Mobile technologies are one of the fastest growing areas of technology in education. For learners, they offer an appealing opportunity to transcend teacher-defined knowledge and approaches by being able to access multiple, alternative sources of information anytime and anywhere. While the pace of engagement with and research into the educational applications of mobile technologies has picked up dramatically in the last decade, there is no consolidated view of how to sustain the practices or opportunities that are being explored. Sustainability is a complex but crucial issue in mobile learning as educational institutions are usually required to make substantial investments in mobile devices and associated technologies, time and training to initiate mobile learning programs. The complexity of sustainable mobile learning programs is further exacerbated by the fast pace of change of digital technologies, where with every change, new possibilities are opened up and investments required. In addition, educators are still attempting to reconcile institutions of formal education with informal mobile learning. The book addresses these issues, with a particular focus on: exploring the challenges surrounding the sustainability of mobile learning in K-12 and higher education investigating the importance of sustaining mobile learning for diverse populations of students globally discussing theoretical models for the sustainability of mobile learning providing the reader with strategies for sustaining mobile learning. Presenting new research alongside theoretical models and ideas for practice, the book will appeal to researchers, academics, and postgraduate students in the fields of education and mobile learning, as well as those working in teacher education.

Best Practices for Flipping the College Classroom provides a comprehensive overview and systematic assessment of the flipped classroom methodology in higher education. The book: Reviews various pedagogical theories that inform flipped classroom practice and provides a brief history from its inception in K-12 to its implementation in higher education. Offers well-developed and instructive case studies chronicling the implementation of flipped strategies across a broad spectrum of academic disciplines, physical environments, and student populations. Provides insights and suggestions to instructors in higher education for the implementation of flipped strategies in their own courses by offering reflections on learning outcomes and student success in flipped classrooms compared with those employing more traditional models and by describing relevant technologies. Discusses observations and analyses of student perceptions of flipping the classroom as well as student practices and behaviors particular to flipped classroom models. Illuminates several research models and approaches for use and modification by teacher-scholars interested in building on this research on their own campuses. The evidence presented on the flipped classroom methodology by its supporters and detractors at all levels has thus far been almost entirely anecdotal or otherwise unreliable. Best Practices for Flipping the College Classroom is the first book to provide faculty members nuanced qualitative and quantitative evidence that both supports and challenges the value of flipping the college classroom.

As new digital forms of formal and informal learning proliferate, there is an increasing need to better understand how people in different regions of the world are implementing massive open online courses (MOOCs) and other forms of open educational resources (OERs). Educators, researchers, politicians, and numerous other stakeholders want to grasp what the outcomes of these initiatives are and how they can be improved. Ongoing e-learning developments related to both technology and pedagogy have pushed institutions and organizations to grapple with issues of accreditation, credentialing, quality standards, innovative assessment, and learner motivation and attrition, among other areas of concern. In response, MOOCs and Open Education Around the World explores and illuminates unique implementations of MOOCs and open education across regions and nations. The book also focuses on the various opportunities as well as the dilemmas presented in this rapidly evolving age of technology-enabled learning. What are the different delivery formats, interaction possibilities, assessment schemes, and business models? What are the key controversies or issues that must be discussed and addressed? This edited collection explains MOOCs and open education trends and issues in a variety of contexts, shares key research findings, and provides practical suggestions and recommendations for the near future.

Thinking Collaboratively is a theoretical and practical guide to thinking and learning in deep and meaningful ways within purposeful communities of inquiry. Critical thinking has long been recognized as an important educational goal but, until now, has largely been conceived and operationalized as an individual attitude and ability. Increasingly, however, a more relevant and complete cognitive construct has been emerging: thinking collaboratively. Thinking collaboratively is the means to inquire, test, and apply new understandings, and to make sense of the information that bombards us continuously. In short, thinking collaboratively is required to flourish in our highly connected world and, in this book based on more than a decade of research, Garrison provides an essential introduction to this vital concept.

