systems. After a general introduction to help readers become familiar with the subject area, the individual chapters each discuss a different aim of applying data analytics approaches in educational games and gamification systems. Lastly, the conclusion provides a summary and presents general guidelines and frameworks to consider when designing smart game-based learning environments with learning analytics.

Whether you are a technophobe or an accomplished in integrating technology into your classroom, this book is for you. Using Technology in Middle Grades Language Arts will provide you with ideas for incorporating technology into your classroom for real results. There are practical "how to" tips and suggested activities, as well as scores of resources. Often teachers implement technology for the sake of meeting state or local standards. This text not only presents technology applications, but also facilitates reflections on your beliefs and motivation for implementing technology.

Effective educational leadership entails continuously seeking and implementing innovative professional development opportunities for teachers and support staff. In today's age of rapid technology expansion within educational settings, professional development targeting technology integration remains an area of tremendous need. This guidebook details the process of collegial coaching for technology integration within educational environments and is intended for use within a variety of settings, from primary classrooms through high schools to graduate educational leadership and instructional technology courses and beyond.

Exponential Technologies:Higher Education in an Era of Serial Disruptions provides an introduction to leaders in community colleges and universities to the near future impact of technologies that a developing in an exponential manner. Whereas past technologies grew in a linear pattern, gradually, the technologies of the twenty-first century develop in what appears initially to be gradual, almost off to side without much fanfare. However, the gradual process reaches a certain point when it suddenly, without warning, increases in speed phenomenally; it appears to come from nowhere to the surprise of many. Although the technologies first impact the business community, it rapidly follows up toward the educational environment. If leaders in higher education are unaware of the exponential growth of the technologies, the institutions they lead will be caught unprepared and may find it very difficult, if not impossible, to catch up. Moore's law, which claims that computer power doubles every 18 months, is the force behind the exponential velocity. Leaders and faculty must become aware of the technologies and learn how to deal with them or the technologies will deal with the unprepared.

This book is an investigation into the role which social presence and identity play in online learning environments. Scholars across disciplines have grappled with the questions of what it means for a person to be and to interact online. In the context of online learning, these questions reflect specific concerns related to how well people can learn in a setting limited to mediated interactions and lacking various communication cues. For example, how can a teacher and students come to know each other if they cannot see each other? How can they effectively understand and communicate with each other if they are separated by space and, in many instances, time? These concerns are related to social presence and identity, both of which are complex, multi-faceted, and closely interrelated constructs. The chapters in this book consider how online learning has developed and changed over time in terms of technology, pedagogy, and familiarity. Collectively these chapters show the diverse ways that educational researchers have explored social presence and identity. They also highlight some of the nuanced concerns online educators might have in these areas. This book was originally published as a special issue of Distance Education.

Effective educational leadership entails continuously seeking and implementing innovative professional development opportunities for teachers and support staff. In today's age of rapid technology expansion within educational settings, professional development targeting technology integration remains an area of tremendous need. This guidebook details the process of collegial coaching for technology integration within educational environments and is intended for use within a variety of settings, from primary classrooms through high schools to graduate educational leadership and instructional technology courses and beyond.

How do students become successful writers and excited about writing? Blogging or other online writing in your classroom can build literacies in all content areas by giving students the frequent writing practice that is missing in classrooms today. Students have to write to get better at writing. They need to write to an authentic audience- real people who are interested in what they have to say and are willing to comment back and engage in further conversation. Simply put, they need practice time in interactive writing. How might teachers do this? This book is the answer to this question. The book investigates blogs as digital spaces where students can practice writing and converse with an authentic audience. It focuses on idea development and gives students voice. Today's students already occupy or will inhabit new online spaces in the future. Schools and teachers must move forward with the students and embrace this world across the curriculum in purposeful and creative ways. This will transform schools and teacher classrooms!

Lexicon of Online and Distance Learning, a desktop resource, focuses specifically on distance education for researchers and practitioners. It provides key information about all levels of education (that is, K-12, higher education, proprietary education, and corporate training), allowing for comprehensive coverage of the discipline of distance education. The book offers a comprehensive index of distance learning terms; cross-references to synonyms and, when appropriate, online web links to encourage further exploration. Each lexicon entry is categorized by its root terminology-general, education, technology, instructional technology, or distance education-and provides the actual definition and complete exploration of the term along with specific references that include related books, volumes, and available manuscripts.

