Designing Communication and Learning Environments


Book Description

An organized introduction to the conceptual foundations, design elements, and various media support technologies to consider when designing, remodeling, or simply choosing work and learning facilities. Case studies, including b&w photographs, present successful facilities and explain why they work.




Design, Implementation, and Evaluation of Virtual Learning Environments


Book Description

"This book highlights invaluable research covering the design, development, and evaluation of online learning environments, examining the role of technology enhanced learning in this emerging area"--Provided by publisher.--




Argumentation in Science Education


Book Description

Educational researchers are bound to see this as a timely work. It brings together the work of leading experts in argumentation in science education. It presents research combining theoretical and empirical perspectives relevant for secondary science classrooms. Since the 1990s, argumentation studies have increased at a rapid pace, from stray papers to a wealth of research exploring ever more sophisticated issues. It is this fact that makes this volume so crucial.




Designing Effective Distance and Blended Learning Environments in K-12


Book Description

It has quickly become apparent in the past year that online learning is not only an asset, but it is critical to the continued education of youth during times of crisis. However, districts and schools across the nation are in need of guidance and practical, research-backed approaches to distance and hybrid learning. The current COVID-19 crisis has demonstrated that effective learning in K-12 is possible, but many districts struggled and continue to struggle in achieving that reality. There is also the growing consensus that even if things “return to normal,” distance and blended learning strategies should continue to be employed in many ways across the K-12 environment. Designing Effective Distance and Blended Learning Environments in K-12 provides key insights into the ways that school districts and educators from across the world have effectively designed and implemented distance and blended learning approaches to enable and enhance student learning. The diverse collection of authors from various demographics and roles in school systems will benefit readers across a wide spectrum of school community stakeholders. There will also be an emphasis on how research and theory is put into practice, along with an honest discussion of what strategies and actions were successful as well as those that were less so. This book is essential for professionals and researchers working in the field of K-12 education, particularly superintendents, curriculum developers, professional learning designers, school principals, instructional technology specialists, and teachers, as well as administrators, researchers, academicians, and students interested in the effective practices being used in blended learning approaches.




Learning Environment and Design


Book Description

This special edition of the Educational Communications and Technology Yearbook Series bears a title of “Learning Environment and Design: Current and Future Impact”. It provides a timely forum to share theoretical and practical insights in both the local and international contexts in response to the fact that new media and technologies have infiltrated and shaped the learning environments from mere physical spaces into multifaceted possibilities, impacting the ways individuals teach and learn. Designs of learning environments to harness technologies appropriately to engage learners better, as well as the roles of learners and educators play in this changing learning environment, are examples of important global issues in the discourse of the contemporary educational developments. Having gathered a diverse collection of research papers written by scholars and practitioners in the fields of education, communication and humanities across Asia, Australasia, Europe and the United States, this book gives readers a cross-cultural background on the developments of technological designs and educational practices, investigating areas in redefining of quality education; online learning and blended learning; new media in education; gamification, AI, and innovative learning technologies. Aimed to catalyze knowledge exchanges and provide fresh views on interdisciplinary research, the book sheds light on how emerging technologies can be adapted in the fields of education and communication, so as to facilitate the current and future designs of learning environments to improve learners’ performances.




Managing and Designing Online Courses in Ubiquitous Learning Environments


Book Description

The use of technology has a profound influence in educational settings and has experienced significant paradigm shifts with the advents of e-learning and m-learning. As an expected consequence of the evolution of e-learning and m-learning and improvements in the capability of online networked technologies, educators from the fields of distance education and open and distance learning benefit from ubiquitous learning technologies and environments. With the rising import of flexibility and personalization of online learning programs, this new learning format is needed to accommodate shifting student needs. Managing and Designing Online Courses in Ubiquitous Learning Environments is a critical scholarly resource that provides empirical and theoretical research focused on the effective construction and management of advanced online educational environments. Highlighting a variety of topics such as heutagogy, technology integration, and educational resources, this book is essential for educators, curriculum developers, higher education staff, practitioners, academicians, instructional designers, administrators, policymakers, and researchers.




