Perspectives in Instructional Technology and Distance Education – serie

Our goal with this book, Research on Enhancing the Interactivity of Online Learning, is to present a juried, scholarly, and accessible review of research, theory, and/or policy on specific issues of interactive online learning for K-16 educators, administrators, and students of online learning. Online learning has become the norm rather than the exception for many of today’s students. Instructors are more willing to explore online learning options, students are enrolling in record numbers and colleges, as well as many K-12 institutions, are offering more online courses. As educators, we have more tools than ever to ensure online course success, but just as with a traditional class, we must continue to place emphasis on good pedagogy. To achieve good pedagogy, online teaching takes additional time and a restructuring of course content by the instructor. Student issues include coping strategies, ease of navigation, skills required to complete the course, availability of online resources, feedback from the instructor, and collaborative, interactive learning opportunities. Principles of interactive online learning are new to many, and this book provides a forum for interactive online learning research while also including ideas that enhance both the practical and theoretical aspects of interactive online learning. The editors have included chapters that can further knowledge and understanding of emerging trends and foster debate regarding issues that surround interactive online learning.

Our goal with this book, Research on Enhancing the Interactivity of Online Learning, is to present a juried, scholarly, and accessible review of research, theory, and/or policy on specific issues of interactive online learning for K-16 educators, administrators, and students of online learning. Online learning has become the norm rather than the exception for many of today’s students. Instructors are more willing to explore online learning options, students are enrolling in record numbers and colleges, as well as many K-12 institutions, are offering more online courses. As educators, we have more tools than ever to ensure online course success, but just as with a traditional class, we must continue to place emphasis on good pedagogy. To achieve good pedagogy, online teaching takes additional time and a restructuring of course content by the instructor. Student issues include coping strategies, ease of navigation, skills required to complete the course, availability of online resources, feedback from the instructor, and collaborative, interactive learning opportunities. Principles of interactive online learning are new to many, and this book provides a forum for interactive online learning research while also including ideas that enhance both the practical and theoretical aspects of interactive online learning. The editors have included chapters that can further knowledge and understanding of emerging trends and foster debate regarding issues that surround interactive online learning.

This book makes a contribution to the field of distance education by presenting key perspectives on the state of the field and examining and discussing specific current trends and issues faced by the distance learning community. To this end, the book brings together Quarterly Review of Distance Education’s most respected authors and other internationally known experts in the field of distance education to provide insight into a wide array of themes revolving around current work on communities of learning in distance education.

This book makes a contribution to the field of distance education by presenting key perspectives on the state of the field and examining and discussing specific current trends and issues faced by the distance learning community. To this end, the book brings together Quarterly Review of Distance Education’s most respected authors and other internationally known experts in the field of distance education to provide insight into a wide array of themes revolving around current work on communities of learning in distance education.

As the title indicates, this book highlights the shifting and emergent features that represent life online, specifically in and around the territory of e-learning.Cybercultures in themselves are complex conglomerations of ideas, philosophies, concepts, and theories, some of which are fiercely contradictory. As a construct, 'cyberculture' is a result of sustained attempts by diverse groups of people to make sense of multifarious activities, linguistic codes, and practices in complicated and ever-changing settings. It is an impossibly convoluted field. Any valid understanding of cyberculture can only be gained from living within it, and as Bell suggests, it is 'made up of people, machines and stories in everyday life.' Although this book contains a mix of perspectives, as the chapters progress, readers should detect some common threads.Technology-mediated activities are featured throughout, each evoking its particular cultural nuances and, as Derrick de Kerckhove (1997) has eloquently argued, technology acts as the skin of culture. All the authors are passionate about their subjects, every one engages critically with his or her topics, and each is fully committed to the belief that e-learning is a vitally important component in the future of education. All of the authors believe that digital learning environments will contribute massively to the success of the information society we now inhabit. Each is intent on exploration of the touchstone of 'any time, any place' learning where temporal and spatial contexts cease to become barriers to learning, and where the boundaries are blurring between the formal and informal.This book is divided into four sections. In Part I, which has been titled 'Digital Subcultures,' we begin an exploration of 'culture' and attempt to locate the learner within a number of digital subcultures that have arisen around new and emerging technologies such as mobile and handheld devices, collaborative online spaces, and podcasting. The chapters in this section represent attempts by the authors to demonstrate that there are many subdivisions present on the Web, and that online learners cannot and should not be represented as one vast amorphous mass of 'Internet' users.

