The book presents a comprehensive account of research and development activities in open, ditance and flexible learning from acknowledged experts from around the world. The use of open, distance and flexible learning materials is expanding dramatically, not just in schools, further and higher education but also in industry, commerce and the social services. Most higher education institutions now have an open learning unit or educational development centre, and major organisations such as british Steel, National Westminster Bank, Leeds Building Society, Rover Cars and the Inland Revenue have formed units to develop teaching and training materials. Internationally, growth is even more impressive, with new open universities planned for Singapore, Bangladesh, South Africa and india, whist those in Malaysia, Thailand and Australia continue to expand. But current and future practice must be based on research evidence rather than intuition. With contributions from all the leading names in this field, this book will be a key sourcbook for teachers, trainers and students.

Distance education is practised in all parts of the world and in recent years, its scope has developed enormously and rapidly. It has become an intrinsic part of many national educational systems and an academic discipline in its own right. Research into the area has produced a body of theory which is now being used to improve its practice.

This new edition of Theory and Practice of Distance Education has been thoroughly updated both by describing how practice has changed, and by examining recent research in the field. Like the first edition, this book provides a comprehensive survey of distance education, looking at it globally and discussing the different lines of thought and models used. It describes the place of distance education in educational thinking, its various theories, principles, and techniques of presentation, its organization and its administration.

After widespread neglect over many years, the study of human sexuality has recently come to the forefront of many of the most important debates in contemporary society and culture. The continued development of feminist theory, the emergence of gay and lesbian studies, and the impact of the international AIDS pandemic have combined to focus new attention on the ways in which gender and sexuality are shaped in different social and cultural settings, and on the complex interactions betwen sexuality and health in the late twentieth century.
Edited by two of the leading figures in contemporary sex research, "Conceiving Sexuality" brings together the contributions of writers from a wide range of social science disciplines and cultural traditions who are working at the cutting edge of contemporary sex research. Focusing on key areas of concern such as gender power relations, the formation of sexual identities, the dynamics of sexual desire, and the social construction of sexual risk, the essays in "Conceiving Sexuality" provide an important overview of the most pressing topical and theoretical issues currently shaping debate in international and cross-cultural research on sexuality.

Otto Peters is widely recognized as one of the world's leading authorities on distance education. His theory of distance education as the most industrialized form of education is an original and far-reaching analysis of distance education. This collection brings together the best of Peters' work, most of which has not been previously available in the English language. Drawing on German sociologists and philosophers of education, from Weber and Tonnies to Heimann and Schultz, Peters builds up an impressive analysis of the advantages and defects of the industrialization of education. The essays in this collection cover the historical development of teaching and learning at a distance, from the correspondence schools of the 1950s through to distance education in the post-industrial societies of today. The book also includes a account of Peters' central role in the foundation and running of the Fernuniversitat, the German Open University.

Through Canadian, Australian, American and Malaysian case studies, the internationally known authors of this book analyse the key factors which enhance and inhibit collaboration in distance education.

According to UNESCO statistics, 10 million of the world's 600 million students study at a distance. Theoretical Principles of Distance Education seeks to lay solid foundations for the education of these students and for the structures within which they study. As a more industrialised form of education provision, distance education is well adapted to the use of new communication technologies, and brings to education many of the strengths and dangers of post-industrialism. The central focus of the study of distance education is the placing of the student at home or at work and the justification of the abandonment in this form of education of interpersonal, face-to-face communication, previously considered to be a cultural imperative for education in both east and west. This book explores the problems that distance education poses to the theorist, bringing together an international team of distance educators to address these issues for the first time in a systematic way. The team comprises theoreticians, administrators, experts in educational technology and adult education, experts in learning from video machines, from computers and other forms of technology. Contributions from Italy, and Scandinavia contrast with viewpoints provided by scholars from the US, Canada, Australia, and the UK.

An invaluable publication to all concerned with teacher education, presenting the advantages and drawbacks of distance education or open learning.

This edited collection focuses on the early development, gradual evolution, and present status of distance learning and online education in the social work profession. Relevant for social work students and educators in baccalaureate, masters and doctoral programs, this book is an authoritative statement authored by widely recognized educators on the cutting edge of technological innovation. In addressing the future of web-based social work education, the collection demonstrates the power of distance learning and online technology. The chapters cover a comprehensive range of topics, including organizational and administrative aspects, teaching and practice, recent research and the challenge of creating intimacy and interaction. The volume provides a valuable set of insights into how distance learning and online education are transforming how social work is increasingly being taught today, and will surely be offered in the future. This book was originally published in the Journal of Teaching in Social Work.

In 1961 the Centre for the Study of the History of Education at Ghent University, Belgium published the first issue of the multilingual journal Paedagogica Historica: International Journal of the History of Education. This book celebrates its fiftieth volume. In fourteen contributions written by different generations of historians of education, it demonstrates that in an era where the history of education at university level is at risk, both the journal and the discipline are pulsing, and alive and kicking. Was the journal a trendsetter or a follower, and which position did it take with respect to the International Standing Conference for the History of Education? These are questions addressed in the first section of this book. In the second section, a number of articles show national and transnational developments of the history of education. In their diversity, they make clear how the national and the transnational together characterize the discipline. They show why journals in this domain should stimulate the development of broader concepts and theories in order to put national and regional cases in a broader scientific context and to make them attractive for international readership. In the last section authors turn their minds to the future of the history of education. They write about the shaping of new trends and about moving beyond borders, focusing on, among other things, the challenge of neurosciences and of digital humanities. This book was originally published as a special issue of Paedagogica Historica.

