Open Learning, Online and Distance Education Books

In the past decade, trust has gained a prominent place at the center of academic scholarship in the social sciences. Trust and Technology in a Ubiquitous Modern Environment: Theoretical and Methodological Perspectives provides a variety of theoretical...

Today's students are faced with the challenge of utilizing technology to support not only their personal lives, but also their academic careers. Technology Implementation and Teacher Education: Reflective Models provides teachers with the resources...

As national and international concern over sustainable resources becomes more prevalent, the need for decision support systems (DSS) increases. The applicable uses of a successful system can assist in the sustainability of resources, as well as the...

The increasing prevalence of digital information systems and technologies compels libraries across the globe to update systems and provide users with a digital experience outside the confines of the structural library, providing useful benefits to the...

Pervasive healthcare is an emerging discipline concerning the application of wireless, mobile, and intelligent technologies to certain healthcare issues. Such issues within healthcare systems include the increased incidence of lifestyle-related diseases...

An exciting and burgeoning new field, the study of serious games has grown from a collection of radical ideas to a recognized and unique tool to create an engaging learning environment. Interdisciplinary Models and Tools for Serious Games: Emerging...

The idea that games can have positive impacts upon critical thinking and problem solving is widely accepted in today's digital society, yet the effect of video games on human cognition is still largely unexplored. Gaming and Cognition: Theories And...

Positive change in society depends highly on a variety of innovative technologies. Sustainability and transformation of the knowledge society helps create developing nations that can survive during times of global turbulence. Sustainable Economic...

The World Wide Web is changing the way we use technology, bringing e-learning and teaching to a whole new dimension of collaboration and communication. Looking Toward the Future of Technology-Enhanced Education: Ubiquitous Learning and the Digital Native...

Institutions of higher education have increasingly embraced distance education with the number of students enrolled in online courses rapidly rising in colleges and universities throughout the world. Given its popularity and increased usage, it is...

Discussion, whether in online or face-to-face environments, is central to attaining and disseminating information. Cases on Online Discussion and Interaction: Experiences and Outcomes contains examples of online discussions in a variety of contexts and...

Ethics and games are emerging as a very popular field of study. As such, there has become a need to define the field in terms of its primary challenges and the current state of the discipline. Ethics and Game Design: Teaching Values through Play is the...

Evolutionary computation brings new tools for software engineering by informing the systematic, disciplined, quantifiable processes of developing, operating, and maintaining software. Evolutionary Computation and Optimization Algorithms in Software...

The ability to communicate with anyone at anytime, anywhere, necessitates a need to provide reliable, resilient, and sustainable applications to support the evolving uses of mobile technologies. Movement-Aware Applications for Sustainable Mobility:...

With the rapid development of digital and networking technologies, trust has become an important factor that influences the success of digital life in control and management. Trust Modeling and Management in Digital Environments: From Social Concept to...

Rapid advances in computer technology and the internet have created new opportunities for delivering instruction and revolutionizing the learning environment. This development has been accelerated by the significant reduction in cost of the Internet...

Although classrooms are thought of as places where skills are learned and knowledge gained, they are also defined by norms and the need to conform. As a result they often reproduce, rather than interrogate, power and cultural relations. Disrupting...

In the past, interactivity has often been studied from the perspective of a particular subject area. Much effort has been expended on classifying and topologizing interactivity from the perspectives of media studies and information science. However,...

Children experience technology in both formal and informal settings as they grow and develop. Despite research indicating the benefits of technology in early childhood education, the gap between parents, teachers, and children continues to grow as our...

As an increasing amount of information is made available online, the assumption is that people who visit Web sites will be able to strategize their learning to optimize access to this information. Constructing Self-Discovery Learning Spaces Online:...

Limited resources and other factors pose major challenges for engineering, technology, and science educators' ability to provide adequate laboratory experience for students. An Internet accessible remote laboratory, which is an arrangement that allows...

One of the ways in which distance education is capable of reaching online learners is the basis and method of meta-communication. Therefore, it is important to understand how to design reflective online conversations and how to implement a diverse milieu...

As the field of Information and Communication Technologies rapidly expands, the applications to language learning continue to grow. Computer-Enhanced and Mobile-Assisted Language Learning: Emerging Issues and Trends compiles the latest research into...

The effective communication of science through language, including reading, writing, listening, speaking, and visual representation, is an essential part of scientific learning, understanding, and practice. Language is the medium by which scientific...