As the title indicates, this book highlights the shifting and emergent features that represent life online, specifically in and around the territory of e-learning.Cybercultures in themselves are complex conglomerations of ideas, philosophies, concepts, and theories, some of which are fiercely contradictory. As a construct, 'cyberculture' is a result of sustained attempts by diverse groups of people to make sense of multifarious activities, linguistic codes, and practices in complicated and ever-changing settings. It is an impossibly convoluted field. Any valid understanding of cyberculture can only be gained from living within it, and as Bell suggests, it is 'made up of people, machines and stories in everyday life.' Although this book contains a mix of perspectives, as the chapters progress, readers should detect some common threads.Technology-mediated activities are featured throughout, each evoking its particular cultural nuances and, as Derrick de Kerckhove (1997) has eloquently argued, technology acts as the skin of culture. All the authors are passionate about their subjects, every one engages critically with his or her topics, and each is fully committed to the belief that e-learning is a vitally important component in the future of education. All of the authors believe that digital learning environments will contribute massively to the success of the information society we now inhabit. Each is intent on exploration of the touchstone of 'any time, any place' learning where temporal and spatial contexts cease to become barriers to learning, and where the boundaries are blurring between the formal and informal.This book is divided into four sections. In Part I, which has been titled 'Digital Subcultures,' we begin an exploration of 'culture' and attempt to locate the learner within a number of digital subcultures that have arisen around new and emerging technologies such as mobile and handheld devices, collaborative online spaces, and podcasting. The chapters in this section represent attempts by the authors to demonstrate that there are many subdivisions present on the Web, and that online learners cannot and should not be represented as one vast amorphous mass of 'Internet' users.

The Perfect Online Course: Best Practices for Designing and Teaching was edited under the assumption that a perfect online course can be delivered following different instructional methods and models for design and for instruction, and by implementing different teaching or instructional strategies. Such methods, models, and strategies are framed within quality educational guidelines and must be aimed towards attaining the online course’s learning goals.The book seeks to make a contribution to the existing body of literature related to best practices and guidelines for designing and teaching distance courses, specifically online education. The process of selecting works suitable for this compilation included an extensive review of the journals Quarterly eview of Distance Education and Distance Learning. The book begins by covering literature related to general approaches and guidelines, continues with proposed methods and models for designing and instruction, and ends with instructional strategies to achieve engagement through interaction. The book is divided into four independent, yet interrelated, parts and a concluding section: Part I: Introduction; Part II: Best Guidelines and Standards; Part III: Best Instructional Methods and Models; Part IV: Best Engagement Strategies; and the concluding section, And Finally…, with words from Simonson who delineates the structure of a perfect online course.

The Perfect Online Course: Best Practices for Designing and Teaching was edited under the assumption that a perfect online course can be delivered following different instructional methods and models for design and for instruction, and by implementing different teaching or instructional strategies. Such methods, models, and strategies are framed within quality educational guidelines and must be aimed towards attaining the online course’s learning goals.The book seeks to make a contribution to the existing body of literature related to best practices and guidelines for designing and teaching distance courses, specifically online education. The process of selecting works suitable for this compilation included an extensive review of the journals Quarterly eview of Distance Education and Distance Learning. The book begins by covering literature related to general approaches and guidelines, continues with proposed methods and models for designing and instruction, and ends with instructional strategies to achieve engagement through interaction. The book is divided into four independent, yet interrelated, parts and a concluding section: Part I: Introduction; Part II: Best Guidelines and Standards; Part III: Best Instructional Methods and Models; Part IV: Best Engagement Strategies; and the concluding section, And Finally…, with words from Simonson who delineates the structure of a perfect online course.

Richard Clark’s observation that “…media are mere vehicles that deliver instruction but do not influence student achievement any more than the truck that delivers our groceries causes changes in our nutrition” is as misunderstood today as it was when first published in the Review of Educational Research in 1983. The convincing if little read scientific evidence presented by Clark has divided the field and caused considerable concern, especially among the providers of newer media for learning.A collection of writings about the “media effects debate,” as it has come to be called, was published in 2001. Edited by Clark, Learning From Media was the first volume in the series “Perspectives in Instructional Technology and Distance Education.” The series editors are convinced that the writings of Clark and those who take issue with his position are of critical importance to the field of instructional technology, Thus, a revised, second edition of Learning From Media is now being offered.The debate about the impact of media on learning remains a fundamental issue as new mediated approaches to teaching and learning are developed, and Clark’s work should be at the center of the discussion. The critical articles on both sides of this debate are contained in Learning From Media, 2nd Edition.

