Inspired by a lively discussion during the Southeastern Philosophy of Education Society's annual meeting in 2017, this special issue explores the roles, purposes, possibilities, and caveats of leveraging digital communication technologies (e.g., blogs, social media, etc.) within the academy. As scholars continue to grapple with and integrate new…

Many educators may view use of Open Educational Resources (OERs) as a new trend that has emerged in various school districts, especially those OERs that are (Common Core State Standards) CCSS-aligned. However, OERs certainly aren't new to education. Many educators have been using these types of materials since the late 1990s (Godwin 2016).…

The Internet has disrupted or threatened to disrupt the traditional business models in many different areas, including publishing, record companies, retail sales, motion pictures, and advertising. One potential source of disruption for higher education is online learning, especially the recent focus on Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). Can…

This report offers online course designers, particularly those keen on using Moodle CMSs, a means of diversifying accessibility to their educational materials via multiple modes of delivery that do not require the creation of numerous files and formats for just one activity. The author has made contributions to the development of an open source…

Four converging trends are undermining land-based campuses as the preeminent source of knowledge acquisition and certification. The emergence of the learning sciences, the wikification of knowledge, the unbundling of faculty roles, and the migration of learning online are driving fundamental institutional change toward location-independent…

Higher education in Africa has had diverse histories and trajectories, and has played different roles over time. This article is concerned with the evolution and future of higher education on the continent, and the role that open educational resources (OER) might play therein. It is generally accepted that "the university in Africa and higher…

The Chinese National Quality Course Plan is a large-scale project by the Ministry of Education, which has led to the production of more than 12,000 courses from some 700 universities since 2003. This paper describes in detail the purpose of the project and how it is organized at all levels, including how individual courses get selected at…

Public higher education is currently experiencing a decline in financial support from state governments, an acceleration of enrollment growth, and a shift from a transformational to a transactional student relationship. Private institutions are also struggling with increasing operational costs, and decreases in revenue from endowments and…

This article discusses the role of open and distance learning to widen participation and promote social inclusion within Australian higher education, as well as the benefits that open educational resources (OER) could bring to that context. It also explores some of the most relevant social inclusion policies and related initiatives developed in…

Over the past decade, a small revolution has taken place at some of the world's leading universities, as they have started to provide free access to undergraduate course materials--including syllabi, assignments, and lectures--to anyone with an Internet connection. Yale offers high-quality audio and video recordings of a careful selection of…

Online learning and teaching is rapidly increasing in many countries, including high schools in the USA and teacher education worldwide. Online and blended approaches to professional and organizational development are, therefore, becoming essential to enable effective and equitable education. Authentic project-based learning to support the…

The authors describe the University of Central Florida's top-down/bottom-up action analytics approach to using data to inform decision-making at the University of Central Florida. The top-down approach utilizes information about programs, modalities, and college implementation of Web initiatives. The bottom-up approach continuously monitors…

In this article I will argue that the use of learning content management systems is also justified in full-time education, especially in business education and communication studies. Nowadays not only multinational companies, but domestic medium enterprises also manage the training of new employees and existing staff with LCMSs. Companies in…

Turning his distinctive analytical lens to the politics of American education, the author looks at contemporary educational policy issues from theoretical, practical, and historical perspectives. This comprehensive overview documents and explains who influences educational policy and how, bringing to life the realities of schooling in the 21st…

Although the term data-driven decision making (DDDM) is relatively new (Moss, 2007), the underlying concept of DDDM is not. For example, the practices of formative assessment and computer-managed instruction have historically involved the use of student performance data to guide what happens next in the instructional sequence (Morrison, Kemp, &…