The presence of handheld technologies in the classroom isn't enough - you need to know how to use them to enhance teaching and transform learning. As more and more primary schools acquire devices such as iPads and tablets, it is becoming clear that adding them as a classroom resource is not enough. Teachers and trainees need strategies to integrate these into existing learning contexts in a meaningful way. Without this, these fantastic resources lose their value. This book helps teachers to make the most of these devices in the primary classroom. It offers guidance on: how to use tablets to devise meaningful learning activities embed them in genuine curriculum contexts, drawing upon case studies from existing practice It is written for non-specialists and explains technical terms in an accessible, practical way. Each chapter begins with a case study contributed by a teacher using tablets in schools. Real life examples and comments like this give the text a truly practical focus. The book's Pinterest board includes the apps mentioned in the book as well as a handy infographic for a snapshot guide on starting off your tablet teaching journey. A note from the authors The use of technology in schools continues to evolve rapidly as new devices and tools become available, and the adoption of mobile devices such as iPads and tablets has been a particularly exciting development in recent years. The benefits offered by these technologies, such as their portability, connectivity, accessibility and range of media, present new challenges and opportunities for teaching and learning. As the take up of tablets gathers pace in our schools there is a need for advice on the best approaches and apps to help achieve successful learning outcomes. Teachers need to find meaningful ways to integrate the devices into their own practice and to evaluate which of the many thousands of educational apps might be appropriate for their pupils. This book considers how iPads and tablets can be used to enhance teaching and learning in primary schools. It is especially relevant in the light of the computing curriculum, which puts a new emphasis on children as makers and creators of digital content. Across other curriculum subjects too, the introduction of mobile devices that can be quickly and reliably accessed has precipitated a shift in practice. For example, they have enabled teachers and children to spontaneously pursue lines of inquiry, to connect, collaborate and publish in many different ways, and to use their digital skills to enhance their exploration of the physical world outside the classroom. With these opportunities in mind, we offer anecdotes from the classroom and examples of how tablets might be embedded within current pedagogy and practice as a natural learning tool. Each chapter combines a practical case study with discussion of related pedagogy, and recommends apps to support a personalised, inclusive and active approach to teaching and learning.

This book illustrates the latest developments in literacy and language assessment in the digital context, and subsequently presents a rigorous validation study on a newly proposed form of assessment (scenario-based assessment, SBA) that seeks to respond to the contextual change of literacy activities. It combines theories and innovative practices in both the literacy and language assessment sectors. The empirical validation study on SBA, presented here, can help readers understand how digital scenarios can be realized in assessment practices with the aid of computer technology, and how the scenario settings in the digital context can affect EFL learners' reading-to-writing performance. In this way, it can facilitate the reconceptualization of L2 literacy in the digital context. Moreover, the evidence and critical examination presented here can offer readers more comprehensive insights into the value or validity of a given innovative approach before it is adopted in their contexts.

An essential text for researchers and academics seeking the most comprehensive and up-to-date coverage of all aspects of e-learning and ICT in education, this book is a multidisciplinary forum covering technical, pedagogical, organizational, instructional and policy aspects of the topic. Representing the best peer-reviewed papers from the 8th Panhellenic Conference on ICT in Education, special emphasis is given to applied research relevant to educational practice and guided by the educational realities in schools, colleges, universities and informal learning organizations. The volume encompasses the current trends and issues which determine and inform the integration of ICT in educational practice, including educational software, educational games, collaborative learning, virtual learning environments, social networks, learning analytics, digital museums, as well as the evolution of e-learning.

How do students become successful writers and excited about writing? Blogging or other online writing in your classroom can build literacies in all content areas by giving students the frequent writing practice that is missing in classrooms today. Students have to write to get better at writing. They need to write to an authentic audience- real people who are interested in what they have to say and are willing to comment back and engage in further conversation. Simply put, they need practice time in interactive writing. How might teachers do this? This book is the answer to this question. The book investigates blogs as digital spaces where students can practice writing and converse with an authentic audience. It focuses on idea development and gives students voice. Today's students already occupy or will inhabit new online spaces in the future. Schools and teachers must move forward with the students and embrace this world across the curriculum in purposeful and creative ways. This will transform schools and teacher classrooms!

More and more educational scenarios and learning landscapes are developed using blogs, wikis, podcasts and e-portfolios. Web 2.0 tools give learners more control, by allowing them to easily create, share or reuse their own learning materials, and these tools also enable social learning networks that bridge the border between formal and informal learning. However, practices of strategic innovation of universities, faculty development, assessment, evaluation and quality assurance have not fully accommodated these changes in technology and teaching.

