One way to help frame a focus on problems instead of things is the Grand Challenges concept, which has been used in many other fields to date. Grand Challenges are an articulation of large-scale, complex problems that may be addressed through coordinated and sustained efforts but require long-term effort. Often, the articulation of Grand…

Nearly two billion children across the globe are growing up in an increasingly digital world. Yet even as the ways that kids engage with new technologies constantly evolve, our efforts to attend to their healthy development hasn't kept pace. It's time to prioritize the well-being of children in digital spaces, which we believe requires a…

This paper is an experiential report describing the faculty and student experiences and knowledge gained from developing an Internet of Things (IoT) course within an Information Technology (IT) Department at a large southeastern United States public university. The paper contributes insights gained developing the introductory IoT course, and it…

Over the past decade, geospatial technologies have emerged as a tool for developing spatial reasoning and cognitive processes. While the foundational Learning to Think Spatially report from the National Research Center (2006) launched research into the use of geospatial technologies in isolation, more recently, cloud-based simulation software have…

Underutilized in higher education, soft systems thinking can mitigate common challenges in implementing instructional design and technology initiatives. A valuable approach is soft systems methodology (SSM), which captures multiple stakeholder perspectives in rich pictures and activity models to support structured conversations about how to…

Many, if not most scholars, argue their fields are evolving rapidly to stay relevant in the twenty-first century. For example, the discipline of humanities is experiencing a dramatic increase in digital programs (Kirschenbaum, 2012), mathematics teaching has shifted to making the math relevant by emphasizing statistics and computational thinking…

Co-creation is an open practice where learners participate in decision-making about aspects of course design, which in our context has included various activities from course design to assessment decisions. After the OTESSA22 conference, this group of conference attendees reflected on co-creation practices and experiences in their respective…

Education ecology is a new crossover research field in network age. Its research content can be either microscopic classroom teaching or macro educational ecology research on teaching and culture. The university music classroom is a special kind of ecology. The reason why this is special is that compared to natural ecology, the classroom ecology…

Teaching the concepts of expert systems to accounting students is often challenging, not only because these students are not equipped with the necessary technical knowledge to comprehend the concepts taught, but also due to the other various constraints (e.g., limited teaching hours and a diverse background of the students' undergraduate…

This paper presents a novel approach to designing an online, open-source course in systems librarianship, an area of librarianship that may be perceived as complex and intimidating because of the technologies involved. The course design focuses on making systems librarianship more approachable for library and information science students who may…

When "software takes command", people take fright -- a reaction which frequently accompanies change or novelty. Their fears are understandable, but they also cloud people's view of the potentials that digital tools and digital media hold for society and especially educational contexts. Their fears also define societal debates and…

Celebrating hands-on making and technological inventiveness, the Maker Movement promotes the popularity of new makerspaces: learning environments filled with diverse materials for youth's creative projects. Described as "constructionist learning environments," makerspaces can be challenging to design because materials require substantial…

Similar to all academic disciplines, the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in social work has grown exponentially in both scope and volume during recent decades. Until the COVID 19 crisis, main driving forces were the growing demand for higher education, constant evolving of innovative technologies, cost effectiveness, and…

Bay Path University in Massachusetts developed a COVID dashboard and related safety practices enabled by data (Anderson, 2020) during the pandemic. The dashboard has capabilities, in which information technology staff partnered with executive management, human resources staff, health offices, and others to identify key performance indicators…

Although online course design is no longer new, few design cases describe the development of entire courses based on principles of student-centered learning design. This design case chronicles the context, design challenges, and successes and failures of a graduate course on Technology & Inquiry-based Instructional Methods for an online…