Designed for administrators and human resources professionals responsible for hiring educators, Preparing Educators for Online Learning offers a compelling look into the world of online educator preparation. As more and more educator preparation programs move part or all of their training online, hiring professionals need insight into the design and characteristics of quality online programs and how those translate into quality prospective employees. Framed by viewpoints and commentary from practicing administrators and HR specialists, as well as online professors and students, Preparing Educators for Online Learning , offers an explication of the components of a quality online program, research related to the effectiveness of online training, assessments for quality candidates, possible hiring guidelines and interview approaches, and commentary on the implications for educators, including higher education institutions and PK-12 schools, both now and going forward.

Mobile Learning in Schools explores the potential for using mobile devices in diverse school and college settings around the globe. It evaluates the exciting opportunities mobile initiatives bring and shares experience of where things can go wrong, in order to ensure that those embarking on new projects are fully informed. Drawing on a wide range of international perspectives, it unpicks knotty sociocultural issues, including lack of sustainability, behavioural and ethical concerns, and explores successful student learning. Key issues considered include: mobile learning in primary schools teaching and learning with mobile devices in secondary schools opportunities inside and outside school pedagogical principles and sustainability mobile learning for initial teacher training and CPD ethical considerations behaviour matters - disruption, plagiarism, cheating, cyberbullying assessing mobile learning. With annotated further reading and questions to trigger reflection and further discussion amongst readers, this thought-provoking text provides a detailed survey of this often controversial topic. It is essential reading for all those engaged in understanding the potential for using mobile devices to support students' learning.

The process of integrating technology into education often overlooks that technology is a sign; it is not a neutral message conveyor, but rather a material artefact placed into a context inevitably subject to culture. In an original and novel combination, Decoding Technology Acceptance in Education brings together two academic domains not previously pursued together, yet which diverge in many ways: cultural studies and technology acceptance studies. Drawing on empirical data, Stockman demonstrates that teachers activate a meaning-making process through encoding and decoding signs around technology as an artefact of culture, and as a result their acceptance behaviour and decisions rely on the dynamics of the cultural whole to which they belong. In this study, technology acceptance is revisited as an issue of cultural negotiation; the common approach, which provides an instrumental view on technology as a neutral tool, is insufficient for the topic of technology acceptance. Rather than proposing yet another model of technology acceptance, Decoding Technology Acceptance in Education offers a renewed frame of mind and the conclusions it provides are of vital importance to the theoretical and practical advancement of technology acceptance studies, as well as to the practical integration of technology into education. Providing original empirical evidence for the influence of culture on educational decision-making, the book raises awareness for the importance of cultural research in areas where it has been under-considered. This book will be of great interest to researchers, academics and postgraduate students engaged in the study of technology acceptance and technology use in education, as well as those interested in cultural studies.

An Instructor's Guide to Teaching Military Students is a resource for online and on-ground educators in private and public learning institutions around the world. The content applies to faculty members in liberal arts and research-oriented institutions, and vocational trainers. Topics are related to the creation of lecture material and delivery of course content in computer and information science, engineering, and engineering technology, healthcare, business and finance, marketing communications and general education courses in the arts and social sciences. Suggestions on providing feedback that is sensitive to the unique culture and experiences of military students are provided as well. The last chapter includes the opinions of academic and military experts on what progress has been made in meeting the needs of this particular student population, as well as predictions about future changes that will facilitate the transition from service member to scholar. The term, "military learners" has been adapted for this text to include active-duty service members and their families, veterans, members of the U.S. National Guard, and reservists, as well as U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) contractors. Language used that can be easily understood and applied by the novice instructor, or the seasoned professional. This handbook also provides useful suggestions on helping students translate their military training and experience into more active classroom participation.

There are two distinct professional communities that share an interest in using innovative approaches and emerging technologies to design and implement effective support for learning. This edited collection addresses the growing divide between the learning sciences community and the instructional design and technology community, bringing leading scholars from both fields together in one volume in an attempt to find productive middle ground. Chapters discuss the implications of not bridging this divide, propose possible resolutions, and go on to lay a foundation for continued discourse in this important area.