Recognition of the link between vocational education and economics and social development is resulting in a wide range of educational and training strategies within individual nation states and supranational bodies like the European Community. This book brings together 12 case studies which illustrate the expansion strategies used by successful distance learning programmes to respond to the increasing demand for more flexibility and alternative delivery modes of vocational education. Each case illustrates different implications of expanding distance learning systems as they affect corporate strategies and structures, planning, training design, marketing and delivery systems, as well as cost-effectiveness and the strategies for managing change.

Thinking about teaching in educational terms has become increasingly difficult because of the conceptions of higher education that predominate in both policy and public debate. Framing the benefits of higher education simply as an economic good poses particular difficulties for making educational sense of teaching. Moreover, the assumptions about social mobility, usefulness, and the economic advantages of higher education, upon which these conceptions are based, can no longer be taken for granted. The chapters in this book all wrestle with understandings of education and teaching experiences in changing global, national, and institutional contexts. They explore questions of difference and privilege, the social transformation of teaching through transforming teachers, contestations of global citizenship and interculturality, learning and sensibilities of self-in-the-world, the relationship between programme content and student decision-making, divergent conceptions of learning in international education, and subject-centred approaches to embodied teaching. The book considers the value of disciplinary tools of analysis in addressing contextual challenges in developing societies, connections between pedagogies, autonomy and intercultural classrooms, and ways of countering the marketization of higher education through online teaching communities. This book was originally published as a special issue of Teaching in Higher Education.

This book is unique in that its stress is not on the mastery of a programming language, but on the importance and value of interactive problem solving. The authors focus on several specific interest worlds: mathematics, computer science, artificial intelligence, linguistics, and games; however, their approach can serve as a model that may be applied easily to other fields as well. Those who are interested in symbolic computing will find that Interactive Problem Solving Using LOGO provides a gentle introduction from which one may move on to other, more advanced computational frameworks or more formal analysis. What is of primary importance, however, is the text's ability -- through its presentation of rich, open-ended problems -- to effectively cultivate crucial cognitive skills.

This title was first published in 2001: Since the early 1980s, successive governments have realized the importance of computers and computing and made significant investment in schools. The most recent initiative, the National Grid for Learning, seeks to place online learning facilities at the heart of the curriculum for both teachers and students, and use it as a vehicle for lifelong learning. The impact of ICT in the classroom transforms management, organization and conventional pedagogic approaches. However, many teachers still struggle with ICT in the classroom. Since the mid-1990s, a significant number of students have gained access to a PC at home. They ways in which they have learnt to use machines and the uses to which they are put, are shaped by input from peers and personal experience, other than teachers. The education systems struggle to meet the demands and expectations of these young people and those without technology at home are doubly disadvanted if their schools and teachers cannot compensate. In this research, the author examines patters of computer ownership and use among young people, as well as teacher use and teacher attitudes. The results demonstrate the disparity between student computer ownership and use, and that of their teachers, with profound implications for the education system as a whole.

Selected as one of the outstanding instructional development books in 1989 by the Association for Educational Communications and Technology, this volume presents research in instructional design theory as it applies to microcomputer courseware. It includes recommendations -- made by a distinguished group of instructional designers -- for creating courseware to suit the interactive nature of today's technology. Principles of instructional design are offered as a solid base from which to develop more effective programs for this new method of teaching -- and learning.

Practice beginning reader skills with your little one while reading eight favorite Bible stories with The Beginner's Bible Read Through the Bible. Combining the trusted The Beginner's Bible, which has sold over 25 million products since 1989, with the proven I Can Read format, this My First I Can Read collection combines basic language, word repetition, and great illustrations-and is perfect for shared reading with a child. The Beginner's Bible Read Through the Bible is perfect for: Beginning readers ages 4 and up at the My First reading level Fans of the iconic The Beginner's Bible Back to school, summer reading, homeschoolers, Sunday school classrooms Teaching Bible stories in an accessible format while practicing early reading skills The Beginner's Bible Read Through the Bible features: God Makes the World, Noah and the Great Big Ark, David and the Giant, Esther Saves Her People, Daniel and the Lions' Den, Jonah and the Giant Fish, Jesus Is Born, and Jesus Saves the World Exciting 3-D artwork Hardcover format for longer lasting durability and value-priced at $16.99

The Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) conference has become an internationally-recognized forum for the exchange of research findings related to learning in the context of collaborative activity and the exploration of how such learning might be augmented through technology. This text is the proceedings from CSCL 2005 held in Taipei, Taiwan. This conference marked the 10th anniversary of the first CSCL Conference held at Indiana University in 1995. Subsequent meetings have been held at the University of Toronto, Stanford University, University of Maastricht (Netherlands), University of Colorado at Boulder, and the University of Bergen (Norway).Just as the first CSCL conference was instrumental in shaping the trajectory of the field in its first decade, the conference in Taipei will play an important role in consolidating an increasingly international and interdisciplinary community and defining the direction of the field for the next 10 years. This volume, and the papers from which it is comprised, will be an important resource for those active in this area of research and for others interested in fostering learning in settings of collaboration.

