Designing Effective Distance and Blended Learning Environments in K-12

Designing Effective Distance and Blended Learning Environments in K-12

Author: Driscoll III, Thomas F.

Publisher: IGI Global

Published: 2021-11-12

Total Pages: 389

ISBN-13: 1799868311

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

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.


Designing Effective Digital Learning Environments

Designing Effective Digital Learning Environments

Author: Andreas Gegenfurtner

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2024-12

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781032478180

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Bringing together the research of leading international scholars in the field of digital learning, Designing Effective Digital Learning Environments discusses cutting edge advancements in digital technology and presents an evidence-informed summary of best practice for effective design principles and implementation within educational settings. Readers will benefit from a synthesis of research evidence from previous meta-analyses on how to design digital environments that support learning, motivation and collaboration. Divided into eight thematic parts, chapters unpack: An introduction to digital learning environments Learning with multimedia, with particular emphasis on digital reading and GeoGebra software Videos for learning, including dynamic visualisations, instructional videos, and eye movement modelling examples Simulated realities, pedagogical agents and immersive virtual reality Game-based and sensor-based learning in digital environments Digital learning in social contexts, including a discussion of social media, CSCL and audience response systems Designing digital classrooms with approaches such as flipped classrooms and synchronous online learning A concluding section discussing the efficacy and design of digital learning environments This edited volume is an essential read for any scholar, researcher, PhD or Masters student working in the field of digital learning.


Managing and Designing Online Courses in Ubiquitous Learning Environments

Managing and Designing Online Courses in Ubiquitous Learning Environments

Author: Durak, Gürhan

Publisher: IGI Global

Published: 2019-09-27

Total Pages: 375

ISBN-13: 1522597816

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

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 Teaching

Advancing Online Teaching

Author: Kevin Kelly

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2023-07-03

Total Pages: 220

ISBN-13: 1000979385

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The goal of teaching online is fundamentally the same as teaching face-to-face: facilitating the learning of all students to the greatest extent possible. This book differs from other books on online teaching in that, in the process of offering guidance on course design and planning, developing outcomes and appropriate engaging activities, managing the workload and assessment, the authors pay explicit attention throughout to the distinct and diverse needs of students and offer effective strategies to accommodate them in a comprehensive and inclusive way by using the principles of Universal Design for Learning. By following those principles from the outset when planning a course, all students will benefit, and most particularly those whom the research shows have the greatest achievement gaps when taking online courses -- males, first generation and low income students, those from underrepresented minority groups, the academically underprepared, students with disabilities, and those with limited online access or lacking readiness for online learning. Beyond good planning and design, Kelly and Zakrajsek offer ideas for creating inclusive course environments and activities, such as using culturally appropriate content and making it accessible in multiple formats. They also share methods to foster faculty-learner interaction and increase personal connections with students, and among students, through group activities or learning communities, which are so critical to motivation and success. Faculty new to online teaching as well as more experienced readers will find a wealth of practical guidance on developing and honing both fully online and blended courses and, as importantly, a wealth of proven ideas to help the new generation of students with diverse needs to succeed.


Assessment in Online and Blended Learning Environments

Assessment in Online and Blended Learning Environments

Author: Selma Koç

Publisher: IAP

Published: 2015-03-01

Total Pages: 319

ISBN-13: 1681230461

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Online and blended learning requires the reconstruction of instructor and learner roles, relations, and practices in many aspects. Assessment becomes an important issue in non-traditional learning environments. Assessment literacy, i.e., understanding assessment and assessment strategies, is critical for both instructors and students in creating online and blended environments that are effective for teaching and learning. Instructors need to identify and implement assessment strategies and methods appropriate to online or blended learning. This includes an understanding of the potential of a variety of technology tools for monitoring student learning and improving their teaching effectiveness. From the students’ perspective, good assessment practices can show them what is important to learn and how they should approach learning; hence, engaging them in goal-oriented and self-regulatory cognitions and behaviors. The book targets instructors, instructional designers, and educational leaders who are interested in understanding and implementing either summative or formative assessment in online and blended learning environments. This book will assist the relevant audience in the theory and practice of assessment in online and blended learning environments. Providing both a research and practice perspective, this book can help instructors make the connection between pedagogy and technology tools to maximize their teaching and student learning. Among the questions addressed in this book are: • What assessment strategies can be used in online or blended learning? • How can instructors design effective assessment strategies? • What methods or technology tools can be used for assessment in online or blended learning? • How does peer-assessment work in online or blended learning environments?


