The COVID-19 pandemic has brought great disruption in education systems around the world, calling for many institutions to shut down and change to online teaching. Language teaching programs across the globe have responded to the call of distance education, and in the blink of an eye teachers have been challenged to transform their material on to online platforms and/or Learning Management Systems (LMS), even though their material was not initially designed with distance learning in mind. This has led to ELT programs extending their online material for the semesters to come, trying to adjust the material and deliver high quality teaching to their students. The education emergency caused by the virus has revealed that, now more than ever, the world is in need of an education system that favours flexibility and resilience to equip educators, of all sectors, to face an unpredictable emergency that may arise. The aim of the proposed book is to examine the phenomenon of emergency language education further and provide an avenue for teachers and researchers to share their experience, thoughts and suggestions about transferring their material and teaching approaches from Face-to-Face (f2f) to an online setting. The current situation in the language education community has brought a great deal of disruption and frustration among practitioners and language learners. This book examines this phenomenon further and provides an avenue for teachers and researchers to share their experience, thoughts and suggestions about transferring their material and teaching approaches from Face-to-Face (f2f) to an online setting. This book gives practitioners a voice and spotlights their efforts to keep their language teaching afloat during these trying times. Additionally, it will showcase how researchers systematically documented their data with the use of technology, evaluations and reflections, and highlight on creative research paths, which could only take place in a fully online environment.

Today we are seeing a new form of blended learning: not only is technology enhancing the learning environment but formal and informal learning are combining and there is self- and peer-assessment of results. Open learning cultures are challenging the old and long-practiced methods used by educators and transforming learning into a more student-driven and independent activity, which uses online tools such as blogs, wikis or podcasts to connect resources, students and teachers in a novel way.

While in higher education institutions most assessments are still tied to formal learning scenarios, teachers are more and more bound to recognize their students' informal learning processes and networks. This book will help teachers, lecturers and students to better understand how open learning landscapes work, how to define quality and create assessments in such environments, and how to apply these new measures.

To this end, Ehlers first elaborates the technological background for more collaborative, distributed, informal, and self-guided learning. He covers the rise of social media for learning and shows how an architecture of participation can change learning activities. These new paradigms are then applied to learning and education to outline what open learning landscapes look like. Here he highlights the shift from knowledge transfer to competence development, the increase in lifelong learning, and the importance of informal learning, user generated content, and open educational resources. He then shows how to manage quality by presenting a step by step guide to developing customized quality concepts for open learning landscapes. Finally, several methods dealing with assessment in these new environments are presented, including guidelines, templates and use cases to exemplify the approaches.

Overall, Ehlers argues for assessment as an integral part of learning processes, with quality assurance as a method of stimulating a quality culture and continuous quality development rather than as a simple controlling exercise.

Despite the considerable, growing interest in online education, most studies have focused only on the students' perspective. Merely a handful of studies have attempted to address the teachers' perspectives and little has been published on the online teaching experience itself. Expectations and Demands in Online Teaching: Practical Experiences offers a better understanding of how teachers experience the online environment by exploring various dimensions of online teaching, including class preparation, process effectiveness and quality, and technology utilization. The book assists educational institution administrators supporting online education improve their understanding of how teachers experience online teaching, and of the issues these teachers face in their teaching.

The Internet has become one of the most important and most used media for communication and learning, as it allows for the creation of interactive and collaborative environments, whose contents and resources can be shared with a limitless number of users. The explosion of the Internet in the past decade has changed the way many students live and learn, in part because modern technology has made it possible for learners to access information or research any topic of interest from anywhere in the world. Distance Education Environments and Emerging Software Systems: New Technologies focuses on the discussions of computational methods, algorithms implemented prototype systems, and applications of open and distance learning. This reference is a primary forum for researchers and practitioners to disseminate practical solutions to the automation of open and distance learning.

The emerging field of advanced distance education delivers academic courses across time and distance, allowing educators and students to participate in a convenient learning method. Methods and Applications for Advancing Distance Education Technologies: International Issues and Solutions demonstrates communication technologies, intelligent technologies, and quality educational pedagogy as the most essential requirements for advancing distance education for both teaching and learning. A significant research collection for the advancement of distance learning initiatives, this Premier Reference Source assists academicians, practitioners, and researchers in finding answers to important issues needing addressed for a successful distance education.

