Learning Theory and Online Technologies offers a powerful overview of the current state of online learning, the foundations of its historical roots and growth, and a framework for distinguishing between the major approaches to online learning. It addresses pedagogy (how to design an effective online environment for learning), evaluation (how to know that students are learning), and history (how past research can guide successful online teaching and learning outcomes). An ideal textbook for undergraduate Education and Communication programs as well as Educational Technology Masters, Ph.D., and Certificate programs, Learning Theory and Online Technologies provides a synthesis of the key advances in online education learning theory and the key frameworks of research, and clearly links theory and research to successful learning practice. This revised second edition updates data on digital media adoption globally, adds a new chapter on connectivism as a learning theory, and updates the chapter on online collaborative learning, renaming the theory as collaborativism and considering the challenges that arise with the growth of artificial intelligence.

This book considers several aspects of providing quality education at a distance: Quality of systems that support online learning, quality support infrastructure, quality of technical access and support, materials distribution; issues in each of these areas are considered. It contains the papers presented at the working conference of Working Group 3.6 (Distance Education) of the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP Geelong, Australia, Feb. 2003).

While online courses are said to be beneficial and many reputable brick and mortar higher education institutions are now offering undergraduate and graduate programs online, there is still ongoing debate on issues related to credibility and acceptability. There is some reluctance to teach online and to admit and hire students who have enrolled in online programs. Given these concerns, it is essential that educators in online communities continue to share the significant learning experiences and outcomes that occur in online classrooms and highlight pedagogical practices used by online instructors to make their courses and programs comparable to those offered face-to-face. The Handbook of Research on Creating Meaningful Experiences in Online Courses is a comprehensive research book that examines the quality of courses in higher education that are offered exclusively online and details strategies and practices used by online instructors to create meaningful teaching and learning experiences in online courses. Featuring a range of topics such as gamification, professional development, and learning outcomes, this book is ideal for academicians, researchers, educators, administrators, instructional designers, curriculum developers, higher education faculty, and students.

School Education, the third volume of Charlotte Mason's Homeschooling Series, consists of thoughts about the teaching and curriculum of children aged 9-12, either at school or at home. She suggests that parents should practice what she calls "masterly inactivity"-not neglectful or permissive parenting, but simply allowing children to work things out for themselves, do things for themselves, learn from their own mistakes, and to have time for free play, and space for spontaneity. Charlotte Mason education uses "living books" instead of dry textbooks; in this book, she discusses what kinds of books to look for in each subject, and how to use them to teach children to love knowledge and become real readers and lifelong learners. Charlotte Mason was a late nineteenth-century British educator whose ideas were far ahead of her time. She believed that children are born persons worthy of respect, rather than blank slates, and that it was better to feed their growing minds with living literature and vital ideas and knowledge, rather than dry facts and knowledge filtered and pre-digested by the teacher. Her method of education, still used by some private schools and many homeschooling families, is gentle and flexible, especially with younger children, and includes first-hand exposure to great and noble ideas through books in each school subject, conveying wonder and arousing curiosity, and through reflection upon great art, music, and poetry; nature observation as the primary means of early science teaching; use of manipulatives and real-life application to understand mathematical concepts and learning to reason, rather than rote memorization and working endless sums; and an emphasis on character and on cultivating and maintaining good personal habits. Schooling is teacher-directed, not child-led, but school time should be short enough to allow students free time to play and to pursue their own worthy interests such as handicrafts. Traditional Charlotte Mason schooling is firmly based on Christianity, although the method is also used successfully by secular families and families of other religions.

This QRG in the new set of Strategies for Distance Learning Guides explains how to get your students to engage with you, with the content, and with each other during online learning. It is all about bridging "transactional distance"-psychological rather than physical-in the onscreen environment, by using carefully crafted lesson design and teaching strategies. Written by an expert in instructional design, this guide is packed with ideas and tips across grade levels, to help: create community facilitate interactions adjust assessment Replete with examples and suggested tools, this QRG is an indispensable resource for teachers grappling with how to keep students motivated when learning from a distance. Each 8.5" x 11" multi-panel guide is laminated for extra durability and 3-hole-punched for binder storage.

The Design, Experience and Practice of Networked Learning

Edited by: Vivien Hodgson, Maarten de Laat, David McConnell and Thomas Ryberg

"This book brings together a wealth of new research that opens up the meaning of connectivity as embodied and promised in the term networked learning . Chapters explore how contexts, groups and environments can be connected rather than just learners; how messy, unexpected and emergent connections can be made rather than structured and predefined ones; and how technology connects us to learning and each other, but also shapes our identity. These exciting new perspectives ask us to look again at what we are connecting and to revel in new and emergent possibilities arising from the interplay of social actors, contexts, technologies, and learning."

