Virtual Learning And Higher Education

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has prompted educators to utilize online learning resources in order to comply with public health and social distancing mandates. The transition to virtual classrooms has created several opportunities and challenges for all stakeholders involved in the educational ecosystem. The ability of the classroom instructor to impart learning to students requires considerable adjustments from both students and teachers, which can be a new experience for educational professionals. Virtual and Classroom Learning in Higher Education serves as a handy guide for instructors to effective online teaching with a focus on higher education. The book presents reviews on different aspects of online teaching, distilling key findings in an easy to understand manner for the reader. It provides educators with knowledge which familiarizes them with online teaching models and concepts (such as micro-learning, synchronous and asynchronous learning, online pedagogy, dynamic learning experience and more). Chapters are contributed by experts in online learning and cover the topic from different angles, giving the reader a broad perspective on virtual classrooms. Virtual and Classroom Learning in Higher Education is an essential read for administrators and educators involved in higher education settings, and general readers who are interested in widening their view of the online teaching model.

This book opens up a fruitful conversation by and between invited academics from Europe and Latin America on the features of online learning in higher education. The authors analyse online education from interdisciplinary theoretical and empirical reflections to reveal the existing tensions and turning this book into a valuable artifact on how learning is shaped when technology comes in-between diverse geographical and social contexts. Like any other human activity, e-learning can be seen as a context-dependent educational system with many objects in mutual interaction. Applying a cultural psychology perspective to this provides new answers to questions such as: How can cultural psychology shed new light on online learning? Why do students and academics still opt for classic classes? What inner boundaries are pushed when studying online? How can online learning be influenced by affect? How do teachers and students mold their identities when they move in and out of online environments? This book reveals the existing tensions, resistances and appropriation strategies that students and academics from diverse backgrounds and places go through when attending online learning courses in higher education and furthermore shows how these theoretical frameworks can be successfully applied to practice.

Online Learning and Its Users: Lessons for Higher Education re-examines the impact of learning technologies in higher education. The book focuses particularly on the introduction and mainstreaming of one of the most widely used, the virtual learning environment (VLE) or learning management system (LMS). The book presents an activity theoretic analysis of the VLE’s adoption, drawing on research into this process at a range of higher education institutions. Through analysis and discussion of the activities of managers, lecturers, and learners using the VLE, lessons are identified to inform future initiatives including the implementation of massive open online courses (MOOCs). A replicable research design is included and explained to support evaluation and analysis of the use of online learning in other settings. The book questions accepted views of the place of technologies in higher education, arguing that there has been a repeated cycle of hype and disappointment accompanying the development of online learning. While much research has documented this cycle, finding new strategies to break it has proved to be a more difficult challenge. Why has technology not made more impact? Are lecturers going to be left behind by their own students in the use of digital technologies? Why have we seen costly and time-consuming failures? This book argues that we can answer these questions by heeding the lessons from previous experiences with the VLE and early iterations of the MOOC. More importantly, we can begin to ask new and different questions for the future to ensure better outcomes for our institutions and ultimately our learners. presents institution-wide analysis of the adoption of a key educational technology for higher education, validated across multiple sites, to support deeper understanding of the use of learning technologies in context describes Activity Theory and presents a replicable model to operationalise it for investigations of the use of online learning in higher education and other settings provides a unique perspective on the historical experience of VLE adoption and mainstreaming to identify important insights and essential lessons for the future

Online learning and teaching (e –learning) is a rapidly developing area in modern universities. This book examines the relevant theory, and drawing on the authors experience, offers teachers in higher education realistic options for developing this area of their teaching practice.

Preliminary Material /David Seth Preston --Preface /D.S. Preston --Frontierland: Exploring the Uses of Virtual Learning Environments in Higher Education /David Seth Preston --Learning to Teach, Teaching to Learn: A Developmental Framework far Teacher Training /Mike Waring and Kate Boardman --The Virtual Seminar /Melissa Lee Price and Andy Lapham --Going From Distanee to Digital: Athabasca University's E-Learning Plan /Lynda R. Ross and Alan Davis --Online Resouree Page: Using Technology to Enhanee Online Interactivity /Brent Muirhead --Into the Unknown: Charting the Future of Virtual Learning Environments in Higher Education /David Seth Preston --Working and Learning Together: ICT-Supported Learning in Small Businesses /Craig Thomson --Strategie and Pedagogie Requirements for Virtual Learning in the Context of Widening Partieipation /Mark Stiles --Assessment for Real in Virtual Learning Environments - How Far Can We Go? /Mike Fuller --Looking Before Leaping: Issues In Virtual Higher Education /David Seth Preston --C.P. Snow Revisited: The Two Cultures of Faculty and Administration /James Wood --Atatvistic Avatars: Ontology, Education and 'Virtual Worlds' /Adrian Bromage --Virtual Values: The University in E-Crisis /David Seth Preston --Notes on Contributors /David Seth Preston --Index /David Seth Preston.

Online and virtual education is continually integrated in university classrooms. While online learning provides a more cost-effective alternative for students, educators must also analyze the psychology of online learners and identify ways to support their growth and development in their respective instructional settings. Student-Centered Virtual Learning Environments in Higher Education is a collection of innovative research that focuses on connecting contextual analyses of student-focused online instruction with quality assurance principles to improve higher education. Highlighting a range of topics including instructional design, professional development, and student engagement, this book is ideally designed for educators, software developers, instructional designers, educational administration, academicians, and students seeking current research on emerging principles and practices related to designing, implementing, and evaluating virtual teaching and learning.

This book is to explores a variety of facets of online learning environments to understand how learning occurs and succeeds in digital contexts and what teaching strategies and technologies are most suited to this format. Business, health, government and education are some of the core sectors of society which have been experiencing deep transformations due to a generalized digitalization. While these changes are not novel, the swift progress of technology and the rising complexity of digital environments place a focus on the need for further research and novel strategies. In the context of education, the promise of increased flexibility and broader access to educational resources is impelling much of higher education’s course offerings to online environments. The 21st century learner requires an education that can be pursued anytime and anywhere and that is more aligned with the demands of a digital society. Online education not only assists students to success-fully integrate a workforce that is increasingly digital, but it helps them to become more comfortable with the use of technology in general and, hence, more prepared to be prolific digital citizens. The variety of settings portrayed in this volume attest to the unlimited opportunities afforded by online learning and serve as valuable evidence of its benefit for students’ educational experience. Moreover, these research efforts assist a more comprehensive reflection about the delivery of higher education in the context of online settings.

This timely volume documents the immediate, global impacts of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) on teaching and learning in higher education. Focusing on student and faculty experiences of online and distance education, the text provides reflections on novel initiatives, unexpected challenges, and lessons learned. Responding to the urgent need to better understand online teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, this book investigates how the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) impacted students, faculty, and staff experiences during the COVID-19 lockdown. Chapters initially look at the challenges faced by universities and educators in their attempts to overcome the practical difficulties involved in developing effective online programming and pedagogy. The text then builds on these insights to highlight student experiences and consider issues of social connection and inequality. Finally, the volume looks forward to asking what lessons COVID-19 can offer for the future development of online and distance learning in higher education. This engaging volume will benefit researchers, academics, and educators with an interest in online teaching and eLearning, curriculum design, and more, specifically those involved with the digitalization of higher education. The text will also support further discussion and reflection around pedagogical transformation, international teaching and learning, and educational policy more broadly.