In "Online Education: Global Questions, Local Answers", 24 college educators focus on the most important questions to be addressed by all scholar-teachers and administrators committed to developing high-quality online education programs. We describe these questions as "global" because they transcend the particular situations of individual institutions. They are questions that everyone involved in online education needs to address: What are the issues to consider when first developing and then sustaining an online education program? How do we create interactive, pedagogically sound online courses and classroom communities? How should we monitor and assess the quality of online courses and programs? And how should recent developments and innovations in online education cause us to reexamine our roles and responsibilities as educators in technical communication?While these global questions affect all of us in one way or another, they demand different local answers, such as those presented by the contributors to this text. Readers will need to consider which of these local answers might apply to their own situations and how these answers might need to be adapted to reflect the particular needs of their own institutions.

As colleges and universities in North America increasingly identify "internationalization" as a key component of the institution's mission and strategic plans, faculty and administrators are charged with finding innovative and cost-effective approaches to meet those goals. This volume provides an overview and concrete examples of globally-networked learning environments across the humanities from the perspective of all of their stakeholders: teachers, instructional designers, administrators and students. By addressing logistical, technical, pedagogical and intercultural aspects of globally-networked teaching, this volume offers a unique perspective on this form of curricular innovation through internationalization. It speaks directly to the ways in which new technologies and pedagogies can promote humanities-based learning for the future and with it the broader essential skills of intercultural sensitivity, communication and collaboration, and critical thinking.

Educational research often discounts the uniqueness and ubiquity of software and the hidden political, economic and epistemological ways it impacts teaching and learning in K-12 settings. Drawing on theories and methodologies from English education, critical discourse analysis, multimodal semiotics and digital humanities, this volume exposes the problems of technology in schools and refocuses the conversation on software. This shifting of focus invites more nuanced questions concerning the role of software in school reform and classroom instruction, and takes a critical stance on software's role in education. This volume explores the ontology of software and the ways it is construed within educational policy discussions. It is beneficial to schools, companies, policy makers and practitioners seeking a more theoretical framework for technology in education.

Synchronous technologies, particularly interactive video conferencing (IVC), are becoming common modes of teaching and delivering college courses. The increasing popularity of IVC in the U.S. and abroad calls for more pedagogically effective practices for instructors using this technology. This volume focuses on innovative and proven approaches to IVC teaching in a variety of disciplines: English, history, biology, chemistry, geology, engineering, social work, and elementary and special education. Contributors hail from a pioneering university at the forefront of distance education and understand the practice and potential of IVC teaching at the highest levels. Chapters outline the challenges and benefits of IVC teaching from pedagogical, technical, and administrative perspectives.

Understanding Tablets from Early Childhood to Adulthood offers an alternative to dominant and populist narratives that young people are intuitively able to successfully use tablet devices. Adopting a research-driven approach, the book contests the ideology that touch-technologies are easier to understand, and identifies the factors that contribute to communicative encounters between users and tablets. Communication theory and cognitive psychology concepts and methods are employed to offer an epistemological exploration of user-tablet interaction with a focus on the use of these technologies in educational settings.

This book is a practical guide for any student considering enrollment in, currently enrolled in, or recently graduated from an online course. The authors, both with substantial online teaching and learning experience as well as seasoned professionals, deliver concise guidance to make the online learning journey enjoyable, productive, and most of all, worthwhile. Major topics include how to identify the best online program; comparing online with traditional education programs; finding an ideal work-life balance; managing time and staying organized; how to form good habits to maximize your chances for success; getting the most out of an online learning environment; and using your online education to succeed in your career. As the singular guide to success as an online learner, this practical book serves as the essential desk reference for every online student.

Culture, Learning, and Technology: Research and Practice provides readers with an overview of the research on culture, learning, and technology (CLT) and introduces the concept of culture-related theoretical frameworks. In 13 chapters, the book explores the theoretical and philosophical views of CLT, presents research studies that examine various aspects of CLT, and showcases projects that employ best practices in CLT. Written for researchers and students in the fields of Educational Technology, Instructional Design, and the Learning Sciences, this volume represents a broad conceptualization of CLT and encompasses a variety of settings. As the first significant collection of research in this emerging field of study, Culture, Learning, and Technology overflows with new insights into the increasing role of technology use across all levels of education.

e-Learning Ecologies explores transformations in the patterns of pedagogy that accompany e-learning-the use of computing devices that mediate or supplement the relationships between learners and teachers-to present and assess learnable content, to provide spaces where students do their work, and to mediate peer-to-peer interactions. Written by the members of the "new learning" research group, this textbook suggests that e-learning ecologies may play a key part in shifting the systems of modern education, even as technology itself is pedagogically neutral. The chapters in this book aim to create an analytical framework with which to differentiate those aspects of educational technology that reproduce old pedagogical relations from those that are genuinely innovative and generative of new kinds of learning. Featuring case studies from elementary schools, colleges, and universities on the practicalities of new learning environments, e-Learning Ecologies elucidates the role of new technologies of knowledge representation and communication in bringing about change to educational institutions.