Advancing Online Course Design and Pedagogy for the 21st Century Learning Environment


Book Description

The current learning environment is substantially different than what existed for most of the 20th century. Learners and teachers today must navigate in perpetually changing contexts where education is influenced by technological advancement and obsolescence, economic barriers, a changing employment landscape, and even international politics. Studies indicate that employers seek to hire graduates with strong skills in areas coalescing around international awareness, creativity, communication, leadership, and teamwork. Skills and experiences in these areas are necessary preparation for the current economy and to pursue jobs that do not exist yet, while providing some insulation against the obsolescence of industries that lack these characteristics. These interpersonal skills are not often the subject of students’ degrees, yet there are opportunities in online education to cultivate them. With increased interest in new career options comes the need to reconsider how to teach subjects in the increasingly online environment. Advancing Online Course Design and Pedagogy for the 21st Century Learning Environment is a critical reference book that navigates today’s dynamic education requirements and provides examples of how online learning can foster growth in skill areas necessary for career advancement through effective course design. Moreover, it helps educators gain insight into online pedagogy and course design for the 21st century learner and prepares them to convert traditional courses and enhance existing online courses, thereby supporting students’ growth and development in the highly dynamic online learning environment. Focusing on specific learning activities, assessments, engagement, communication techniques, and more, this book provides a valuable resource for those seeking to upgrade teaching and learning into the online environment, those that seek better employment outcomes for their students, and those seeking to explore contemporary online course design strategies or examples. This includes teachers, instructional designers, curriculum developers, academicians, researchers, and students.




Designing Globally Networked Learning Environments


Book Description

Designing Globally Networked Learning Environments brings together 25 educators from four continents, who share their richly diverse visions for teaching and learning in a globally networked world. What unites these visions is that they break with traditional models of repackaging traditional institutionally bounded courses for online delivery in global markets.




Interactive Multimedia Learning Environments


Book Description

Multimedia environments suggest to us a new perception of the state of changes in and the integration of new technologies that can increase our ability to process information. Moreover, they are obliging us to change our idea of knowledge. These changes are reflected in the obvious synergetic convergence of different types of access, communication and information exchange. The multimedia learning environment should not represent a passive object that only contains or assembles information but should become, on one side, the communication medium of the pedagogical intentions of the professor/designer and, on the other side, the place where the learner reflects and where he or she can play with, test and access information and try to interpret it, manipulate it and build new knowledge. The situation created by such a new learning environments that give new powers to individuals, particularly with regard to accessing and handling diversified dimensions of information, is becoming increasingly prevalent in the field of education. The old static equilibrium, in which fixed roles are played by the teacher (including the teaching environment) and the learner, is shifting to dynamic eqUilibrium where the nature of information and its processing change, depending on the situation, the learning context and the individual's needs.




Blended Synchronous Learning


Book Description

Blended synchronous learning - where remote students participate in face-to-face classes by means of rich-media synchronous technologies such as video conferencing, web conferencing and virtual worlds - is an emerging phenomenon in education. More and more teachers are attempting to teach in this challenging mode, but without any systematic research evidence to help guide their blended synchronous learning practices. The Blended Synchronous Learning Handbook is a definitive resource that addresses this issue. It includes a Blended Synchronous Learning Design Framework that offers pedagogical, technological and logistical recommendations for teachers attempting to design and implement blended synchronous learning lessons. It also includes a Rich-Media Synchronous Technology Capabilities Framework to support the selection of technologies for different types of learning activities, as well as a review of relevant literature, a summary of the Blended Synchronous Learning Scoping Study, detailed reports of seven blended synchronous learning case studies, and an in-depth cross case analysis to underpin the recommendations that are drawn.