The use of technology has a profound influence in educational settings and has experienced significant paradigm shifts with the advents of e-learning and m-learning. As an expected consequence of the evolution of e-learning and m-learning and improvements in the capability of online networked technologies, educators from the fields of distance education and open and distance learning benefit from ubiquitous learning technologies and environments. With the rising import of flexibility and personalization of online learning programs, this new learning format is needed to accommodate shifting student needs. Managing and Designing Online Courses in Ubiquitous Learning Environments is a critical scholarly resource that provides empirical and theoretical research focused on the effective construction and management of advanced online educational environments. Highlighting a variety of topics such as heutagogy, technology integration, and educational resources, this book is essential for educators, curriculum developers, higher education staff, practitioners, academicians, instructional designers, administrators, policymakers, and researchers.

Self-directed learning is a concept that has been in circulation for centuries, though the topic experiences lulls and surges as contemporary theories identify advantages or improvements to better align the topic with contemporary learning environments. Self-directed learning is an instructional strategy where students accept a leadership role in their own learning practice and an increasingly significant learning technique for undergraduate students performing in a technologically and globally advanced college arena. Self-Directed Learning and the Academic Evolution From Pedagogy to Andragogy is an essential reference book that supports a student shift from passive pedagogical learning to active andragogical exploration and specifically shift from seeking mastery of basic skills to recognizing and reassessing the structure of personal assumptions, expectations, feelings, and actions. It fills the gap between theory-laden academic books designed to help academic faculty incorporate self-directed learning activities into their courses and the self-help books designed to help motivate individuals to learn new skills. This book is designed to specifically empower college students to accept a leadership role in their academic journey. Covering topics such as self-directed learning, lifelong learning, educational leadership, and competency-based education, this book is a foundational resource for teachers, instructional designers, administrators, curriculum developers, academicians, researchers, and students.

This narrative ethnography adopts an aesthetic lens to relay the various lived experiences of a non-traditional, Midwestern public high school during its final year in its original building. Extending upon previous research of high school dropouts, I examine how this one particular high school incorporated a self-paced curriculum with a focus on "family" to address the unique learning needs of students at risk of not graduating. By employing elements of grounded theory, narrative inquiry, and autoethnography, I share the stories of Walgut High School's (a pseudonym) roughly sixty students as they struggle to navigate their respective roles in a dominant cultural narrative to which they've never felt like they belonged. Through the extensive and organic voices of the primary participants-as well as my observations of my own participation in the school culture over the course of a year-this project serves to offer insights not only into the school experiences of marginalized adolescents, but also into Walgut's myriad successes and failures. In particular, this piece highlights the vitality of unconditionally caring or "hospitable" teachers (Derrida, 2000), while ultimately questioning the presumed utility of a high school diploma. The story concludes not by lauding the alternative mine created for Walgut's canaries, but by questioning the purpose and stability of all scholastic minds. As American schools continue making strides to accommodate and support the complex and oftentimes contradictory needs of their students, what it means to succeed as a teacher in (and prepare teachers for) these diversified, inclusive learning spaces is growing increasingly complicated. Indeed, given the shifting paradigm of American public education, teacher preparation programs must continue to adapt their practices and philosophies in order to equip their teacher candidates with the skills needed not only to thrive but also find purpose and meaning in schools similar to this project's Walgut. While this book doesn't claim to offer any answers to the myriad questions concerning the future of public schools, it does endeavor to offer a springboard from which all education stakeholders can continue engaging in healthy and productive discussions of how best to prepare students (and teachers) for autonomous, democratic, curious, creative, and compassionate citizenship both in and apart from their academic communities. To this end, rather than write from a detached, traditionally academic vantage, I have sought in these pages to compose from a personal (albeit limited), passionate (albeit subjective) and participatory (albeit someone marginalized) perspective. In my pursuit of social justice for the characters of Walgut High School, I begin first by exposing my own privileged role in perpetuating injustice. Only through recognizing and naming our own demons can we ever begin to exorcize the System writ large. Thus, in this book's lack, there is possibility; in its futility, hope.

The current climate in education environments necessitates the collaboration on and sharing of research done by teacher educators and professional developers. In an era of high-stakes assessment driven by international tests, professionals are looking for research-based or evidence-based initiatives and approaches to enhance teacher learning, which will in turn impact student learning. The Handbook of Research on Educator Preparation and Professional Learning is a critical scholarly publication that examines pedagogy for educator preparation and growth for classroom expertise. This book features a wide array of topics such as online environments, project-based learning, and urban education. This book is ideal for educators, administrators, professional developers, academicians, policymakers, and researchers.