How Can You Improve Your Learning Capabilites? How Can You Enhance Your Potential for Change and Personal Growth? Most of us accept that education does not meet the needs of learners today, or their employers. This mismatch is a key reason why a high level of demotivated youth, as well as workers and managers remain unable to develop themselves. They have been other-organised and are unprepared for the world of work and the challenges of life. First published in 1991, this title offers a radical approach to human learning and personal change. Based on the reflective procedures of Learning Conversations, it enables a deep exploration of the learning process and allows individuals, teams and even whole organisations to create dynamic learning cultures capable of adaptive, constructive and continuing growth. Available again after some years this book is as relevant, if not of greater value, in our ever-changing society than when originally published.

Online Teaching: Tools and Techniques to Achieve Success with Learners will provide the online teacher with essential strategies to successfully design, develop, deliver and improve their online course offerings. This book is an invaluable resource for the novice instructor, as well as the seasoned educator. The chapters of the book will take the reader from the basics of online course development and delivery to assessment and improvement after a successful semester. The authors provide proven techniques, practical tools, and real-world tips in the areas of online course formats, course organization, learning management, learning community, online collaboration, learner support, visual design, course assessment, and course analysis for improvement in a readable and engaging way.

This volume is the first to examine the social, cultural, and political implications of the shift from the traditional forms and functions of print-based libraries to the delivery of online information in educational contexts. Libr@ries are conceptualized as physical places, virtual spaces, communities of literate practice, and discourses of information work. Despite the centrality of libraries in literacy and learning, the study of libraries has remained isolated within the disciplinary boundaries of information and library science since its inception in the early twentieth century. The aim of this book is to problematize and thereby mainstream this field of intellectual endeavor and inquiry. Collectively the contributors interrogate the presuppositions of current library practice, seek to understand how library as place and library as space blend together in ways that may be both contradictory and complementary, and envision new modes of information access and new multimodal literacies enabled by online environments. Libr@ries: Changing Information Space and Practice is intended for advanced undergraduate and graduate students, researchers, and educators in the fields of literacy and multiliteracies education, communication technologies in education, library sciences, information and communication studies, media and cultural studies, and the sociology of computer-mediated space.

Designing Distributed Learning Environments with Intelligent Software Agents reports on the most recent, important advances in agent technologies for distributed learning. Several chapters will be devoted to various aspects of intelligent software agents in distributed learning, including the methodological and technical issues on where and how intelligent agents can contribute to meeting distributed learning needs today and tomorrow. It will benefit the Al (artificial intelligence) community and educational community in their research and development. It will propose some new and interesting research issues about developing distributed learning environments in the semantic Web age. In addition, the ideas presented in the book may also be applicable to other domains such as agent-supported Web services, distributed business process and resource integration, computer-supported collaborative work (CSCW) and e-commerce.

This book provides a fascinating insight into the development of the nineteenth century Atlantic economy and the nature of contemporary migration. In particular the author argues that the assumption that the United States economy was the unmoved mover in the fluctuations of the international economy between 1860 and 1913 is incorrect. He presents evidence on regional housebuilding cycles in nineteenth-century Britain and shows that the British cycle was inverse to the American, and that both were primarily determined by demographic factors. From the mid-nineteenth century, Professor Thomas concludes, the countries of new settlement - America, Canada, Argentina and Australia - experienced long swings in urban development opposite in timing to those in Britain, the principal suppliers of funds. The result was a converse pattern of capital formation and export upsurges in Britain and her overseas borrowers. This book was first published in 1972.

