Teacher Thinking, Beliefs and Knowledge in Higher Education


Book Description

This volume addresses the important problem of understanding good university teaching, and focuses on the thinking, beliefs, and knowledge, which accompany teachers' actions. It is the first book to address this area and it promises to become a landmark volume in the field - helping us to understand a complex area of human activity and improve both teaching and learning. It is for education researchers, staff/faculty developers and educational developers.




Open and Distance Education in Australia, Europe and the Americas


Book Description

This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. This book describes the history, structure and institutions of open and distance education in six countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, the UK and the US. It discusses how open and distance education is evolving in a digital age to reflect the needs and circumstances of national higher education systems in these countries, and explores the similarities and differences between the ways in which they are organized and structured. It is the first book to make such comparisons and draw conclusions about the nature of open and distance education in the context of various national higher education systems. In a digital era with growing use of online education as well as open and distance education, this book is particularly useful for policy-makers and senior administrators who want to learn about organizing and expanding open and distance education provision. It is also a valuable reference for researchers, academics and students interested in understanding the different approaches to open and distance education.




Online Teaching Competency


Book Description

Blended Learning is designed for individuals who want to improve current skills or develop online teaching skills gradually as they begin to add web skills and resources to enhance their current teaching repertoire. Many leaders from a variety of backgrounds have contributed chapters to make this book a valuable resource. The depth and range of experts include, but are not limited to Dr. Deanie French whose publications include Web Accessibility Applications: Seniors, Healthcare, and Higher Education (Institute:2002) and Internet Based Learning: An Introduction and Framework for Higher Education and Business (Stylus Publishing: 99); Dr. Barbara Lyman, author of "Holistic Learning Model for On-line Adults," a chapter in Internet Based Learning; Dr. Bruce Landon, senior advisor with the Western Cooperative for Educational Telecommunications (WCET); Dr. Gene Martin, Director of Extended and Distance Learning at Southwest Texas State University (He has performed an active role in the advancement of technology education in the United States and has served as Chair for the National Commission for Technology Education); Dr. Karen Middleton, senior project coordinator for the Western Cooperative, managing a Hewlett funded project, "E-learning Technologies: Web Resource for Comparisons;" Dr. Cyndi Rowland, Director of the national project, Keeping Web Accessibility in Mind (WebAIM); Dr. Phil Vardiman, human resource development expert with fortune 500 companies and Leo Valdes, Managing Director of Vision Office, a training and web consulting firm based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (He has delivered presentations related to Internet accessibility to the United Nations and representatives of South-East Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Central and Eastern Europe.) For more information please visit www.e-linkagesglobal.com




Handbook of Research on Barriers for Teaching 21st-Century Competencies and the Impact of Digitalization


Book Description

The need to develop 21st-century competencies has received global recognition, but instructional methods have not been reformed to include the teaching of these skills. Multiple frameworks include creativity, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration as the foundational competencies. Complexities of planning curriculum and delivering instruction to develop the foundational competencies requires professional training. However, despite training, instructional practice can be impacted by barriers caused by personal views of teachers, economic constraints, access to resources, social challenges, pandemic, overwhelming pace of global shifts, and other influences. With digitalization entering the field of education, it is unclear if technology has helped in removing or eliminating the barriers or has, itself, become another obstruction in integrating the competencies. Gaining an educator's perspective is essential to understanding the barriers as well as solutions to mitigate the impediments through innovative instructional methods being practiced across the globe via digital or non-digital platforms. The need for original contributions from educators exists in this area of barriers to 21st-century education and the role of digitalization. The Handbook of Research on Barriers for Teaching 21st-Century Competencies and the Impact of Digitalization discusses teaching the 21st-century competencies, namely critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication. This book presents both the problems or gaps causing barriers and brings forth practical solutions, digital and non-digital, to meet the educational shifts. The chapters will determine the specific barriers that exist, whether political, social, economic, or technological, to integrating competencies and the methods or strategies that can eliminate these barriers through compatible instructional approaches. Additionally, the chapters provide knowledge on the impacts of digitalization in general on teaching and learning and how digital innovations are either beneficial to removing impediments for students or rather causing obstructions in integrating the four competencies. This book is ideally intended for educators and administrators working directly with students, educational researchers, educational software developers, policymakers, teachers, practitioners, and students interested in how 21st-century competencies can be taught while facing the impacts of digitalization on education.




K-12 Blended Teaching


Book Description

This book is the color print version (go here for the black and white version: http://bit.ly/k12blended-print). This book is your guide to blended teaching in K-12 settings. It was designed to help both pre-service and in-service teachers prepare their classes for blended teaching. The book can be accessed in several different formats at http://edtechbooks.org/k12blended.This book begins by orienting you to the foundational dispositions and skills needed to support your blended teaching practice. Then you will be introduced to four key competencies for blended teaching which are: (1) Online Integration - ability to effectively combine online instruction with in-person instruction. (2) Data Practices - ability to use digital tools to monitor student activity and performance in order to guide student growth. (3) Personalization - ability to implement a learning environment that allows for student customization of goals, pace, and/or learning path. (4) Online Interaction - ability to facilitate online interactions with and between students. The final chapter of the book helps you bring all four competencies together as you implement blended teaching in your classroom.




