The rapid developments today in artificial intelligence (AI), supported by massive language data collection, are resulting in ever better digital language assistance/translation. Advances in the capabilities of intelligent services lead naturally to envisioning a future where there might be a quite different context for second language (L2) use…

Throughout the pandemic, the Getting Smart team (which Tom Vander Ark leads as CEO) worked with public school districts in Kansas, Missouri, and Texas, as well as charter schools in six additional states to support hybrid, virtual, and return-to-school strategies and plans. During the year and a half that education systems spent in crisis…

Although the extent of the damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa is unknown, its effect on the socioeconomic and geopolitical spheres is becoming palpable. Its impact on communication and social formations is evident as it has shifted such to a more spatial and virtual sphere. The closure of schools does not only interfere with the…

Nowadays for an appropriate way to deal with teaching and learning there is an axiomatic need to accept an integrated-holistic approach both in terms of the way we regard education and of how we practice it. This leads to a two-prong position: First, that education constitutes a dialectic entity and second that approaches to education presently in…

Through relational dialogue, learners shape their identities by sharing information about the world and how they see themselves in it. As learners interact, they receive feedback from both the environment and other learners which, in turn, helps them assess and adjust their self-presentations. Although learners retain choice and personal agency,…

A WebQuest is an Internet-based and inquiry-oriented learning activity. The aim of this work is to outline the creation of a WebQuest entitled "Power Generation Plants: Steam and Gas Turbines." This is one of the topics covered in the course "Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer," which is offered in the second year of Mechanical…

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…

Adult learners often face barriers to participation in traditional classroom instruction. As technology access grows and adults naturally incorporate technology into their daily lives, adult education programs are finding innovative ways to blend technology with instruction through quality online learning opportunities. This article highlights the…

Literacy skills honed from reading books and writing papers has long been recognized as invaluable to building and sustaining intellect. Educators are charged with strengthening literacy programs, and they typically rely on conventional practices and increased time focusing on text-based media to do so, yet their efforts have not significantly…

"Living on the Future Edge" challenges school leaders to rethink longstanding paradigms and transform pedagogy for tomorrow's learners. Apple Computer, Inc. co-founder Steve Wozniak's foreword underscores the overwhelming need to adjust traditional instruction to fit today's high-tech world. The book explores this new landscape and…

Online courses are flexible and convenient for students, but creating them takes time and careful planning. Educators need to reflect on the goals of a course change when transitioning from a classroom setting to a virtual environment. In this article, the authors have drawn up an outline of the basic steps needed to go from a traditional course…

Social and mobile technologies offer users unprecedented opportunities for communicating, interacting, sharing, meaning-making, content and context generation. And, these affordances are in constant flux driven by a powerful interplay between technological innovation and emerging cultural practices. Significantly, also, they are starting to…

Second Life's unstructured atmosphere and wide-open spaces where student creativity can grow and flourish are two of the reasons Pepperdine University Professor Bill Moseley integrated the program into his curriculum. In this article, the author discusses how Second Life works and its challenges. Second Life is often described as a 3-D version of…

This article is based on the premise that face-to-face training can be augmented with cloud-based technology tools, to potentially extend viable training supports as higher education staff and faculty implement new content/skills in their jobs and classrooms. There are significant benefits to harnessing cloud-based tools that can facilitate both…

Blended learning, the combination of traditional face-to-face teaching methods with authentic online learning activities, has the potential to transform student-learning experiences and outcomes. In spite of this advantage, university teachers often find it difficult to adopt new online techniques, in part because institutional practices are still…