"Caroline Haythornthwaite, University of British Columbia"

"Despite creating fundamentally new educational economics and greatly increasing access - teaching and learning in networks is a tricky business. These chapters illuminate the complex interactions amongst tools, pedagogy, educational institutions and personal net presences helping us design and redesign our own networks. In the process, they take (or extract) network theory from the practice of real teaching and learning contexts, making this collection an important contribution to Networked Learning."

"Terry Anderson, Athabasca University"

"What kinds of learning can social networking platforms really enable? Digging well beneath the hype, this book provides a timely, incisive analysis of why and how learning emerges (or fails to) in networked spaces. The editors do a fine job in guiding the reader through the rich array of theories and methods for tackling this question, and the diverse contexts in which networked learning is now being studied. This is a book for reflective practitioners as well as academics: the book's close attention to the political, pedagogical and organisational complexity of effective practice, and the lived experience of educators and learners, helps explain why networked learning has such disruptive potential but equally, why it draws resistance from the establishment."

"Simon Buckingham Shum, The Open University"

"The networked learning conference, a biannual institution since 1998, celebrates its 14th year in this volume. Here a range of studies, reflecting networked learning experiments across Europe and other global contexts, show important shifts away from a conservative tradition of e-learning research and unpeel dilemmas of promoting learning as an elusive practice in virtual environments. The authors point towards important futures in online learning research, where notions of knowledge, connectivity and community become increasingly elastic, and engagements slide across material and virtual domains in new practices whose emergence is increasingly difficult to apprehend."

""

"Tara Fenwick University of Stirling."

The chapters in this volume explore new and innovative ways of thinking about the nature of networked learning and its pedagogical values and beliefs. They pose a challenge to us to reflect on what we thought networked learning was 15 year ago, where it is today and where it is likely to be headed.

Each chapter brings a particular perspective to the themes of design, experience and practice of networked learning, the chosen focus of the book. The chapters in the book embrace a wide field of educational areas including those of higher education, informal learning, work-based learning, continuing professional development, academic staff development, and management learning.

The Design, Experience and Practice of Networked Learning will prove indispensable reading for researchers, teachers, consultants, and instructional designers in higher and continuing education; for those involved in staff and educational development, and for those studying post graduate qualifications in learning and teaching.

This, the second volume in the Springer Book Series on Researching Networked Learning, is based on a selection of papers presented at the 2012 Networked Learning Conference held in Maastricht, The Netherlands."

This book posits the idea that networked learning is the one new paradigm in learning theory that has resulted from the introduction of digital and networked technologies. It sets out, in a single volume, a critical review of the main ideas and then articulates the case for adopting a networked learning perspective in a variety of educational settings. This book fills a gap in the literature on networked learning. Although there are several edited volumes in the field there is no other monograph makes the academic case and provides the academic context for networked learning. This volume accomplishes three main goals. First, it assists researchers and practitioners in acquainting themselves with the field. Second, it provides resources for reference and guidance to those not well acquainted with the field. Finally and most powerfully, it also allows for the consolidation of a field that is truly multidisciplinary in a way that maintains coherence and consistency.

The development of online learning environments has enhanced the availability of educational opportunities for students. By implementing effective curriculum strategies, this ensures proper quality and instruction in online settings. The Handbook of Research on Writing and Composing in the Age of MOOCs is a critical reference source that overviews the current state of larger scale online courses and the latest competencies for teaching writing online. Featuring comprehensive coverage across a range of perspectives on teaching in virtual classrooms, such as MOOC delivery models, digital participation, and user-centered instructional design, this book is ideal for educators, professionals, practitioners, academics, and researchers interested in the latest material on writing and composition strategies for online classrooms. Topics Covered: Critical Thinking Skills Digital Participation Discussion Board Forums Gender Considerations MOOC Delivery Models Students with Disabilities User-Centered Instructional Design Video Usage Writing Program Administrators