Teaching Online: A Practical Guide is an accessible, introductory, and comprehensive guide for anyone who teaches online. A leader in the online field, the fourth edition of this bestselling resource has been fully revised, maintains its reader friendly tone, and offers exceptional practical advice, new teaching examples, faculty interviews, and an updated resource section.

New to this edition:

• new chapter on MOOCs (massive open online courses) and open educational resources
• expanded information on teaching with mobile devices
• discusses the implications of the Higher Education Opportunity Act for online faculty
• illustrates how Google Apps can be used for educational purposes

Focusing on the "hows" and "whys" of implementation rather than theory, the fourth edition of "Teaching Online" is a must-have resource for anyone teaching online or thinking of teaching online.

Current advances and convergence trends in Web 2.0 have changed the way we communicate and collaborate, and as a result, user-controlled communities and user-generated content through Web 2.0 are expected to play an important role for collaborative learning. Collaborative Learning 2.0: Open Educational Resources offers a collection of the latest research, trends, future development, and case studies within the field. Without solid theoretical foundation and precise guidelines on how to use OER and Web 2.0 for collaborative learning, it would certainly be very difficult to obtain all the benefits that these user-generated content, resources and tools promise. The purpose of this handbook is to understand how OERs and Web 2.0 can be deployed successfully to enrich the collaborative learning experience and ensure a positive outcome in terms of user generated knowledge and development of skills.

All types of organisations have recognised the growing demand for open and flexible learning programmes. With the increased emphasis on new ways of learning, and the rapid move towards open and online courses, this practical guide will help those involved overcome the challenges they face. This guide provides user friendly advice and support for those currently involved with open learning and those considering it for the first time. 500 Tips for Open and Online Learning aims not only to save you time but also to enhance the quality of the learning experience which learners will draw from open and online learning. The book is divided into six sections which cover: * What is Open and Online Learning, why use it and how? * How to set up Open and Online learning programmes * Designing new resource materials * Putting technology to work * Supporting open learners * Assessing open learning This practical book will be an invaluable resource, providing immediate and accessible help to the increasing number of people now under pressure to design, support and deliver open learning programmes. This book will appeal to tutors, trainers, managers of learning resource centres and curriculum developers who are already involved in, or thinking about starting to use, aspects of open learning.

Language learning strategies have been a topic of research for roughly three decades. Broadly speaking, that research has focused on classroom tuition, predominantly at secondary level. Increasingly, however, language learning occurs in independent settings, whether at distance, on Institution-Wide Language Programmes (IWLPs), or in virtual environments. Success in independent language learning is achieved by autonomous individuals with a capacity for self-regulation. Yet we still know relatively little about the specific means they use to learn effectively, whether in terms of the affective strategies they employ to sustain motivation, the metacognitive strategies required for planning, monitoring and evaluating their learning, or the specific cognitive strategies applied to difficult learning tasks. These are all discussed and evaluated in Language Learning Strategies in Independent Settings.

The Global Collaboration initiatives related in this book are examples of how educators have experimented with different mechanisms to provide science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education programmes through information and communication technologies. In many cases, these programmes have looked at the allied personal communication and collaboration skills that students of these subjects also need: the so-called STEM+ curriculum. In particular, these approaches to STEM+ provision show how the internationalization of education can be made more effective and accessible through the exploitation of collaborative technologies and non-traditional pedagogies. The approaches address the following themes: technologies for distance learning and collaboration pedagogies for online learning remote communication and collaboration An international perspective is made possible within the book through the inclusion of authors from North America, Europe and Asia. These authors present case studies from technology-enhanced learning projects over the past six years.

In Going Online, one of our most respected online learning leaders offers insights into virtual education-what it is, how it works, where it came from, and where it may be headed. Robert Ubell reaches back to the days when distance learning was practiced by mail in correspondence schools and then leads us on a tour behind the screen, touching on a wide array of topics along the way, including what it takes to teach online and the virtual student experience. You'll learn about: how to build a sustainable online program; how to create an active learning online course; why so many faculty resist teaching online; how virtual teamwork enhances digital instruction; how to manage online course ownership; how learning analytics improves online instruction. Ubell says that it is not technology alone, but rather unconventional pedagogies, supported by technological innovations, that truly activate today's classrooms. He argues that innovations introduced online-principally peer-to-peer and collaborative learning-offer significantly increased creative learning options across all age groups and educational sectors. This impressive collection, drawn from Ubell's decades of experience as a digital education pioneer, presents a powerful case for embracing online learning for its transformational potential.

