Supporting in-service teachers for successful integration of educational technologies into their teaching practices has been a challenge. While professional development in technology integration is found to help teachers gain technology skills and model good examples of using technology for teaching, they may fail to provide teachers with a clear…

The purpose of this paper was to provide information about the virtual learning environment known as PGDnet (the Spanish acronym for "Plataforma de Gestion Docente" or Educational Management Platform in English), which was developed by the innovative education group at the Technical University of Madrid known as "Nuevas metodologias…

This paper reports on a controlled experiment on the effects of three types of reflection triggers in an online course. Fifty-four volunteers, distributed in five groups, used these structured opportunities for reflection during learning. Results show that reflection triggers were extensively employed by the test persons and were perceived as…

Online education based on small self-managing groups, with slight supervision by a professional tutor, is a strategically interesting methodology for lifelong learning. This solution may combine aspects of cost-effectiveness (reducing tutors' work) with the demands for active and engaging learning methods based on the exchange and sharing of…

The introduction of new online technologies in Higher Education brings many challenges for staff, not only in learning new functionality, but in deciding how to use tools in pedagogically effective ways. This case study describes an initiative at the Open University (UK), which set out to provide professional development in the use of an online…