Digital Learning

Educational systems worldwide are facing an enormous shift as a result of sociocultural, political, economic, and technological changes. The technologies and practices that have developed over the last decade have been heralded as opportunities to transform both online and traditional education systems. While proponents of these new ideas often postulate that they have the potential to address the educational problems facing both students and institutions and that they could provide an opportunity to rethink the ways that education is organized and enacted, there is little evidence of emerging technologies and practices in use in online education. Because researchers and practitioners interested in these possibilities often reside in various disciplines and academic departments the sharing and dissemination of their work across often rigid boundaries is a formidable task. Contributors to Emergence and Innovation in Digital Learning include individuals who are shaping the future of online learning with their innovative applications and investigations on the impact of issues such as openness, analytics, MOOCs, and social media. Building on work first published in Emerging Technologies in Distance Education, the contributors to this collection harness the dispersed knowledge in online education to provide a one-stop locale for work on emergent approaches in the field. Their conclusions will influence the adoption and success of these approaches to education and will enable researchers and practitioners to conceptualize, critique, and enhance their understanding of the foundations and applications of new technologies.

The new edition of Digital Learning: The Key Concepts is the perfect reference for anyone seeking to navigate the myriad of named concepts, approaches, issues and technologies associated with digital learning. Key terms are explained succinctly, making this book ideal to dip into for a quick answer, or to read from cover-to-cover, in order to gain a mastery of how digital concepts fit within the world of education. Fully updated to include important developments in digital practice and technology in education over the last ten years, this book takes the reader from A to Z through a range of relevant topics including: • Course design • Digital scholarship • Learning design • Open education • Personal learning environments • Social media and social networking. Ideal as an introductory guide, or as a reference book for ongoing referral, this quick-to-use and comprehensive guide is fully crossreferenced and complete with suggestions for further reading and exploration, making it an essential resource for anyone looking to extend their understanding of digital practices, techniques and pedagogic concepts.

An essential resource for teaching and assessing student's use of technology This comprehensive book offers a practical pathway for developing twenty-first-century skills while simultaneously strengthening content-area learning. Digital Learning contains a wealth of research-based practices to integrate the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) National Education Technology Standards (NETS) for both students and teachers. Each of the suggested project-based learning examples (in Language Arts, Mathematics, Science and Geography) can be used successfully as stand-alone units, but are even more effective when approached in a cross-disciplinary way. Provides detailed descriptions of each of the NETS, how to teach them, and how to know if students are meeting them Includes dozens of activities that integrate the NETS with each content area and align with Common Core standards Gives clear instruction on teaching twenty-first-century skills Includes a complementary DVD with video interviews and project maps to help see how students are progressing The digital learning described in this book has been created to meet the diverse needs of students in a variety of situations.

Responding to both the trend towards increasing online enrollments as the demand for face-to-face education declines, and to the immediate surge in remote learning owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, this book provides vital guidance to higher education institutions on how to develop faculty capacity to teach online and to leverage the affordances of an ever-increasing array of new and emerging learning technologies.This book provides higher education leaders with the context they need to position their institutions in the changing online environment, and with guidance to build support in a period of transition.It is intended for campus leaders and administrators who work with campus teams charged with identifying learning technologies to meet an agreed upon program- or institution-level educational needs; for those coordinating across campus to build consensus on implementing online strategies; and for instructional designers, faculty developers and assessment directors who assist departments and faculty effectively integrate learning technologies into their courses and programs. It will also appeal to faculty who take an active interest in improving online teaching.The contributors to this volume describe the potential of artificial intelligence algorithms, such as those that fuel learning analytics software that mines LMS data to enable faculty to quickly and efficiently assess individual students’ progress in real time, prompting either individual attention or the need to more generally clarify concepts for the class as whole. They describe and provide access to a hybrid professional development MOOC and an associated WIKI that curate information about a wide range of learning software solutions currently available; and present case studies that offer guidance on building the buy-in and consensus needed to successfully integrate learning technologies into course, program- and institution-level contexts.In sum, this book provides readers with a comprehensive understanding of the technological capabilities available to them and identifies collaborative processes related to engaging and building institutional support for the changes needed to provide the rapidly growing demand for effective and evidence-based online learning.

Assessment has provided educational institutions with information about student learning outcomes and the quality of education for many decades. But has it informed practice and been fully incorporated into the learning cycle? Conrad and Openo argue that the potential inherent in many of the new learning environments being explored by educators and students has not been fully realized. In this investigation of a variety of assessment methods and learning approaches, the authors aim to discover the tools that engage learners and authentically evaluate education. They insist that moving to new learning environments, specifically those online and at a distance, afford opportunities for educators to adopt only the best practices of traditional face-to-face assessment while exploring evaluation tools made available by a digital learning environment in the hopes of arriving at methods that capture the widest set of learner skills and attributes.

Internet and intranet technologies offer tremendous opportunities to bring learning into the mainstream of business. E-Learning outlines how to develop an organization-wide learning strategy based on cutting-edge technologies and explains the dramatic strategic, organizational, and technology issues involved. Written for professionals responsible for leading the revolution in workplace learning, E-Learning takes a broad, strategic perspective on corporate learning. This wake-up call for executives everywhere discusses: • Requirements for building a viable e-learning strategy • How online learning will change the nature of training organizations • Knowledge management and other new forms of e-learning Marc J. Rosenberg, Ph.D. (Hillsborough, NJ) is an independent consultant specializing in knowledge management, e-learning strategy and the reinvention of training. Prior to this, he was a senior direction and kowledge management field leader for consulting firm DiamondCluster International.

Today quality of education hinges less on mode of instruction or institutional reputation than on the commitment of individual administrators and instructors to understand and apply digital learning. Digital Learning reveals the technologies behind successful implementation of online learning and teaching, and introduces the most important concepts and relationships in plain language. Readers are also provided with a glossary of key terms and a selection of resources.

In Going Online, one of our most respected online learning leaders offers insights into virtual education—what it is, how it works, where it came from, and where it may be headed. Robert Ubell reaches back to the days when distance learning was practiced by mail in correspondence schools and then leads us on a tour behind the screen, touching on a wide array of topics along the way, including what it takes to teach online and the virtual student experience. You’ll learn about: how to build a sustainable online program; how to create an active learning online course; why so many faculty resist teaching online; how virtual teamwork enhances digital instruction; how to manage online course ownership; how learning analytics improves online instruction. Ubell says that it is not technology alone, but rather unconventional pedagogies, supported by technological innovations, that truly activate today's classrooms. He argues that innovations introduced online—principally peer-to-peer and collaborative learning—offer significantly increased creative learning options across all age groups and educational sectors. This impressive collection, drawn from Ubell's decades of experience as a digital education pioneer, presents a powerful case for embracing online learning for its transformational potential.