This qualitative case study examines the cultural adaptation of digital learning tools in Israeli higher education. We explored three questions: (1) How do lecturers experience and implement digital learning tools? (2) What unique challenges and opportunities arise in this cultural context? (3) What strategies do educators employ for culturally…

In the past 15 to 20 years there has been an increased interest in the use of games for learning. A considerable amount of work has already been done by educational researchers and theorists (Gee, Squire, Malone, Lepper, Shaffer, etc.) to identify and to operationalize the native affordances of games that make them good for learning. Unfortunately…

This article discusses the planning and initial research behind the design of an online support community for pre-service teachers. This community is initially being designed to support pre-service teachers with their technology integration efforts during their student teaching experiences, but may also grow to serve special teaching cohorts in…

Web 2.0 offers a new type of interactive technology that may change the focus and approach of formal education in ways we are just beginning to comprehend. The new and unique qualities of Web 2.0 can be compounded in traditional educational settings by the fact that students often times have far more experience with and understanding the new…

In this article we describe the evolution of an elective course designed specifically for undergraduate students in our pre-service teacher education program. This course is intended to prepare these undergraduate students as future teachers--helping them to make effective and creative uses of technology in learning settings. This course…

For many years, educators have touted the benefits of learning with educational tools such as spreadsheets and databases that allow students to actively process and manipulate information (Jonassen, 1995). Hundreds if not thousands of Web 2.0 tools have been created in the last few years, taking the "technology as tool" metaphor to a new level. In…

As new technological tools emerge almost daily, students in public school and university settings are becoming increasingly technologically savvy. Faculty members in both settings have the opportunity to explore tools that have the potential to be valuable resources in a variety of educational environments. The Tablet PC is an example of one such…

The Educational Innovation Incubator is an electronic classroom designed to evolve at the University of Central Missouri. This newly enacted endeavor is a place for faculty and students to combine the scholarship of teaching and learning into their courses by experimenting with the latest technologies in education. This paper describes the process…

Traditionally, people have used perspectives of space and time to define a sense of place and personal identity. Western cultures interpret place and time as static entities. In interactive multimedia computing, visual literacy defines new dimensions in communication that are reshaping traditional Western concepts of place and time. Experience…

This article reports the result of an action research study that explored the need for visual literacy as an additional instructional input for students creating technology integration solutions. The introduction of visual literacy concepts is useful in two ways. First, it raises visual considerations to the conscious consideration of students.…

The authors teach instructional technology courses to pre-service teachers at Millersville University of Pennsylvania. The focus of the instructional technology courses is on the authentic use of instructional and assistive technology in the K-12 classroom. In this article, the authors describe how they utilize streaming videos in an educational…

Over the past four years, the Technology Proficiency Self-Assessment (TPSA) created by Ropp (n.d.) and the Student Information Survey designed by Shoffner (2007a) were used to monitor the technology integration competence of pre-service teachers in a technology integration course at Georgia State University. The data collected and class…

In order to begin to understand the current levels of awareness and understanding of teachers regarding visual literacy resources and tools, a descriptive study was recently undertaken by the authors. Data were gathered through a researchers-generated and pilot-tested web-based survey from 43 in-service teachers from the northern Illinois region.…

The application of computers to education has a history dating back to the 1950s, well before the pervasive spread of personal computers (Reiser, 1987). With a mature history and varying approaches to utilizing computers for education, a veritable alphabet soup of terms and acronyms related to computers in education have found their way into the…

Teaching pre-service and in-service teachers to use technologies in their classrooms begins with their training at the university. Many teacher education programs require students to take a foundational level course in technology education. As these foundational courses are continually revamped to include technologies for various disciplines,…