Online Teaching and Learning in Higher Education


Book Description

This book is to explores a variety of facets of online learning environments to understand how learning occurs and succeeds in digital contexts and what teaching strategies and technologies are most suited to this format. Business, health, government and education are some of the core sectors of society which have been experiencing deep transformations due to a generalized digitalization. While these changes are not novel, the swift progress of technology and the rising complexity of digital environments place a focus on the need for further research and novel strategies. In the context of education, the promise of increased flexibility and broader access to educational resources is impelling much of higher education’s course offerings to online environments. The 21st century learner requires an education that can be pursued anytime and anywhere and that is more aligned with the demands of a digital society. Online education not only assists students to success-fully integrate a workforce that is increasingly digital, but it helps them to become more comfortable with the use of technology in general and, hence, more prepared to be prolific digital citizens. The variety of settings portrayed in this volume attest to the unlimited opportunities afforded by online learning and serve as valuable evidence of its benefit for students’ educational experience. Moreover, these research efforts assist a more comprehensive reflection about the delivery of higher education in the context of online settings.




Place-Based Spaces for Networked Learning


Book Description

With the boundaries of place softened and extended by digital communications technologies, learning in a networked society necessitates new distributions of activity across time, space, media, and people; and this development is no longer exclusive to formally designated spaces such as school classrooms, lecture halls, or research laboratories. Place-based Spaces for Networked Learning explores how qualities of physical places make both formal and informal education in a networked society possible. Through a series of investigations and case studies, it illuminates the structural composition and functioning of complex learning environments. This book offers a wealth of key design elements and attributes for productive learning that educational designers can reuse in multiple contexts. The chapters examine how places are modified, expanded, or supplemented by networking technologies and practices in order to create spaces in which learners can collaboratively develop new understandings, connections, and capabilities. Utilizing a range of diverse but complementary perspectives from anthropology, archaeology, architecture, geography, psychology, sociology, and urban studies, Place-based Spaces for Networked Learning addresses how material places and digital spaces are understood; how sense can be made of new assemblages and configurations of tasks, tools, and people; how the real-time analysis of new flows of data can inform and entertain users of a space; and how access to the digital realm changes our experiences with both places and other people.




Effective Online Teaching


Book Description

Effective Online Teaching is an essential resource that offers a clear understanding of how cognition and learning theory applies to online learning. This much-needed resource provides specific strategies for incorporating this knowledge into effective learner-centered teaching that gets results. The book includes strategies on motivation, tailored instruction, interaction, collaboration, monitoring and communication, time and information management, student concerns, and legal and ethical issues. Designed as a text for online instructors, the chapters can be used for self-directed learning or in a formal training setting in concert with the companion Training Manual and CD. "Tina Stavredes has done something sorely needed in the online teaching world she has successfully combined solid theory and research with the practical application of instructor training. Both the book and the training manual are a 'must' for any online education organization. Bravo!" Dr. Darcy W. Hardy, assistant vice provost for Technology Education Initiatives, University of Texas at San Antonio, and chair emerita, United States Distance Learning Association "Drawing from years of experience and solidly grounded in an understanding of the adult learner and learning, Stavredes offers dozens of helpful instructor strategies, activities, and resources to support adult learners' success in an online environment. Effective Online Teaching and its accompanying training manual is a 'must-have' set for online instructors in higher education, corporate, and government settings." Sharan B. Merriam, professor emeritus of adult education, University of Georgia, and coauthor, Learning in Adulthood "An eminently practical book that provides clear and unpretentious explanations of the learning theories that are essential knowledge for every online teacher, together with equally uncluttered and easy-to-follow guidance about how to apply this knowledge to achieve excellent teaching." Michael Grahame Moore, Distinguished Professor of Education, The Pennsylvania State University, and editor, The American Journal of Distance Education




How to be a Great Online Teacher


Book Description

Based on her own teaching experiences as a highly successful online instructor, Lehmann discusses the knowledge base and communication skills necessary to be a high-quality online teacher.




Instructor Competencies


Book Description

This edition is not just a rehash of old, albeit classic and still important, stuff. Instead, it provides a fresh perspective on a topic of perennial interest for those working in the field that has been variously called training and development, human resource development, performance technology, and workplace learning and performance. The fresh perspective takes into consideration two additional instructor settings to the traditional face-to-face environments that most instructors and trainers know -- that is, online and blended settings. These settings are, of course, becoming more critical as instruction moves beyond classroom settings to include virtual and combinations of classroom and other media delivery methods. The ibstpi instructor competencies match up well to Mapping the Future (Bernthal, Colteryahn, Davis, Naughton, Rothwell, & Wellins 2004), the current ASTD competency study of the field now known as Workplace Learning and Performance (WLP) and previously known as Training and Development (T&D). WLP is more than a new name for an old subject and represents a fundamental paradigm shift in what it means to be a professional in the field formerly known as training. WLP is all about getting improved performance -- and therefore improved results -- in organizational settings through planned and unplanned learning interventions. Instruction is thus a means to an end and not an end in itself. The ibstpi instructor competencies dovetail well with that philosophy.