Ehlers and Schneckenberg present strategic approaches for innovation in universities. The contributions explore new models for developing and engaging faculty in technology-enhanced education, and they detail underlying reasons for why quality assessment and evaluation in new - and often informal - learning scenarios have to change. Their book is a practical guide for educators, aimed at answering these questions. It describes what E-learning 2.0 is, which basic elements of Web 2.0 it builds on, and how E-learning 2.0 differs from Learning 1.0. The book also details a number of quality methods and examples, such as self-assessment, peer-review, social recommendation, and peer-learning, using illustrative cases and giving practical recommendations. Overall, it offers a step-by-step guide for educators so that they can choose their own quality assurance or assessment methods, or develop their own evaluation methodology for specific learning scenarios.

The book addresses everyone involved in higher education - university leaders, chief information officers, change and quality assurance managers, and faculty developers. Pedagogical advisers and consultants will find new insights and practices for the integration and management of novel learning technologies in higher education. The volume fosters in lecturers and teachers a sound understanding of the need and strategy for change, and it provides them with practical recommendations on competence and quality methodologies.

This book is a result of research into ten technologies currently under development that will directly affect community colleges and universities, most within the next 5-20 years and a few within the next 20-30 years. The research conducted on each of the technologies provides a baseline of current development, and predictions of when they may impact institutions of higher education. These technologies develop in two phases, first, in a linear manner, and second, following up with an exponential velocity. The development of Uber and Airbnb are good examples of the speed of exponential development. Institutions of higher education need to be prepared for the disruptions that the ten technologies discussed will create.

Managing the New Tools in K-12 Teaching and Learning: How Technology Can Enable School Improvement is about how to manage technology for learning at the district and school levels. It provides an overview of the components of learning technology; these include student devices, networking, software productivity toolkits, electronic curricula and resources, and data system infrastructure. And, it discusses how we can manage our technology efforts more effectively to help our students attain the benefits of this technology. The book concludes with case studies of how this is being done at pioneering districts. We are now at a tipping point in implementing learning technology on a larger scale. This is happening very quickly! Historically, learning technology was driven by a strategy of "technology integration," where we called on individual teachers to each determine how to use technology in their classes and make changes in their own ways of working. But to successfully implement technology on the scale we need requires top-down as well as bottom-up efforts. Managing the New Tools in K-12 Teaching and Learning focuses on how districts and schools can now use technology to bring about the big improvements in learning we are all striving for.

This book will bring awareness to community college administrators and faculty to the recent technological developments, such as Artificial Intelligence, autonomous vehicles, personal robots, 3-D printing, the Internet of Things, nanotechnology, genome research, bitcoin, and quantum computing. These technologies will require radical change in the operation of community colleges. This book describes the new technologies, discusses the impact on the community college environment, and provides recommendations for modifying college operations.

In this book, the authors integrate STEM (i.e., science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) concepts and the cultivation of young minds in order to be open to innovation. This book uses STEM instruction as blurring the lines among basic subject areas. Often, it's more than integrating science, mathematics, engineering, and technology. Ideas, activities, and projects can be integrated with lessons from the language arts to the Arts as well. In this book, STEM is treated as more of a philosophy than a program or a set of activities.

This book will bring awareness to community college administrators and faculty to the recent technological developments, such as Artificial Intelligence, autonomous vehicles, personal robots, 3-D printing, the Internet of Things, nanotechnology, genome research, bitcoin, and quantum computing. These technologies will require radical change in the operation of community colleges. This book describes the new technologies, discusses the impact on the community college environment, and provides recommendations for modifying college operations.

This book is a result of research into ten technologies currently under development that will directly affect community colleges and universities, most within the next 5-20 years and a few within the next 20-30 years. The research conducted on each of the technologies provides a baseline of current development, and predictions of when they may impact institutions of higher education. These technologies develop in two phases, first, in a linear manner, and second, following up with an exponential velocity. The development of Uber and Airbnb are good examples of the speed of exponential development. Institutions of higher education need to be prepared for the disruptions that the ten technologies discussed will create.