"This is a book that I am going to have to own, and will work to find contexts in which to recommend. It cuts obliquely through so many important domains of evidence and scholarship that it cannot but be a valuable stimulus" -Hamish Macleod, University of Edinburgh Digital connectivity is a phenomenon of the 21st century and while many have debated its impact on society, few have researched relationship between the changes taking place and the actual impact on learning. Rethinking Learning in an Age of Digital Fluency examines what kind of impact an increasingly connected environment is having on learning and what kind of culture it is creating within learning settings. Engagement with digital media and navigating through digital spaces with ease is something that many young people appear to do well, although the tangible benefits of this are unclear. This book, therefore, will present an overview of current research and practice in the area of digital tethering, whilst examining how it could be used to harness new learning and engagement practices that are fit for the modern age. Questions that the book also addresses include: Is being digital tethered a new learning nexus? Are social networking sites spaces for co-production of knowledge and spaces of inclusive learning? Are students who are digitally tethered creating new learning maps and pedagogies? Does digital tethering enable students to use digital media to create new learning spaces? This fascinating and at times controversial text engages with numerous aspects of digital learning amongst undergraduate students including mobile learning, individual and collaborative learning, viral networking, self-publication and identity dissemination. It will be of enormous interest to researchers and students in education and educational psychology.

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.

Best Practices in Online Program Development is a practical, hands-on guide that provides the concrete strategies that academic and administrative departments within institutions of higher learning need to develop in order to create and maintain coherent and effective online educational programs. Unlike individual courses, an online education program requires a comprehensive, inter-departmental effort to be integrated into the ongoing educational project of a college or university. This book focuses on the:

• Integration of online education into the institutional mission
• Complex faculty-related issues including recruiting, training, and teaching
• Multifaceted support required for student retention and success
• Need for multilayered assessment at the course, program, technical, and institutional levels
• Challenges posed to governance and by the need to garner resources across the institution
• Model to insure ongoing, comprehensive development of online educational programs

Best Practices in Online Program Development" covers the above topics and more, giving all the stakeholders in online educational programs the building blocks to foster successful programs while encouraging them to determine what role online education should play in their academic offerings.

Although storytelling has been recognized as an effective instructional strategy for some time, most educators are not informed about how to communicate a story that supports learning particularly when using digital media. "The Instructional Value of Digital Storytelling "provides a broad overview of the concepts and traditions of storytelling and prepares professors, workplace trainers, and instructional designers to tell stories through 21st century media platforms, providing the skills critical to communication, lifelong learning, and professional success.

Using clear and concise language, "The Instructional Value of Digital Storytelling "explains how and why storytelling can be used as a contemporary instructional method, particularly through social media, mobile technologies, and knowledge-based systems. Examples from different sectors and disciplines illustrate how and why effective digital stories are designed with learning theory in mind. Applications of storytelling in context are provided for diverse settings within higher education as well as both formal and informal adult learning contexts. "

First published in 1980 The Door Stood Open deals with an early demand upon open university policy. It deals with important themes like context of the younger students pilot scheme; demand for open university places among the younger age group; motivational factors and potential study problems; the impact of open university study on the younger students; students who withdrew from the open university; younger students who could not attend full-time courses and how the younger students fared. In an age when distance learning is becoming a norm, this book serves as an important historical document for educationists and policy makers.

Building Better Universities provides a wide-ranging summary and critical review of the increasing number of groundbreaking initiatives undertaken by universities and colleges around the world. It suggests that we have reached a key moment for the higher education sector in which the services, location, scale, ownership, and distinctiveness of education are being altered dramatically, whether universities and colleges want it or not. These shifts are affecting traditional assumptions about both the future shape of higher education institutions, and the roles of and relationships between learners, teachers, researchers, managers, businesses, communities and other stakeholders.

"

Building Better Universities" aims to bridge the gap between educational ideas about what the university is, or should be for, and its day-to-day practices and organisation. It roams across strategic, operational, and institutional issues; space planning and building design; and technological change, in order to bring together issues that are often dealt with separately. By analysing the many challenges faced by higher education in the contemporary period, and exploring the various ways universities and colleges are responding, this powerful book aims to support a step-change in debates over the future of higher education, and to enable senior managers and faculty to develop more strategic and creative ways of enabling effective twenty-first-century learning in their own institutions."

