Research on e-Learning and ICT in Education

Annotation This book aims to serve as a multidisciplinary forum covering technical, pedagogical, organizational, instructional, as well as policy aspects of ICT in Education and e-Learning. Special emphasis is given to applied research relevant to educational practice guided by the educational realities in schools, colleges, universities and informal learning organizations. In a more generic scope, the volume aims to encompass current trends and issues determining ICT integration in practice, including learning and teaching, curriculum and instructional design, learning media and environments, teacher education and professional development, assessment and evaluation, etc Front Matter....Pages i-xxii Front Matter....Pages 1-1 School 2.0: Rethinking the Future of Schools in the Digital Age....Pages 3-16 MirandaMods: From Practice to Praxis in Informal Professional Learning Contexts....Pages 17-28 Synthetic Worlds and Virtual Citizens: Experimental Ethnographic Simulation, Virtual Autotopography and Emerging Citizenship Identity in Young People....Pages 29-41 Teaching in the Knowledge Society: Between Technology and Competences....Pages 43-54 Digital Divide: Students’ Use of the Internet and Emerging Forms of Social Inequalities....Pages 55-68 Front Matter....Pages 69-69 Supporting Teachers in Orchestrating CSCL Classrooms....Pages 71-82 Reorienting Teacher Education to Address Sustainable Development Through WikiQuESD....Pages 83-94 Can ICT Reduce Drop-Out Rates Among New Teachers? A Qualitative Study in Canadian Student Teachers....Pages 95-108 Examining the Use of Text Corpora and Online Dictionaries as Learning Tools: Pre-Service Teachers’ Perspectives....Pages 109-123 The Cypriot Public Primary School Principals’ Self-Perceived Competence and Use of ICT for Personal, Teaching, and Administrative Purposes....Pages 125-138 Front Matter....Pages 139-139 Instructional Design on Controlling the Quality of Collaboration in a CSCL Setting Through Illusionary Adaptive Support....Pages 141-155 The Design and Development of a Wiki Task in Undergraduate Education: Retrospects and Prospects....Pages 157-168 Educational Blogging: Developing and Investigating a Students’ Community of Inquiry....Pages 169-182 Experiencing 3d Simulated Space Through Different Perspectives....Pages 183-195 Educational Robotics and Teaching Introductory Programming Within an Interdisciplinary Framework....Pages 197-210 Teaching Electric Circuits by Guided Inquiry in Virtual and Real Laboratory Environments....Pages 211-224 Front Matter....Pages 225-225 Games-Based Learning and Web 2.0 Technologies in Education: Motivating the “iLearner” Generation....Pages 227-239 Presence in a Collaborative Science Learning Activity in Second Life....Pages 241-251 Emotional Interaction in e-Learning....Pages 253-265 Virtual Models of Conic Sections....Pages 267-281 Front Matter....Pages 225-225 Towards Community-Based Open Educational Resources: Tools for Developing and Managing IEEE LOM Application Profiles....Pages 283-294 Restrictions and Abilities of SCORM: A Path to Adaptive Course Development....Pages 295-308 Back Matter....Pages 309-316 "Quality assurance (QA) in online and distance learning (ODL) is a contentious issue. Some argue that the same standards from face-to-face education should apply, while others say that ODL demands its own specific guidelines and standards. Some providers may look upon QA as an imposition of corporatization and bureaucracy, while others see it as a means of establishing a culture of quality. With the growth of cross-border education, institutions must provide evidence of the worth of their services in order to be accredited. This exposes them to rigorous external review and requires conformity with national and international regulatory environments and benchmarks. Until now, however, there has been a lack of research-based literature to guide those looking to better understand the implementation of QA in ODL. Quality Assurance and Accreditation in Distance Education and E-learning explains what is involved in QA and accreditation in education in open, distance, dual-mode, and conventional universities in both the developed and the developing world. The book is edited and authored by experts with extensive international experience in ODL, e-learning, and QA who give careful consideration to the possibilities and challenges involved. Providing unique analysis of the concepts, approaches, models, issues, practices, theory and research, this book is an invaluable guide for all policy-makers, managers, practitioners, and researchers in the field"--Provided by publisher "Drawing on the knowledge and experience of leading managers, practitioners and researchers, research and case studies, this book provides a unique and comprehensive analysis of Quality Assurance (QA) concepts, approaches, models, issues, practices and research in ODL and ICT worldwide. The book is global in scope and covers both the developed and developing world. It considers the theory, research and practice of policy-making and implementation in QA and accreditation, and also the institutional and cultural acceptability of QA as well as the areas regarded as problematic. With the growth of cross-border education, institutions must provide evidence of the quality of their courses, teaching, learning and management systems for national and international accreditation. This exposes them to rigorous external review and requires their conformity with national and international regulatory environments and benchmarks. It also increases their awareness of, and responsiveness to, national and global quality standards. This edited collection provides policy-makers, ODL researchers, and Higher Education administrators with an invaluable resource on QA and accreditation models and policies from around the World"--Provided by publisher