Richard Clark’s observation that “…media are mere vehicles that deliver instruction but do not influence student achievement any more than the truck that delivers our groceries causes changes in our nutrition” is as misunderstood today as it was when first published in the Review of Educational Research in 1983. The convincing if little read scientific evidence presented by Clark has divided the field and caused considerable concern, especially among the providers of newer media for learning.A collection of writings about the “media effects debate,” as it has come to be called, was published in 2001. Edited by Clark, Learning From Media was the first volume in the series “Perspectives in Instructional Technology and Distance Education.” The series editors are convinced that the writings of Clark and those who take issue with his position are of critical importance to the field of instructional technology, Thus, a revised, second edition of Learning From Media is now being offered.The debate about the impact of media on learning remains a fundamental issue as new mediated approaches to teaching and learning are developed, and Clark’s work should be at the center of the discussion. The critical articles on both sides of this debate are contained in Learning From Media, 2nd Edition.

Over the last decade, the field of distance education (and e-learning) has substantially strengthened and assumed a more international scope. There has been an impressive growth in the conceptual, empirical and experiential foundations of the field. Trends and Issues in Distance Education: International Perspectives (2nd Ed) captures a representative snapshot of the breadth of current global trends and issues in distance education theory, research, and practice. Through 21 chapters (from over 30 international authors), the book documents new developments in distance education scholarship and practice, presenting a diverse set of viewpoints on the trends and issues affecting this increasingly central discipline.The book is for researchers, practitioners, and students. Chapters speak to the many creative ways in which distance education addresses learning and human development needs around the world. They focus on distance education in dissimilar settings that extend beyond the limitations of the dominating paradigms of the highly developed economies. Contributing authors touch upon conceptual as well as practical issues. They critically reflect on both large- and small-scale distance education initiatives, discussing the use of everything from the most advanced technologies (e.g., 3-D computing) to the most rudimentary technologies (e.g., wind-up radios).

Over the last decade, the field of distance education (and e-learning) has substantially strengthened and assumed a more international scope. There has been an impressive growth in the conceptual, empirical and experiential foundations of the field. Trends and Issues in Distance Education: International Perspectives (2nd Ed) captures a representative snapshot of the breadth of current global trends and issues in distance education theory, research, and practice. Through 21 chapters (from over 30 international authors), the book documents new developments in distance education scholarship and practice, presenting a diverse set of viewpoints on the trends and issues affecting this increasingly central discipline.The book is for researchers, practitioners, and students. Chapters speak to the many creative ways in which distance education addresses learning and human development needs around the world. They focus on distance education in dissimilar settings that extend beyond the limitations of the dominating paradigms of the highly developed economies. Contributing authors touch upon conceptual as well as practical issues. They critically reflect on both large- and small-scale distance education initiatives, discussing the use of everything from the most advanced technologies (e.g., 3-D computing) to the most rudimentary technologies (e.g., wind-up radios).

Real-Life Distance Education: Case Studies in Practice documents and discusses the experiences of those who have implemented distance learning as a solution to “real-life” problems and provides guidance to assist readers in their understanding and analysis of distance learning. This approach allows readers to develop analytic and problem solving skills. The variety of different situations within the individual case studies allows readers to apply their knowledge to new and unique situations and to explore solutions to complex issues. The book is useful as a primary or supplementary text in programs of educational technology, instructional design, learning sciences, human resource development, curriculum & instruction, media & technology or higher education.

Real-Life Distance Education: Case Studies in Practice documents and discusses the experiences of those who have implemented distance learning as a solution to “real-life” problems and provides guidance to assist readers in their understanding and analysis of distance learning. This approach allows readers to develop analytic and problem solving skills. The variety of different situations within the individual case studies allows readers to apply their knowledge to new and unique situations and to explore solutions to complex issues. The book is useful as a primary or supplementary text in programs of educational technology, instructional design, learning sciences, human resource development, curriculum & instruction, media & technology or higher education.

The e-learning research literature is characterized by studies that investigate the practice of teaching and learning online (pedagogy) and those that investigate the planning and administrative functions associated with e-learning delivery (management). This edited volume directs attention to pedagogy and management as it relates to the primary e-learning delivery mechanism, the course management system (CMS). Specifically, the research presented in this collection deals with a range of themes relevant to the selection, implementation, use and evaluation of course management systems in higher education.The primary audience for this book includes instructors and students in instructional and educational technology programs. The book could easily be used as a text in a distance or online learning course. The secondary audience includes instructors and students in higher education programs and e-learning practitioners and administrators. The book is timely because of the growing presence and influence of course management systems on teaching and learning in higher education.

The e-learning research literature is characterized by studies that investigate the practice of teaching and learning online (pedagogy) and those that investigate the planning and administrative functions associated with e-learning delivery (management). This edited volume directs attention to pedagogy and management as it relates to the primary e-learning delivery mechanism, the course management system (CMS). Specifically, the research presented in this collection deals with a range of themes relevant to the selection, implementation, use and evaluation of course management systems in higher education.The primary audience for this book includes instructors and students in instructional and educational technology programs. The book could easily be used as a text in a distance or online learning course. The secondary audience includes instructors and students in higher education programs and e-learning practitioners and administrators. The book is timely because of the growing presence and influence of course management systems on teaching and learning in higher education.

