The purpose of this reflection of teaching online through the COVID-19 outbreak is to shed light on the importance of setting middle school students up for success despite being thrust into an unfamiliar virtual, learning environment. The personal narrative speaks to the ways in which I set up a new online learning environment with structure,…

At the first meeting of a districtwide committee on integrating 21st century teaching and learning in their schools, the author asked the committee members if they thought educators could provide a 21st century education if all of the computers and devices suddenly broke. They agreed that teachers do not need computers to provide 21st century…

Sebastian Thrun gave up tenure at Stanford University after 160,000 students signed up for his free online version of the course "Introduction to Artificial Intelligence." The experience completely changed his perspective on education, he said, so he ditched teaching at Stanford and launched the private Web site Udacity, which offers…

Larry Johnson has been the CEO of the New Media Consortium (NMC) for nearly a decade, and he has worked in higher education for more than twenty-five years. Before joining NMC, he served in roles that include faculty member, dean, provost, and president. In this interview, he talks about the position of NMC in distance education and the challenges…

In this essay I argue that online education, artificial intelligence, and market pressures are driving higher education to adopt the industrial model and to find a new paradigm for delivering education at low costs. In addition, there is tremendous pressure from the federal government to make universities more accountable while making higher…

Mazoue's ("J Comput High Educ," 2012) article, "The Deconstructed Campus," is examined from the perspective of instructional design practice. Concerns center on: the knowledge base of precision instruction; the differential effectiveness of teaching procedural as opposed to declarative knowledge; the reliance on assessment of online learning; and…

Traditionally, at least according to popular wisdom, learning took place in venues that were custom-designed for the purpose. The purpose, given the evidence of the artefacts with which we are confronted, seems to have been the educational equivalent of the production line that so succinctly characterised the industrialisation of society. One…

In this rejoinder to Mazoue ("J Comput High Educ," 2012) article, "the deconstructed campus," we react to his arguments regarding the replacement of face-to-face teaching on college campuses with computer-supported approaches, including on-line learning, intelligent cognitive tutors, and open-ended learning environments where, rather than being…

This paper outlines a strategy for a faculty development program with respect to net-supported learning. Many universities and colleges are struggling with meeting the demands of a rapidly changing world. Reflections in this paper are based on experiences from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. Attention has been given to the intelligent…

The inclusion of metaphors within a World Wide Web-based environment offers users the opportunity not only to obtain a visual understanding of the information being presented, but also aids users in developing a clearer understanding of the information and builds on their previously conceptual framework of understanding. The importance of a…

Reasons people do not complete online training courses include (1) no incentives, (2) lack of connectedness, (3) learner preference for instructor-led courses, (4) poor course design, (5) "some is enough," and (6) lack of perks. Course delivery must consider three elements: the technology, course design, and the learning environment. (JOW)

In this article, the author demonstrates the very real possibility of using technology to help open up the classroom space so that students feel empowered. For her, such possibilities are at the center of feminist praxis, especially on urban campuses and at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Building a feminist pedagogy on an…

The president of a vastly profitable virtual education corporation asserted that customers flock to him, not for an education, but for the material comforts that an education provides. Compelled by technology and supported by the World Trade Organization, such huge credentialing agencies employ lowpaid contractors to dish out homogenized info…

Human resource development (HRD) specialists are searching for instructional design models that accommodate e-learning platforms. Van Merrienboer proposed the four-component instructional design model (4C/ID model) for competency-based education. The model's basic message is that well-designed learning environments can always be described in terms…

Computer-mediated instruction is particularly well-suited to typical community college students because it offers an alternative to the time and place constraints of traditional classrooms. Key characteristics of computer-mediated learning are as follows: instructors and students are separated by distance; instruction is delivered via computer…