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

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

Author: Chatham, Daniel

Publisher: IGI Global

Published: 2021-01-08

Total Pages: 382

ISBN-13: 1799856003

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

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.


Learning and Instruction in the Digital Age

Learning and Instruction in the Digital Age

Author: J. Michael Spector

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2010-03-10

Total Pages: 404

ISBN-13: 1441915516

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Instruction tailored to the individual student, learning and teaching outside the limits of time and space—ideas that were once considered science fiction are now educational reality, with the prospect of an intelligent Web 3.0 not far distant. Alongside these innovations exists an emerging set of critical-thinking challenges, as Internet users create content and learners (and teachers) take increased responsibility in their work. Learning and Instruction in the Digital Age nimbly balances the technological and pedagogical aspects of these rapid changes, gathering papers from noted researchers on a wealth of topics relating to cognitive approaches to learning and teaching, mental models, online learning, communications, and innovative educational technologies, among them: Cognition and student-centered, Web-based learning, The progression of mental models throughout a course of instruction, Experiencing education with 3D virtual worlds, Expanding educational boundaries through multi-school collaboration, Adapting e-learning to different learning styles, The student blog as reflective diary. With its blend of timely ideas and forward thinking, Learning and Instruction in the Digital Age will enrich the work of researchers in educational psychology, educational technology, and cognitive science.


Critical Digital Pedagogy

Critical Digital Pedagogy

Author: Jesse Stommel

Publisher:

Published: 2020-07-17

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 9780578725918

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The work of teachers is not just to teach. We are also responsible for the basic needs of students. Helping students eat and live, and also helping them find the tools they need to reflect on the present moment. This is exactly in keeping with Paulo Freire's insistence that critical pedagogy be focused on helping students read their world; but more and more, we must together reckon with that world. Teaching must be an act of imagination, hope, and possibility. Education must be a practice done with hearts as much as heads, with hands as much as books. Care has to be at the center of this work.For the past ten years, Hybrid Pedagogy has worked to help craft a theory of teaching and learning in and around digital spaces, not by imagining what that work might look like, but by doing, asking after, changing, and doing again. Since 2011, Hybrid Pedagogy has published over 400 articles from more than 200 authors focused in and around the emerging field of critical digital pedagogy. A selection of those articles are gathered here. This is the first peer-reviewed publication centered on the theory and practice of critical digital pedagogy. The collection represents a wide cross-section of both academic and non-academic culture and features articles by women, Black people, indigenous people, Chicanx and Latinx writers, disabled people, queer people, and other underrepresented populations. The goal is to provide evidence for the extraordinary work being done by teachers, librarians, instructional designers, graduate students, technologists, and more - work which advances the study and the praxis of critical digital pedagogy.


The SAGE Encyclopedia of Educational Technology

The SAGE Encyclopedia of Educational Technology

Author: J. Michael Spector

Publisher: SAGE Publications

Published: 2015-01-29

Total Pages: 1845

ISBN-13: 1506311296

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The SAGE Encyclopedia of Educational Technology examines information on leveraging the power of technology to support teaching and learning. While using innovative technology to educate individuals is certainly not a new topic, how it is approached, adapted, and used toward the services of achieving real gains in student performance is extremely pertinent. This two-volume encyclopedia explores such issues, focusing on core topics and issues that will retain relevance in the face of perpetually evolving devices, services, and specific techniques. As technology evolves and becomes even more low-cost, easy-to-use, and more accessible, the education sector will evolve alongside it. For instance, issues surrounding reasoning behind how one study has shown students retain information better in traditional print formats are a topic explored within the pages of this new encyclopedia. Features: A collection of 300-350 entries are organized in A-to-Z fashion in 2 volumes available in a choice of print or electronic formats. Entries, authored by key figures in the field, conclude with cross references and further readings. A detailed index, the Reader’s Guide themes, and cross references combine for search-and-browse in the electronic version. This reference encyclopedia is a reliable and precise source on educational technology and a must-have reference for all academic libraries.