Managing the New Tools in K-12 Teaching and Learning: How Technology Can Enable School Improvement is about how to manage technology for learning at the district and school levels. It provides an overview of the components of learning technology; these include student devices, networking, software productivity toolkits, electronic curricula and resources, and data system infrastructure. And, it discusses how we can manage our technology efforts more effectively to help our students attain the benefits of this technology. The book concludes with case studies of how this is being done at pioneering districts. We are now at a tipping point in implementing learning technology on a larger scale. This is happening very quickly! Historically, learning technology was driven by a strategy of "technology integration," where we called on individual teachers to each determine how to use technology in their classes and make changes in their own ways of working. But to successfully implement technology on the scale we need requires top-down as well as bottom-up efforts. Managing the New Tools in K-12 Teaching and Learning focuses on how districts and schools can now use technology to bring about the big improvements in learning we are all striving for.

Technology has allowed the world to become a smaller place. Today's students will have actual and virtual access to more parts of the world than ever imagined by the previous generation, and teachers must be skilled in providing a global perspective to the curriculum that goes beyond the traditional focus on heroes and holidays. Instead, new approaches will extend the focus of the classroom to a more inclusive, global perspective. Such new approaches that include the creative use of technology will help students understand and appreciate those who live in different cultures. The purpose of Capturing Change is to provide these approaches. This book offers: 1. Three models for globalizing the classroom. The first model approach promotes a global curriculum, which focuses on understanding of individual differences and on reducing conflict between cultures. The second model is an integration approach, which advocates the inclusion of global issues into all curriculums. The third model reviews the traditional unit approach. 2. Activities that utilize technology. There are four strategies proven effective for using technology in the classroom as suggested by The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) in its National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS-T). The strategies include Web-based lessons, multimedia presentations, telecomputing projects, and online discussions, all four of which can be used by classroom teachers to incorporate technology into the global curriculum. 3. Research on globalizing the curriculum. This research will particularly focus on the teaching of social studies, science, mathematics, literature, related arts and physical education. For inservice and preservice teachers at all levels.

Developments in the education field are affected by numerous, and often conflicting, social, cultural, and economic factors. With the increasing corporatization of education, teaching and learning paradigms are continuously altered. Deconstructing the Education-Industrial Complex in the Digital Age is an authoritative reference source for the latest scholarly research on the shifting structure of school models in response to technological advances and corporate presence in educational contexts. Highlighting a comprehensive range of pertinent topics, such as teacher education, digital literacy, and neoliberalism, this book is ideally designed for educators, professionals, graduate students, researchers, and academics interested in the implications of the education-industrial complex.

Few things are as certain as societal changes-and the pressing need for educators to prepare students with the knowledge and ways of thinking necessary for the challenges in a changing world. In the forward-thinking pages of Designs for Learning Environments of the Future, international teams of researchers present emerging developments and findings in learning sciences and technologies at the infrastructure, curricular, and classroom levels.
Focusing on ideas about designing innovative environments for learning in areas such as biology, engineering, genetics, mathematics, and computer science, the book surveys a range of learning technologies being explored around the world-a spectrum as diverse as digital media, computer modeling, and 3D virtual worlds-and addresses challenges arising from their design and use. The editors' holistic perspective frames these innovations as not only discrete technologies but as flexible learning environments that foster student engagement, participation, and collaboration. Contributors describe possibilities for teaching and learning in these and other cutting-edge areas:

• Working with hypermodels and model-based reasoning
• Using visual representations in teaching abstract concepts
• Designing strategies for learning in virtual worlds
• Supporting net-based collaborative teams
• Integrating innovative learning technologies into schools
• Developing personal learning communities

Designs for Learning Environments of the Future will enhance the work of a wide range of professionals, including researchers and graduate students in the learning and cognitive sciences, and educators in the physical and social sciences.

Make the most of today's technology to give your students a more interactive, authentic, global learning experience! Connecting Your Students with the Virtual World shows you how to plan themed projects for every season, embark on virtual field trips, and get students in touch with other classrooms worldwide. This updated edition includes a key new chapter on taking video conferencing to the next level for optimal student engagement and collaboration, as well as new chapters on connecting through games and esports and connecting with parents. The book includes a wide variety of standards-based, step-by-step activities you can implement immediately.

Make the most of today's technology to give your students a more interactive, authentic, global learning experience! Connecting Your Students with the Virtual World shows you how to plan themed projects for every season, embark on virtual field trips, and get students in touch with other classrooms worldwide. This updated edition includes a key new chapter on taking video conferencing to the next level for optimal student engagement and collaboration, as well as new chapters on connecting through games and esports and connecting with parents. The book includes a wide variety of standards-based, step-by-step activities you can implement immediately.