Teachers of young children are the technology gatekeepers in childcare programs. They are vital to the appropriate use of technology, yet little is documented concerning training and understanding of teachers' role in classrooms. Technology and Young...

The demand for modernization of legacy systems has created the need for new architectural frameworks that improve interoperability, productivity, process quality, and maintenance costs involved with model driven architecture. Model Driven Architecture...

Although a growing body of research demonstrates the need for education to adapt to the needs of the Net Generation, research also shows that traditional teaching methods continue to dominate the classroom. To stay effective, higher education must adapt...

Although there is broad agreement that preparing global citizens for the digital age is a core responsibility of educators and schools, there is debate and uncertainty about how best to prepare students for this future. Technologies for Enhancing...

E-learning plays a significant role in education, and its importance increases day by day. Learning environments can take a myriad of distinct forms. Learning management systems (LMS) have emerged as an important platform to support effective learning...

Technology enhanced learning takes place in many different forms and contexts, including formal and informal settings, individual and collaborative learning, learning in the classroom, at home, at work, and outdoor in real life situations, as well as...

Pedagogy and andragogy are often treated as separate fields, despite their similarities and shared goal of stimulating learning in individuals to the fullest degree possible. Pedagogical and Andragogical Teaching and Learning with Information...

Recent technological innovation has altered the way educators approach teaching and learning. These new technologies provide countless advantages in the classroom; however, we are not yet clear on how they should be implemented. The pedagogical value of...

With e-learning expanding globally beyond higher education to K-12 educational settings, the demand for online learning will only increase in the future. Despite this, empirical studies on its effectiveness lag far behind its implementation. Student...

The open approach has been widely used in the development of mobile applications, mobile operating systems for mobile devices, and mobile services for supporting mobile learning. In mobile learning, open source software has played an important role. Due...

The anonymity inherent in cyber education impacts the way learners interact in online environments. While this sense of anonymity may free individuals to express themselves or create a new self, technology affords ways to capture, track and scrutinize...

Assistive and augmentive communication is an emerging research area receiving much support from the disabled community. It enables communication for those with impairments or restrictions on the production or comprehension of spoken or written language...

Institutional research (IR) is a growing, applied, and interdisciplinary area that attracts people from a variety of fields, including computer programmers, statisticians, and administrators and faculty from every discipline to work in archiving,...

Work integrated learning manifests itself in many guises, including Work Based Learning, Workplace Learning or Practice Based Learning and occurs within 'work-like' contexts, simulated work conditions, an actual workplace or a combination of these...

Virtual worlds are an area of growing interest in many sectors, including higher education. While Web-based tools have existed for years to help deliver course content, these tools have not traditionally provided means for creation of community with the...

This volume draws together all the articles published by the International Journal of Mobile and Blended Learning in its first year of publication (2009). When compared with traditional classroom learning, mobile learning (m-learning) has the distinct...

Mobile learning, or m-learning, can take place in any environment using technologies that fit in the palm of the hand or can be easily carried from one place to another. Models for Interdisciplinary Mobile Learning: Delivering Information to Students...

The idea of combining face-to-face learning with some form on online learning made sense a decade ago as it allowed much more flexibility in delivering instruction to diverse groups of learners. Today, blended learning has become a mainstay for...

Immeasurable advances in our culture have led to a more knowledge-based society in recent years. This has impacted individual and organizational learning and how it is delivered and experienced. Technology plays an important role in supporting learning...

Modern education is characterized by continual change, as educators and students engage with new devices, systems, and resources for improving and enhancing teaching and learning. Online Courses and ICT in Education: Emerging Practices and Applications...

As technology expands and becomes more powerful and pervasive, there is growing discussion of the innovative ways that technology can be used. While it is obviously important to consider the technical aspects of any new technology, there is a critical...

Design patterns have become popular in the domains of architecture, software design, human computer interaction, Web 2.0, organizational structures, and pedagogy as a way to communicate successful practical knowledge. Patterns capture proven solutions...

The use of Academic Podcasting Technology and MALL (Mobile Assisted Language Learning) is reshaping teaching and learning by supporting, expanding, and enhancing course content, learning activities, and teacher-student interactions. Academic Podcasting...

Higher education is facing a renaissance in terms of its approaches to teaching and learning and the use of physical and virtual spaces. Physical and Virtual Learning Spaces in Higher Education: Concepts for the Modern Learning Environment documents...