Computers, Curriculum, and Cultural Change: An Introduction for Teachers, Second Edition is a comprehensive introduction to using computers in educational settings. What distinguishes this text from others on the topic is its focus on: the issue of how computers are redefining our culture and society and the work of schools; the idea of using the computer as a tool for increasing efficiency and productivity in curriculum; and the concept of the computer as a tool not only for efficiency, but actually as a means of enhancing intelligence. This text provides students with an introduction to basic computer skills and experience, enhanced by helpful pedagogical aids, including case studies and highlighted features, such as Portfolio Development, Reflective Practice, Computing Timelines, Filmographies, bibliographical sources, and a text-linked glossary of key computer terms. New in the Second Edition: In addition to being thoroughly updated, a new section has been added to Chapter 1, "Creating an Electronic Portfolio," with activities linked to the standards for educational computing established by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). Electronic portfolio activities at the end of each chapter give students the hands-on practical skills they need and, at the same time, cover the necessary theoretical and conceptual material for an introductory educational computing course.

This provocative new book will help you design and implement the most effective library user education possible--one that builds on basic library use skills through a progressively sophisticated program that is fully integrated into course curriculum at all levels, from the freshman year to graduation and beyond. By exploring major issues underlying the integration of library use skills and research methodologies into the general education curriculum, contributors raise important questions, offer creative ideas, and provide insight into the many improvements made in library instruction in the past few years. Following an introduction by Patricia Breivik, a recognized national authority on libraries and general education, contributors representing two- and four-year institutions and research universities discuss such issues as the relationship between high school and college programs, research skills instruction in a remote access environment, the use of microcomputers and end user searching programs to promote critical thinking, and the improved relationship between librarians and faculty. In addition to articles on library instruction geared towards question analysis, information generation by field, structure of published knowledge and dissemination of a discipline's literature, chapters identify cooperative efforts needed among school, public, special, academic libraries and other information agencies, computer center personnel, and online database vendors. Bibliographic instruction librarians who are active participants in planning and administering library user education programs will find this volume to be essential for building and developing stronger, more integrated programs.

This book is an introduction to the issues and practicalities of using multimedia in classrooms - both primary and secondary, and across a range of subject areas. The book draws on material from a range of case studies and focuses on areas of concern for teachers and researchers. Using IT effectively continues to be a problem for many teachers, and there is still a long way to go toward organising this properly. The book takes a thorough look at IT in the school, discussing and examining issues such as: IT and the National Curriculum foreign language teaching differing curricular needs opportunities and constraints of groupwork talking books and primary reading ways in which multimedia supports readers. The book also looks at some of the more philosophical issues such as the implications of home-computers and the limits of independent learning, and the notion of "edutainment" - the relationship of motivation and enjoyment to learning. Finally, the book makes comparisons across the curriculum and between primary and secondary sectors and raises questions about the future of IT in schools, arguing that teachers should make a significant contribution to decisions about future development.

Online distance education and training is being adopted throughout the world as a cost-effective, flexible answer to widening access for all. This enthusiasm has led to many initiatives and policies from governments to encourage online learning at international, national, regional and institutional levels. Also, changes in distance learning continue to take place as a result of educational discourse and innovations in ICT. Distance learning courses are therefore under pressure to reform, and successful management of external policy planning and internal change management is key to the implementation and maintenance of reforms. World-class leaders, researchers and practitioners share their experiences, research and critical reflection in this book, providing guidance on how to balance quality management with quality learning. Subjects covered include policy and planning, institutional management, management of processes, quality assurance and accreditation, and internationalization. This book will aid anyone involved in running or wanting to implement distance education to effectively manage an online learning programme.

Selected as one of the outstanding instructional development books in 1989 by the Association for Educational Communications and Technology, this volume presents research in instructional design theory as it applies to microcomputer courseware. It includes recommendations -- made by a distinguished group of instructional designers -- for creating courseware to suit the interactive nature of today's technology. Principles of instructional design are offered as a solid base from which to develop more effective programs for this new method of teaching -- and learning.

First Published in 1987. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Don't train your teachers in instructional technology without reading this resource-packed book from Sarah T. Meltzer. Meltzer presents easy-to-follow guidelines for bringing about effective professional development in technology from start to finish. She takes you step-by-step through the process of planning, implementing, and managing professional development opportunities. The book is also filled with handy, practical tools and resources, such as pre-planning worksheets needs assessment surveys long- and short-term technology plans technology inventory forms training schedule templates and more Meltzer provides filled-out examples of those forms, so you can see how to complete them. She also offers blank versions for your own use. In addition, each chapter concludes with a checklist to help you keep track of the steps you take as you make professional development in technology a reality-and a success-in your school or district.