Virtual Sites As Learning Spaces

This volume fills a gap in the literature between the domains of Communication Studies and Educational Sciences across physical-virtual spaces as they intersect in the 21st century. The chapters focus on “languaging” - communicative practices in the making - and its intersection with analogue and virtual learning spaces, bringing together studies that highlight the constant movement between analogue-virtual dimensions that continuously re-shape participants' identity positionings. Languaging is understood as the deployment of one or more than one language variety, modality, embodiment, etc in human meaning-making across spaces. Languaging activities are explored through a multitude of literary artefacts, genres, media, and modes produced in and across sites. The authors go beyond “best practice” approaches and instead present “how-to-explore” communicative practices for researchers, learners and teachers. This book will be of interest to readers situated in the areas of literacy, literature, bi/multilingualism, multimodality, linguistic anthropology, applied linguistics, and related fields. Chapters 2, 5, 8 and 12 are open access under a CC BY 4.0 license at link.springer.com.

El espacio, ya sea físico o virtual, puede tener un impacto significativo en el aprendizaje. Learning Spaces se centra en la forma en que las expectativas de los alumnos influyen en dichos espacios, en los principios y actividades que facilitan el aprendizaje y en el papel de la tecnología desde la perspectiva de quienes crean los entornos de aprendizaje: profesores, tecnólogos del aprendizaje, bibliotecarios y administradores. La tecnología de la información ha aportado capacidades únicas a los espacios de aprendizaje, ya sea estimulando una mayor interacción mediante el uso de herramientas de colaboración, videoconferencias con expertos internacionales o abriendo mundos virtuales para la exploración. Este libro representa una exploración continua a medida que unimos el espacio, la tecnología y la pedagogía para asegurar el éxito de los estudiantes.

Virtual Immersive and 3D Learning Spaces: Emerging Technologies helps push the conceptual and applied boundaries of virtual immersive learning. Virtual immersive spaces bring with them plenty of promise, of sensory information-rich learning experiences that will enable a much wider range of experiential learning and training—delivered to computer desktops, augmented reality spaces, digital installations, and mobile projective devices. This work explains how these spaces may be exploited for effective learning in terms of the technologies, pedagogical strategies, and directions.

"This book documents real-world experiences of innovators in higher education who have redesigned spaces for learning and teaching, including physical, virtual, formal, informal, blended, flexible, and time sensitive factors" --Provided by publisher.

As we have come to accept the duality of physical and virtual learning spaces as a permanent feature of our educational landscape, we begin to question its validity. Is this really a dichotomy, or is it a continuum? Should this be the primary dimension around which we cluster educational experiences - how does it intersect and interact with other axes, such as formal-informal, vocational-recreational, open-closed, teacher-student? How do we adapt, as teachers, learners, designers, policy makers, to this changing landscape? How do we shape it to offer an optimal learning experience? Such questions led us to conduct a series of academic and professional events on the theme of Hybrid Learning Spaces (HLS) - spaces which challenge and defy the dichotomies above. This edited book collates some of the products of that endeavor, offering a multi-vocal, interdisciplinary approach to hybridity in education. It connects practical examples, design directives and theoretical analysis, combining perspectives from technology research and development, educational theory and practice, architecture and space and product design. This book addresses researchers, practitioners, innovators and policy makers in education, technology and design, offering broad perspectives and then distilling practical insights in the form of design principles and patterns, pedagogical models, and predictions of future trends.

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: Scaffolding and Decision Making Technologies raises awareness of the strategies supporting self-driven learner efficacy on a number of site types. This book reflects on existing literature about self-discovery learning and what learners need in terms of scaffolding to help them make the right decisions, assess their own level of learning, vet information strategically, collaborate with other learners, and build their own skill sets.

As the world rapidly moves online, sectors from management, industry, government, and education have broadly begun to virtualize the way people interact and learn. Virtual Learning Environments: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools and Applications is a three-volume compendium of the latest research, case studies, theories, and methodologies within the field of virtual learning environments. As networks get faster, cheaper, safer, and more reliable, their applications grow at a rate that makes it difficult for the typical practitioner to keep abreast. With a wide range of subjects, spanning from authors across the globe and with applications at different levels of education and higher learning, this reference guide serves academics and practitioners alike, indexed and categorized easily for study and application.

The emergent phenomena of virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality is having an impact on ways people communicate with technology and with each other. Schools and higher education institutions are embracing these emerging technologies and implementing them at a rapid pace. The challenge, however, is to identify well-defined problems where these innovative technologies can support successful solutions and subsequently determine the efficacy of effective virtual learning environments. Emerging Technologies in Virtual Learning Environments is an essential scholarly research publication that provides a deeper look into 3D virtual environments and how they can be developed and applied for the benefit of student learning and teacher training. This book features a wide range of topics in the areas of science, technology, engineering, arts, and math to ensure a blend of both science and humanities research. Therefore, it is ideal for curriculum developers, instructional designers, teachers, school administrators, higher education faculty, professionals, researchers, and students studying across all academic disciplines.