Are MOOCs a catalyst to reimagine education, a sign of the impending corporate takeover of the education sector, or merely a well-publicized but passing trend? Massive Open Online Courses shares insights from multiple stakeholders on what MOOCs are now and could eventually become, providing those in higher education as well as K-12, military, government and corporate training with an authorative source on the full range of key issues surrounding MOOCs.

MOOCs, or Massive Open Online Courses, are a disruptive technology currently forcing a serious reconceptualization of accreditation, assessment, motivation and retention, technology-based instruction, and the overall college experience. In this timely volume, Paul Kim brings together experts from higher education, business, law, learning analytics and other relevant areas to provide an evenhanded, research-based positioning of MOOCs within the existing educational technology landscape and an explanation of how they may ultimately help us rethink the future of education.

This practical guide is essential for anyone new to or intimidated by online instruction. Drawing on the expertise of teachers of the humanities who have deep experiences in the online environment, this work explores a variety of areas within the online teaching experience. It discusses the differences between online and face-to-face learning environments and assesses and evaluates best practices in developing and teaching online courses. This volume is not really about the technology, but instead focuses on the ways in which available technologies can be used to enhance teaching in both synchronous and asynchronous forums, and as such it will still be worth the read many years from now-even in the face of rapid technological change. Contributions from faculty members teaching in art education, communication, English, history, social studies education, and interdisciplinary studies departments, as well as directors of writing centers and online education and distance learning programs are included. Essays in this volume will assist instructors, faculty members, and administrators new to the online experience, but who want to learn more about making the transition to online teaching, in navigating this transition gracefully.

This practical guide is essential for anyone new to or intimidated by online instruction. Drawing on the expertise of teachers of the humanities who have deep experiences in the online environment, this work explores a variety of areas within the online teaching experience. It discusses the differences between online and face-to-face learning environments and assesses and evaluates best practices in developing and teaching online courses. This volume is not really about the technology, but instead focuses on the ways in which available technologies can be used to enhance teaching in both synchronous and asynchronous forums, and as such it will still be worth the read many years from now-even in the face of rapid technological change. Contributions from faculty members teaching in art education, communication, English, history, social studies education, and interdisciplinary studies departments, as well as directors of writing centers and online education and distance learning programs are included. Essays in this volume will assist instructors, faculty members, and administrators new to the online experience, but who want to learn more about making the transition to online teaching, in navigating this transition gracefully.

Girls are beautifully and wonderfully made in God's image. This comprehensive collection of stories focused on 50 women of the Bible shows how God worked in their lives and continues to have a plan and a purpose for his beloved daughters today. In a world that too often tells girls that they are not enough, Her Story, Her Strength uses biblical retellings and reflections that include the historical context behind each story?to remind young women that they have a God who loves them deeply and empowers them to live and love like he does. For any girl ages 8 and up who is asking questions about her worth, identity, and place in the world and church, this colorful and engaging book provides a positive, loving, and scriptural lens that helps them interpret the messages they receive from their peers, media, and society. Girls who read Her Story, Her Strength will: come to a profound, unshakable understanding of God's love for them and their value in his eyes. see how they reflect God's image both innately and through the actions, words, and attitudes they choose each day. learn about biblical characters and events in a way designed specifically for them. In addition, Her Story, Her Strength: features readers' favorite women of the Bible as well as many less-well-known characters, showing God's consistent presence in the lives of women throughout Scripture. is divided into short sections that are both comprehensive and accessible, making it a wonderful tool for school or church lessons as well as family devotions or personal reflection. emphasizes how each woman reflects the image of her Creator, demonstrating the immense value God places on women and girls and pointing them back to him-all from a position rooted in biblical values. includes beautiful, full-color illustrations that help bring each woman to life.

This reissue, first published in 1980, is based on the experiences of the International Extension College in developing distance teaching. The volume begins by reviewing the world problems of educational quality and quantity, and then examines the ways in which print, broadcasts and group study have been used to train teachers, to improve classroom education, to teach by correspondence out of school, and to support rural development. It then considers how that experience can be used, perhaps by creating a network of radio colleges, to supplement and extend existing schools and colleges. Finally, the book includes a descriptive and annotated bibliography of over 100 distance teaching projects in 65 third world countries.