Are you a student about to enrol on a Problem-based Learning course? Or are you currently engaged in Problem-based Learning and want to get the most out of your course? Are you tutoring a course in Problem-based education? This book will help you understand this popular learning method. It enables students and teachers to experience the full potential of Problem-based Learning.

Introduction to Problem-based Learning pays particular attention to the skills students need to operate within, as well as outside of Problem-based groups.

Technology-enriched online settings provide new ways to support lifelong learning. Learners can interact with other learners, gain from their experiences, and then construct their own knowledge, be it through Google Docs, online collaborative communities, YouTube, wikis, or blogs. Cases on Online Learning Communities and Beyond: Investigations and Applications provides a variety of essential case studies which explore the benefits and pedagogical successes of distance learning, blended learning, collaborative learning environments, computer-supported group-based learning, and professional learning communities. This casebook is an essential resource for educators, instructional designers, trainers, administrators, and researchers working in the areas of online learning and distance learning.

Modern technology has enhanced many aspects of life, including classroom education. By offering virtual learning experiences, educational systems can become more efficient and effective at teaching the student population. The Handbook of Research on Collaborative Teaching Practice in Virtual Learning Environments highlights program developments in the realm of digital worlds in educational settings. Featuring pedagogical methods and topics relating to cooperative learning, hands-on curriculum, and meta-cognitive dimensions, this publication is a critical reference source for pre-service and in-service teachers, school administrators, higher education faculty, and researchers interested in virtual reality incorporation in the classroom.

Distance education is defined as institution-based formal education where the learning group is separated, and where interactive telecommunications systems are used to connect learners, resources, and instructors. This definition is expanded on in the 2009 yearbook of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, which validates this definition of the field. ""Distance Education: Definition and Glossary of Terms, 3rd Edition"" is unique in that it packages the terms together under one cover making this rapidly advancing complex topic easier to comprehend. The book addresses the complexities of terminology used in the field of distance education. In a time where distance education is becoming widely utilized across the globe, this at-a-glace approach makes it easier than ever to respond to the growing demand and questions about this subject matter.

A "Learning Network" is a community of people who help each other to better understand and handle certain events and concepts in work or life. As a result and sometimes also as an aim participating in learning networks stimulates personal development, a better understanding of concepts and events, career development, and employability. "Learning Network Services" are Web services that are designed to facilitate the creation of distributed Learning Networks and to support the participants with various functions for knowledge exchange, social interaction, assessment and competence development in an effective way. The book presents state-of-the-art insights into the field of Learning Networks and Web-based services which can facilitate all kinds of processes within these networks.

Developing an Online Educational Curriculum: Techniques and Technologies acts as a guidebook for teachers and administrators as they look for support with their online education programs. It offers teaching suggestions for everything from course development to time management and community building. The book is designed to provide information to help teachers work more effectively with online tools, develop course materials for existing online courses, work with the internet as a medium of education and complete daily activities - such as evaluating assignments, lecturing and communicating with students more easily. Administrators are also given support in their efforts to recruit, train, and retain online teachers, allocate resources for online education and evaluate online materials for promotion and tenure.

E-learning has assumed a significant role in the educational sector in both face-to-face learning and distance learning forms. Universities all over the globe have adopted e-learning methodology, or are planning to implement it in the near future. ""Cases on Global E-Learning Practices: Successes and Pitfalls"" looks into global practices of e-learning, examining the successes and failures of e-learning professionals. It provides a judicious mix of practical experiences and research in the form of case studies. Written by experts from all over the globe, this book shows how to design instructional strategies for e-learning, illustrates the application of e-learning with case studies, and reviews the potential of e-learning in education and training. ""Cases on Global E-Learning Practices: Successes and Pitfalls"" gives an understanding of the practical implementation of e-learning technologies, including what to do and what to avoid.

New technologies can help teachers and trainers empower learners and create exciting new learning opportunities for students. However, these facilitators must also create e-learning contexts which are properly scaffolded to serve the needs of learners. Cases on E-Learning Management: Development and Implementation meets this challenge by providing innovative case studies covering a range of topics such as teacher education, mobile and blended learning strategies, e-learning tutorial content, digital cognitive games, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education, and distance education. This casebook will enhance the work of educators, instructional designers, trainers, administrators, and researchers in the areas of online learning and distance learning.