From the family that brought you the Lena in the Spotlight series and the popular For Girls Like You magazine comes Ansley's Big Bake Off, book one in the Daniels Sisters series. This realistic fiction story of family, friendship, and the challenges that so many young girls face each day growing up will appeal to girls 8-12 looking to express their talents and individuality alongside their faith. In this fun, relatable, and inspirational story, Ansley and her family move to a new city to seek a fresh start after the death of their mother. Once there, Ansley finds comfort in things she loves-family, friends, gymnastics, and most of all baking! She even gets the chance to enter a bake off at the fair. But her dreams of taking home the trophy and being on TV are threatened by strong competition: Taylor, a mean girl from her new school. With the loving and prayerful support of her family, Ansley knows she has a real shot at winning. But with Taylor in the mix, will Ansley be able to rise to the occasion? Ansley's Big Bake Off: Features diverse characters Is an engaging read for girls ages 8-12 Is an addition to the Faithgirlz brand Is a perfect birthday gift from parents and grandparents to tween girls, and is great for Spring Break and summer vacation reading Is written by girls for girls If you enjoy Ansley's Big Bake Off, check out the other books in the Daniels Sisters series of middle grade fiction: Ashton's Dancing Dreams Amber's Song

Parents and Children consists of a collection of 26 articles from the original Parent's Review magazines to encourage and instruct parents. Topics include The Family; Parents as Rulers; Parents as Inspirers; Parents as Schoolmasters; The Culture of Character; Parents as Instructors in Religion; Faith and Duty (a secular writer has useful suggestions for using myths and stories to teach morals; along with the Bible, these can give examples of noble characters to emulate); Parents' Concern to Give the Heroic Impulse; Is It Possible?; Discipline; Sensations and Feelings Educable by Parents; What is Truth? (Dealing with Lying); Show Cause Why; A Scheme Of Educational Theory; A Catechism of Educational Theory; Whence and Whither; The Great Recognition Required of Parents; and The Eternal Child. Charlotte Mason was a late nineteenth-century British educator whose ideas were far ahead of her time. She believed that children are born persons worthy of respect, rather than blank slates, and that it was better to feed their growing minds with living literature and vital ideas and knowledge, rather than dry facts and knowledge filtered and pre-digested by the teacher. Her method of education, still used by some private schools and many homeschooling families, is gentle and flexible, especially with younger children, and includes first-hand exposure to great and noble ideas through books in each school subject, conveying wonder and arousing curiosity, and through reflection upon great art, music, and poetry; nature observation as the primary means of early science teaching; use of manipulatives and real-life application to understand mathematical concepts and learning to reason, rather than rote memorization and working endless sums; and an emphasis on character and on cultivating and maintaining good personal habits. Schooling is teacher-directed, not child-led, but school time should be short enough to allow students free time to play and to pursue their own worthy interests such as handicrafts. Traditional Charlotte Mason schooling is firmly based on Christianity, although the method is also used successfully by secular families and families of other religions.

Get great grades from a distance New to online academia and need someone to show you around? You're in the right place--and you're not alone! As more of everything goes online--fueled by tech trends as well as unexpected events like the COVID-19 crisis--it's no surprise that many of us are getting our educations there, too. Online Learning For Dummies is here to welcome you to the gigantic (and gigantically exciting!) virtual campus, and help you get settled in by providing an overview of the endless opportunities offered by distance learning, as well as offering practical advice to make sure you have the right equipment, mindset, and study techniques for success. In a step-by-step style, this friendly guide takes you from the process of determining what sort of online program is right for you, through applying and enrolling, to building the skills you'll need to succeed. You'll learn how to navigate the common features of the online learning classroom, explore the digital etiquette that will help you get the most out of your instructors and fellow students, and discover how to effectively and professionally present your work. You'll also find out how to develop good online study habits to help you avoid distraction, and how to set aside undisturbed time in between juggling the demands of work, family, and social life. Evaluate the latest courses and opportunities Make sure you have the correct hardware and software Develop your online study skills via best practices Avoid digital fatigue Regardless of age or experience, we can all do with a few pointers on how to get more from the vast array of educational opportunities offered online. This book has them all: Get reading, get online, and get the most from that education you've been dreaming about.

