Recent Innovations In Educational Technology That Facilitate Student Learning

The field of educational technology is exploding in terms of innovations being developed daily. Most of these innovations hold fascinating promise but enjoy almost no empirical support. There are educational researchers who have both developed innovations and tested their potential empirically. This book will capture the latest and most promising innovations from the leading educational technologists in the world, including animations, simulations, visualizations, navigation, manipulatives, pedagogical agents, and assessment. This book is appropriate for university courses in educational technology for those wishing to showcase the latest innovations that are accompanied by empirical support.

Educational technology is a creative blending of 'idea' and 'product' technologies with subject-matter content in order to engender and improve teaching and learning processes. Educational technology is often associated with the terms instructional technology or learning technology. 'Product' technologies are tangible; for example, computer hardware or software. 'Idea' technologies are cognitive frameworks or schemes; for example, the Multiple Intelligence Theory proposed by Howard Gardner. When products are thoughtfully blended with subject matter content (such as mathematics or science concepts) for a specific audience in a specific educational context (such as a school), one is using 'educational technology'. The words educational and technology in the term educational technology have the general meaning. Educational technology is not restricted to the education of children, nor to the use of high technology.

Education is the key to America's economic growth and prosperity and to our ability to compete in the global economy. It is the path to higher earning power for Americans and is necessary for our democracy to work. It fosters the cross-border, cross-cultural collaboration required to solve the most challenging problems of our time. The National Education Technology Plan 2010 calls for revolutionary transformation. Specifically, we must embrace innovation and technology which is at the core of virtually every aspect of our daily lives and work. This book explores the National Education Technology Plan which presents a model of learning powered by technology, with goals and recommendations in five essential areas: learning, assessment, teaching, infrastructure and productivity.

OECD’s Innovation Strategy calls upon all sectors in the economy and society to innovate in order to foster productivity, growth and well-being. Education systems are critically important for innovation through the development of skills that nurture new ideas and technologies.

This book provides contemporary examples of the ways in which educators can use digital technologies to create effective learning environments that support improved learning and instruction. These examples are guided by multiple conceptual and methodological traditions evolving from the learning sciences and instructional technology communities as well as other communities doing important work on learning technologies. In particular, the book provides examples of technology innovations and the ways in which educators can use them to foster deep understanding, collaboration, creativity, invention, and reflection. Additional examples demonstrate the ways in which emerging mobile and networked technologies can help extend student learning beyond the confines of the classroom wall and support student-directed learning and new media literacies.

What have been the biggest successes in educational technology – and why have they succeeded when others have failed? Educational Visions shows how innovations including citizen science, learning at scale, inclusive education, learning design and analytics have developed over decades. The book is shaped by the visions pursued by one research group for the past 40 years. It outlines the group’s framework for innovation and shows how this can be put into practice to achieve long-term results that benefit both students and teachers at every educational level.

The aim of this volume entitled Digital Technologies: Sustainable Innovations for improving Teaching and Learning is to contribute in the global discussion on digital technologies as the means to foster sustainable educational innovations for improving the teaching, learning and assessment from K-12 to Higher Education. It compiles papers presented at the CELDA (Cognition and Exploratory Learning in the Digital Age) conference, which has as its goal continuing to address these challenges and promote the effective use of new tools and technologies to support teaching, learning and assessment. The book consists of four parts and showcases how emerging educational technologies and innovative practices have been used to address core global educational challenges; spanning from rethinking and transforming learning environments across educational contexts to effectively cultivating students’ competences for the digital smart society of the future. The book comprises Part I: Transforming the Learning Environment; Part II: Enriching student learning experiences; Part III: Measuring and Assessing Teaching and Learning with Educational Data Analytics; Part IV: Cultivating student competences for the digital Smart society. It targets researchers and research students, educational professional practitioners (including teachers, educators and education leaders) as well as education policy makers, who are interested in keeping up-to-date on the global development in this field.

This book examines recent changes in media education and in young people’s lives, and provides an accessible set of principles on which the media curriculum should be based, with a clear rationale for pedagogic practice. David Buckingham is one of the leading international experts in the field - he has more than twenty years’ experience in media education as a teacher and researcher. This book takes account of recent changes both in the media and in young people’s lives, and provides an accessible and cogent set of principles on which the media curriculum should be based. Introduces the aims and methods of media education or 'media literacy'. Includes descriptions of teaching strategies and summaries of relevant research on classroom practice. Covers issues relating to contemporary social, political and technological developments.