Beyond the Online Course: Leadership Perspectives on e-Learning addresses a need for the growing body of professionals who are called upon to lead the online/distance learning efforts at their various organizations. It will also be of interest to those wishing to prepare for leadership positions or who are engaged in research and study of issues 'beyond the online course.' The book brings together scholarly and practice-based writings from the pages of the Quarterly Review of Distance Education and Distance Learning for Educators, Trainers and Leaders.

Beyond the Online Course: Leadership Perspectives on e-Learning addresses a need for the growing body of professionals who are called upon to lead the online/distance learning efforts at their various organizations. It will also be of interest to those wishing to prepare for leadership positions or who are engaged in research and study of issues 'beyond the online course.' The book brings together scholarly and practice-based writings from the pages of the Quarterly Review of Distance Education and Distance Learning for Educators, Trainers and Leaders.

Distance Learning journal is a premiere outlet for articles featuring practical applications of distance education in states, institutions, and countries. Distance Education: Statewide, Institutional, and International Applications of Distance Education, 2nd Edition is a collection of readings from Distance Learning journal written by practitioners for practitioners.

Distance Learning journal is a premiere outlet for articles featuring practical applications of distance education in states, institutions, and countries. Distance Education: Statewide, Institutional, and International Applications of Distance Education, 2nd Edition is a collection of readings from Distance Learning journal written by practitioners for practitioners.

The edited volume, Digital Video Composing: Multimodal Teaching & Assessment, provides an in-depth examination of teachers’ intentional use of learning, teaching, and assessment practices with digital video (DV) across a range of educational contexts. As a versatile multimodal educational tool, DV has become ubiquitous in twenty-first-century culture, allowing users to produce, share, and view others’ work.The chapters in this book contain grounded portrayals using DV for in-school, out-of-school, and online educational contexts across a range of ages. Divided into three sections—foundational aspects of DV, portraits of educational practice, and DV in teacher preparation and professional development—the chapters present tangible examples of DV educational applications that promote critical and constructive thinking and life-long learning. The authors employ various frameworks—including multimodality, semiotics, anti-racism, critical literacies, trauma-informed care, and critical media literacy—while exploring a range of subject matter. Chapter topics include rhetorical features and affordances of reading and composing with DV, cultural counterstories, social and political inquiry and critiques, and connections between print and video.Together, these examples of research and practice represent a montage of how DV is being used across different multimodal learning spaces, including urban, rural, and online settings.

The edited volume, Digital Video Composing: Multimodal Teaching & Assessment, provides an in-depth examination of teachers’ intentional use of learning, teaching, and assessment practices with digital video (DV) across a range of educational contexts. As a versatile multimodal educational tool, DV has become ubiquitous in twenty-first-century culture, allowing users to produce, share, and view others’ work.The chapters in this book contain grounded portrayals using DV for in-school, out-of-school, and online educational contexts across a range of ages. Divided into three sections—foundational aspects of DV, portraits of educational practice, and DV in teacher preparation and professional development—the chapters present tangible examples of DV educational applications that promote critical and constructive thinking and life-long learning. The authors employ various frameworks—including multimodality, semiotics, anti-racism, critical literacies, trauma-informed care, and critical media literacy—while exploring a range of subject matter. Chapter topics include rhetorical features and affordances of reading and composing with DV, cultural counterstories, social and political inquiry and critiques, and connections between print and video.Together, these examples of research and practice represent a montage of how DV is being used across different multimodal learning spaces, including urban, rural, and online settings.

This book aims to bring together the work of a number of online learning specialists from around the world, to offer the reader a global view of current and recent research and practice in electronic learning from a variety of disciplines and contexts. Some of the chapter authors indicate the likely directions e-learning may be headed in the next few years. In addition, this book is aimed at informing all those working within online learning and distance education of best practice. The content of this book will be of particular interest to university academics, researchers, college educators, K-12 teachers, education administrators and distance education students. It will also be useful as a text for those studying the management and delivery of distance education and e-learning, and indeed will be of interest to those working in all areas of education.The core of our book, the section entitled Projects and Tools, consists of research reports originally presented at the Romanian Internet Learning Workshop (RILW), an annual international conference series held in Romania between 1997 and 2001, and described in the first chapter of the volume. These projects focus on the development of instructional concepts and tools for technology-based learning environments encompassing diverse fields and disciplines from Educational Science through Intercultural Education and Foreign Languages to Beam Physics.