Home Education consists of six lectures by Charlotte Mason about the raising and educating of young children (up to the age of nine), for parents and teachers. She encourages us to spend a lot of time outdoors, immersed in nature and handling natural objects and collecting experiences on which to base the rest of their education. She discusses the use of training in good habits such as attention, thinking, imagining, remembering, performing tasks with perfect execution, obedience, and truthfulness, to replace undesirable tendencies in children (and the adults that they grow into). She details how lessons in various school subjects can be done using her approach. She concludes with remarks about the Will, the Conscience, and the Divine Life in the Child. Charlotte Mason was a late nineteenth-century British educator whose ideas were far ahead of her time. She believed that children are born persons worthy of respect, rather than blank slates, and that it was better to feed their growing minds with living literature and vital ideas and knowledge, rather than dry facts and knowledge filtered and pre-digested by the teacher. Her method of education, still used by some private schools and many homeschooling families, is gentle and flexible, especially with younger children, and includes first-hand exposure to great and noble ideas through books in each school subject, conveying wonder and arousing curiosity, and through reflection upon great art, music, and poetry; nature observation as the primary means of early science teaching; use of manipulatives and real-life application to understand mathematical concepts and learning to reason, rather than rote memorization and working endless sums; and an emphasis on character and on cultivating and maintaining good personal habits. Schooling is teacher-directed, not child-led, but school time should be short enough to allow students free time to play and to pursue their own worthy interests such as handicrafts. Traditional Charlotte Mason schooling is firmly based on Christianity, although the method is also used successfully by secular families and families of other religions.

A volume in Teaching<~> Learning Indigenous, Intercultural Worldviews: International Perspectives on Social Justice and Human Rights Series Editor: Tonya Huber-Warring, St. Cloud State University, Minnesota The hybridity and dynamism of today's interconnected, interdependent and culturally diverse world pose challenges and opportunities for learning and communication. This book introduces an approach to facilitate global learning opportunities while facing these challenges. The approach is based on the cage painting metaphor for dialogic coconstruction of meaning and understanding of multiple perspectives. Resolving disorienting dilemmas or preconceptions requires a dialectic flow of thinking since the root of the problem may be situated deep within a person's beliefs and values. Such experiences might be transformative in their nature, involving: a change in the person's perspective; better understanding the culture of themselves and other people; reflection and bodymindful inquiry into one's worldview- third place learning. Misunderstandings are more prevalent when using technology-global reach-between people from distant locations or different cultures.To prepare people for these challenges, the authors offer a Web 2. 0-based instructional design blueprint. Depending on the context and content of the planned activities, the cage painting and global learning processes may be facilitated simultaneously or sequentially. The approach to improving intercultural/global communication and collaboration presented in this book has attracted the interest of educators in different disciplines as well as human resource leaders. This approach emerged from six years of studying ways in which authors and their colleagues from 25 different countries integrated global learning into classrooms in a range of discipline areas. In this book the authors explore the competences needed to communicate interculturally and to avoid the effects of preconceptions on communication and collaboration.

• The first book to cover the strategic implementation of personalized learning in workforce education and higher education settings. • A critical contribution to actionable literature on effective lifelong learning, training, and education programs. • Provides a design framework to address many of the challenges facing existing training programs.

"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.

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.

This book presents various video processing methodologies that are useful for distance education. The motivation is to devise new multimedia technologies that are suitable for better representation of instructional videos by exploiting the temporal redundancies present in the original video. This solves many of the issues related to the memory and bandwidth limitation of lecture videos. The various methods described in the book focus on a key-frame based approach which is used to time shrink, repackage and retarget instructional videos. All the methods need a preprocessing step of shot detection and recognition, which is separately given as a chapter. We find those frames which are well-written and distinct as key-frames. A super-resolution based image enhancement scheme is suggested for refining the key-frames for better legibility. These key-frames, along with the audio and a meta-data for the mutual linkage among various media components form a repackaged lecture video, which on a programmed playback, render an estimate of the original video but at a substantially compressed form. The book also presents a legibility retentive retargeting of this instructional media on mobile devices with limited display size. All these technologies contribute to the enhancement of the outreach of distance education programs. Distance education is now a big business with an annual turnover of over 10-12 billion dollars. We expect this to increase rapidly. Use of the proposed technology will help deliver educational videos to those who are less endowed in terms of network bandwidth availability and to those everywhere who are even on a move by delivering it effectively to mobile handsets (including PDAs). Thus, technology developers, practitioners, and content providers will find the material very useful.

In recent decades, community colleges and universities have struggled with less funding, increased competition, and shrinking enrollment. Borderless online degrees offer opportunities to make higher education more accessible and to make foreign study without having to travel abroad an option. Lower cost, high retention, and reduced time to graduate are all key selling points for these degrees. Global Demand for Borderless Online Degrees is an essential research publication that provides the benefits, risks, and solutions for entering the borderless online degree market and discusses novel online approaches that are cost-effective for higher education institutions and affordable for customers at home and abroad. This book describes innovative pedagogy in fused learning classrooms that builds relationship and promotes retention and student satisfaction. Featuring a wide range of topics such as community college, accreditation, and international education, this book is ideal for university presidents, provosts, rectors, chancellors, international educators, administrators, academicians, policymakers, researchers, and students.