This book examines and illustrates the potential of narrative technology, the integration and synthesis of storytelling and digital media in education. Storytelling is a foundational and powerful process in all learning and teaching, and technology is becoming ever more ubiquitous and sophisticated, particularly in its capabilities to mediate and…

Look around at today's youth and you can see how technology has changed their lives. They lie on their beds and study while listening to mp3 players, texting and chatting online with friends, and reading and posting Facebook messages. How does the new, charged-up, multitasking generation respond to traditional textbooks and lectures? Are we…

"Theoretical Foundations of Learning Environments" provides students, faculty, and instructional designers with a clear, concise introduction to the major pedagogical and psychological theories and their implications for the design of new learning environments for schools, universities, or corporations. Leading experts describe the most…

The fact that online learning has been successful for many schools across the country does not mean that it has been free of challenges. Indeed, there are numerous issues and challenges in online learning. Few policymakers anticipated that any space time, any space place learning was possible when most education laws were authored over the past 50…

A discussion about how instructors can host a hospitable online learning environment can address one of the fundamental philosophical and theological concerns frequently expressed about online learning--the loss of face-to-face interaction and, with it, the loss of community building (cf. Delamarter 2005, 138). This perceived link between physical…

Creating effective learning environments with technology remains a challenge for teachers. Despite the tremendous push for educators to integrate technology into their classrooms, many have yet to do so and struggle to find consistent success with technology-based instruction. The challenges to effective technology integration have been…

This article elaborates a model for understanding pedagogy in online educational forums. The model identifies four key components. Intellectual engagement describes the foreground cognitive processes of collaborative learning. Communication processes operating in the background accumulate an ever richer store of shared understandings that enable…

As online environments gain an increasing presence in higher education for both on-campus students and distance learners, there is a need to examine how effective these environments are for student learning. Online environments require essentially different teaching and learning strategies from those used in the traditional face-to-face contexts…

Teaching first-year engineering students in a laptop environment requires carefully choosing and then adapting teaching methods. This chapter describes how laptops were used, how the students responded, and what the group of participating faculty learned in the process. (Contains 6 figures.)

A new computer-based molecular visualization tool has been developed for teaching, and learning, molecular structure. This java-based jmol Amalgamated Molecular Visualization Learning Environment (jAMVLE) is platform-independent, integrated, and interactive. It has an overall graphical user interface that is intuitive and easy to use. The…

This instructor's guide is a tool to help instructors promote the concepts of safe mercury and chemical management in schools. It contains three types of materials: (1) Guidance for the instructor/facilitator on conducting the training course (Section I); (2) A copy of all presentations with talking points as appropriate (Section II); and (3)…

A discussion of the use of hypertext for college instruction looks at the potential of hypertext to support active construction of knowledge and outlines hypertext applications as a vehicle for traditional computer-assisted instruction, information retrieval, and creation of intentional learning environments and knowledge construction…

The purpose of this article is to discuss determinants of computer self-efficacy from the perspective of participant internal learning motivations and external learning environments. The former consisted of three motivations--interest, trend, and employment--while the latter comprised two environments--home and school. Through an intermediate…

This book is intended to introduce the basic concepts of connecting computers together and to equip individuals with the technical background necessary to begin constructing small networks. For those already experienced with creating and maintaining computer networks, the book can help in considering the creation of a schoolwide network. The book…

This book offers a systematic examination of how teachers react--and how teaching and learning change--when computers come into the classroom. It describes a longitudinal study which took place in 13 elementary schools (8 public, 3 parochial, and 2 private) in Kentucky. Through a variety of data collection methods, the study explored and…