Advances in technology and media have fundamentally changed the way people perceive research, how research studies are conducted, and the ways data are analyzed/how the findings are presented. Emerging internet-enabled technological tools have enhanced and transformed research in education and the way educators must adapt to conduct future studies. Advancing Educational Research With Emerging Technology provides innovative insights into cutting-edge and long-standing digital tools in educational research and addresses theoretical, methodological, and ethical dimensions in doing research in the digital world. The content within this publication examines such topics as computational linguistics, individualized learning, and mobile technologies. The design of this publication is suited for students, professors, higher education faculty, deans, academicians, researchers, and practitioners looking to expand their research through the use of a broad range of digital tools and resources.

Teacher retention is an area of great concern across the globe as it appears many teachers leave the field after only a few years, especially those serving low-income students. There is a growing gap from preparation to practice. Not only must educator preparation programs (EPPs) be diligent in utilizing systematically effective methods of preparing novice teachers, but schools must also be cognizant of the need for continued mentorship and quality professional development that matches the unique needs of their novice teachers. When novice teachers enter the profession, they must be offered explicit and scaffolded opportunities for continued learning in order to bridge the theoretical aspects of teaching learned in a preparation program to the practical application of a classroom/school setting, as these opportunities differ from the needs of veteran teachers. Collaborative Approaches to Recruiting, Preparing, and Retaining Teachers for the Field provides a collection of theoretical, application, and research-based information regarding a variety of viewpoints and strategies that educator preparation programs must be cognizant of in order to meet the varied and individualized needs of novice teachers so that the academic, behavioral, and/or social-emotional needs of their students are effectively supported. Overall, this book recognizes the constant need for improvement within educator preparation programs and school systems, showcases that teacher retention is a concern across the United States and globally, and shows how educator preparation programs and schools/districts must reach across the boundaries of content-specificity and collaborate to prepare teacher candidates most effectively. Covering topics such as teacher retention, collaborative partnerships, and growth mindset, this book is essential for educational preparation faculty, educational leadership faculty, P-12 general and special education teachers, administrators, government officials, pre-service teachers, students, researchers, and academicians.

Active blended learning (ABL) is a pedagogical approach that combines sensemaking activities with focused interactions in appropriate learning settings. ABL has become a great learning tool as it is easily accessible online, with digitally rich environments, close peer and tutor interactions, and accommodations per individual learner needs. It encompasses a variety of concepts, methods, and techniques, such as collaborative learning, experiential learning, problem-based learning, team-based learning, and flipped classrooms. ABL is a tool used by educators to develop learner autonomy, engaging students in knowledge construction, reflection, and critique. In the current educational climate, there is a strong case for the implementation of ABL. Cases on Active Blended Learning in Higher Education explores strategies and methods to implement ABL in higher education. It will provide insights into teaching practice by describing the experiences and reflections of academics from around the world. The chapters analyse enablers, barriers to engagement, outcomes, implications, and recommendations to benefit from ABL in different contexts, as well as associated concepts and models. While highlighting topics such as personalized university courses, remote service learning, team-based learning, and universal design, this book is ideal for in-service and preservice teachers, administrators, instructional designers, teacher educators, practitioners, researchers, academicians, and students interested in pedagogical approaches aligned to ABL and how this works in higher education institutions.

Over the past 50 years the Department of Science Teaching at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel was actively involved in all the components related to curriculum development, implementation, and research in science, mathematics, and computer science education: both learning and teaching. These initiatives are well designed and effective examples of long-term developmental and comprehensive models of reforms in the way science and mathematics are learned and taught. The 16 chapters of the book are divided into two key parts. The first part is on curriculum development in the sciences and mathematics. The second describes the implementation of these areas and its related professional development. Following these chapters, two commentaries are written by two imminent researchers in science and mathematics teaching and learning: Professor Alan Schonfeld from UC Berkeley, USA, and Professor Ilka Parchman from IPN at the University of Kiel, Germany. The book as a whole, as well as its individual chapters, are intended for a wide audience of curriculum developers, teacher educators, researchers on learning and teaching of science and mathematics and policy makers at the university level interested in advancing models of academic departments working under a common philosophy, yet under full academic freedom. Contributors are: Abraham Arcavi, Michal Armoni, Ron Blonder, Miriam Carmeli, Jason Cooper, Rachel Rosanne Eidelman, Ruhama Even, Bat-Sheva Eylon, Alex Friedlander, Nurit Hadas, Rina Hershkowitz, Avi Hofstein, Ronnie Karsenty, Boris Koichu, Dorothy Langley, Ohad Levkovich, Smadar Levy, Rachel Mamlok-Naaman, Nir Orion, Zahava Scherz, Alan Schoenfeld, Yael Shwartz, Michal Tabach, Anat Yarden and Edit Yerushalmi.