This book, first published in 1984, provides a comprehensive review of the range of technology that was being used in distance education. Technological developments in word processing, video-disc and viewdata as well as computer-based learning had revolutionised the potential for distance education. These developments required the role of more 'conventional' distance learning media, such as broadcasting, tuition and text, to be reassessed. This book, written by international experts in the field, explored the state of the art at the time, and also provided their ideas on how future developments were likely to evolve. This book is ideal for those studying education and communications.

Every day, learners use and reuse open, digital resources for learning. Reusing Open Resources offers a vision of the potential of these open, online resources to support learning. The book follows on from Reusing Online Resources: A Sustainable Approach to E-learning. At that time focus was on the creation, release and reuse of digital learning resources modeled on educational materials. Since then the open release of resources and data has become mainstream, rather than specialist, changing societal expectations around resource reuse. Social and professional learning networks are now routine places for the exchange of online knowledge resources that are shared, manipulated and reused in new ways, opening opportunities for new models of business, research and learning. The goal of this book is to extend the debate of how open, online resources might support learning across diverse contexts. Twenty-four distinguished experts from nine countries distributed across Europe and North America contribute empirical evidence and ideas. Collectively they provide a vision of the potential of open, online resources to support learning across everyday contexts of education, work and life.

Tools for Teaching in an Educationally Mobile World examines the challenges that undergraduate and postgraduate teachers often encounter when working with students from different national and cultural backgrounds. It focuses on the consequences for interactive teaching and for course design in a world where students, ideas and courses are mobile, using examples and experiences from a wide range of disciplines and national contexts. It not only considers Anglophone countries, including the USA, Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand, but also the use of English as a language of instruction in countries where neither teachers nor students are native English speakers. This book offers ideas for adjusting and adapting teaching approaches for culturally and linguistically diverse student groups. Students may cross national boundaries to seek accreditation, or the courses may be 'transnational', being designed in one country and delivered in another using local as well as 'fly-in' faculty. It draws upon growing good practice recommendations using tried and tested methods alongside the extensive and varied experience of the author. The book is structured around a selection of the most common issues and statements of belief held by educators, with key topics including: the impact of educational mobility on teaching and learning; teachers as mediators between academic cultural differences; learning and teaching in English; inclusive teaching and learning; encouraging student participation; assessing diverse students. With a wealth of practical tips and tools that help deal with these issues, this book will be of value to any educator working with students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. It will also interest those involved in the design of curriculum and pedagogy.

An Education in Facebook? examines and critiques the role of Facebook in the evolving landscape of higher education. At times a mandated part of classroom use, at others an informal network for students, Facebook has become an inevitable component of college life, acting alternately as an advertising, recruitment and learning tool. But what happens when educators use a corporate product, which exists outside of the control of universities, to educate students? An Education in Facebook? provides a broad discussion of the issues educators are already facing on college campuses worldwide, particularly in areas such as privacy, copyright and social media etiquette. By examining current uses of Facebook in university settings, this book offers both a thorough analytical critique as well as practical advice for educators and administrators looking to find ways to thoughtfully integrate Facebook and other digital communication tools into their classrooms and campuses.

The Architecture of Productive Learning Networks explores the characteristics of productive networked learning situations and, through a series of case studies, identifies some of the key qualities of successful designs. The case studies include networks from a variety of disciplinary and professional fields, including graphic design, chemistry, health care, library science, and teacher education. These learning networks have been implemented in a variety of settings: undergraduate courses in higher education, continuing professional development, and informal networks for creating and sharing knowledge on a particular topic. They are rich in reusable design ideas. The book introduces a framework for analyzing learning networks to show how knowledge, human interaction and physical and digital resources combine in the operation of productive learning networks. The book also argues that learning through interaction in networks has a long history. It combines ideas from architecture, anthropology, archaeology, education, sociology and organizational theory to illustrate and understand networked forms of learning.