Although power and privilege are embedded in all learning environments, the learning sciences is dominated by individual cognitive theories of learning that cannot expose the workings of power. Power and Privilege in the Learning Sciences: Critical and Sociocultural Theories of Learning addresses the ways in which research on human learning can acknowledge the influence of differential access to power on the organization of learning in particular settings. Written by established and emerging scholars in the learning sciences and related fields, the chapters in this volume introduce connections to critical and poststructural race theories, critical disability studies, queer theory, settler-colonial theory, and critical pedagogy as tools for analyzing dimensions of learning environments and normativity. A vital resource for students and researchers in the fields of learning sciences, curriculum studies, educational psychology, and beyond, this book introduces key literature, adapts theory for application in education, and highlights areas of research and teaching that can benefit from critical theoretical methods.

This innovative text, built on the foundations of Watson's Caring Science, demonstrates how nursing professionals can develop virtual relationships that encompass caring and understanding in professional, teaching/learning, and everyday cyber communications. It describes how caring and love can transcend distance, space, and time in our increasingly 'virtual"" world in order to preserve the basic fabric of humanity as we physically interact less and electronically interact more. Straightforward and concise, the text offers specific practices for teachers, students, and professionals that support caring in a digital world along with practical examples that enable readers to envision ways to create their own caring online presence.

Teachers' active online participation and engagement with students are critical factors to the success of online courses. Essentials of Online Teaching is a standards-based, straightforward guide to teaching online in higher education, high school and vocational training, or corporate learning environments. This brief but powerful book encourages immediate application of concepts with the help of real-world examples, technical insights, and professional advice. The guide includes: a practical approach informed by, but not about, relevant learning theories; clear models and examples from a wide variety of online courses; teachers' reflections about their online practice; a checklist of standards to help guide teaching decisions; and an accompanying website (www.essentialsofonlineteaching.com) with additional resources. Essentials of Online Teaching addresses key instructional challenges in online teaching and presents the reader with practical solutions for each phase of a course-preparation, beginning, middle, and end.

Allow your children to experience the adventure, freedom, and wonder of childhood with this practical guide that provides all the information, inspiration, and advice you need for creating a modern, quality homeschool education. Inspired by the spirit of Henry David Thoreau-"All good things are wild and free"-mother of five Ainsley Arment founded Wild + Free. This growing online community of mothers and families want their children to receive a quality education at home by challenging their intellectual abilities and nurturing their sense of curiosity, joy and awe-the essence of a positive childhood. The homeschool approach of past generations is gone-including the stigma of socially awkward kids, conservative clothes, and a classroom setting replicated in the home. The Wild + Free movement is focused on a love of nature, reading great books, pursuing interests and hobbies, making the entire world a classroom, and prolonging the wonder of childhood, an appealing philosophy that is unpacked in the pages of this book The Call of the Wild and Free offers advice, information, and positive encouragement for parents considering homeschooling, those currently in the trenches looking for inspiration, as well as parents, educators, and caregivers who want supplementary resources to enhance their kids' traditional educations.

This book deals with large-scale or macro-level instructional design, which is referred to by other authors variously as curriculum development, course design, training system design or instructional systems design. The emphasis throughout the book is on the application of a systems approach, which implies both a way of thinking about the problem and a methodology for seeking and developing solutions. Thus the approach of the book is problem-oriented. The successful problem-solver requires more than a technique or procedure. He requires experience of similar problems, some general principles that he can apply to the class of problems and a great deal of creativity to develop an optimal method of solving each problem. This book brings together the theories and practical experience that have been built up by instructional technologists over the last two decades, the techniques that are currently most used for the analysis of problems in education and for their solution, and a range of new ideas specially developed by the author to encourage the creative element (so often missing from educational materials). This book is intended for anyone involved in instructional design. It is designed on a 'grid' structure to facilitate the reader's choice of chapters. Those who wish to gain a general overview may concentrate on the chapters at the theory base and analysis levels. Those more practically concerned with course design will find much of use in the synthesis and evaluation levels. Those who wish simply to discover 'what's new' in this book and its treatment of instructional design will find what they are seeking principally in the analysis and evaluation levels.