A Personal Learning Environment (PLE) it is a combination of tools (usually digital) and resources chosen by the learner to support different aspects of the learning process, from goal setting to materials selection to assessment. The importance of PLEs for teachers lies in their ability to help students develop autonomy and prepare them for…

Distance, e-education supported by technological development have enhanced educational processes by combining achievements from various scientific fields. This techno-educational enhancement has happened within the last decade. Virtual learning has grown in popularity as a new way of learning that gives preference to learn in convenient time and…

With the changing cultural demographics in U.S. classrooms, school counselors must develop innovative approaches to promote culturally responsive school climates and organizational change. A vision is offered of systemic cultural responsiveness and culturally relevant teaching practices that nurture and engage all learners. The role of the school…

In an increasingly networked and technologically mediated world, people need to continuously update their knowledge and skill base, so as to be able to self-direct their intentional learning projects. In addition to teaching domain-specific knowledge and skills, the role of higher education should be reorganizing current teaching and studying…

Purpose: "I can't do online learning". This is a surprisingly common response from professional postgraduate students who have a narrow view of what online learning might comprise. Images of screen-gazing at mega-bytes of text or childish multi-choice quizzes on CD-ROMs have encouraged strange reactionary responses from many otherwise…

This paper builds on a case study on e-learning in Sri Lanka with focus on students underlying beliefs about how one learns. E-learning programs are most often set up with the assumption that students should think, act and learn independently and with underlying values of constructivism and learner-centred learning. For students used to…

Research findings in recent years provide compelling evidence of the importance of encouraging student control over the learning process as a whole. The socially based tools and technologies of the Web 2.0 movement are capable of supporting informal conversation, reflexive dialogue and collaborative content generation, enabling access to a wide…

As lifelong learning grows in popularity, few comprehensive pictures of the phenomenon have emerged. The "Routledge International Handbook of Lifelong Learning" provides a disciplined and complete overview of lifelong learning internationally. The theoretical structure puts the learner at the centre and the book emanates from there,…

Flexible teaching and learning is not a new concept, but it is one that we, as educators, do not focus on enough. Designing and delivering innovative, exciting and relevant learning experiences is needed if we are to make our classes good learning experiences. Information systems (IS) educators deal with technology every day, yet we are sometimes…

Utopianism, which is a distinctive vocabulary of hope, teaches us that society, including its physical sites of social and political practice, are both imagined and made and that we can accordingly believe they can be reimagined and remade. This paper exemplifies how exercises of the utopian imagination within teacher education curricula are able…

Describes a classification scheme for multimedia interaction based on the degree of control and type of cognitive engagement in three different learning environments. Three levels of interaction are discussed, and implications for learner control and practice when designing interactive multimedia-based instruction are considered. (Contains 37…

This paper argues that it is not the technology itself, but instead a learner-centered approach to the use of computers, that will provide the greatest opportunities for students. Three examples from New Zealand primary classrooms are described that illustrate how a learner-centered environment may be structured. (Contains 27 references.) (LRW)

Reviews perspectives on closed (nonnetworked) multimedia systems, identifies characteristics of meaningful interactions, and outlines some basic considerations for designers of interactive multimedia instruction. Highlights include active learning environments; learner control; feedback; learner response options; adaptability; and engagement and…

In learning environments which provide little structure (e.g., hypermedia systems) students have an especially strong need to regulate and control their own learning. However, a review of the literature indicates that merely providing learners with flexible learning environments does not necessarily mean that they will effectively explore and…

Discussion of intelligent agents and their use in computer learning environments focuses on cognitive considerations. Presents four dimension of control that should be considered in designing agent-based learning environments: learner control, from constructivist to instructivist; feedback; relationship of learner to agent; and learner confidence…