Participatory design is a well-known approach that involves stakeholders in designing technologies and other innovations. In education, participatory design is especially advocated for involving students with special needs. However, less attention has been paid to how participatory design can help in collaborations with teachers. This paper…

As K-12 schools increase the presence of and access to technology, the role of school librarians is changing. Many librarians have not been prepared by their colleges and universities for the changes demanded by their jobs. In this article, we discuss the skills that 47 school librarians reported having learned on the job as opposed to in…

Students in remote communities face many challenges to get an education. This is especially true for indigenous and native people. To train teachers for these populations, the authors used web-based conferencing, which avoids some of the technological challenges of communicating with students in these communities. The virtual classes also were…

"Learning Theory and Online Technologies" offers a powerful overview of the current state of elearning, a foundation of its historical roots and growth, and a framework for distinguishing among the major approaches to elearning. It effectively addresses pedagogy (how to design an effective online environment for learning), evaluation (how to know…

Academics preparing students for experiential placements within professional programs require considerable curriculum planning and pedagogical expertise. Communities of practice involving workshops and online processes provide opportunities for collaborative work in developing quality curriculum materials and also in supporting widespread…

"Instructional Design: Case Studies in Communities of Practice" documents real-world experiences of instructional designers and staff developers who work in communities of practice. "Instructional Design: Case Studies in Communities of Practice" explains the strategies and heuristics used by instructional designers when working…

Authentic learning designs have been explored for some time now and have frequently been shown to provide learning settings that provide many meaningful contexts for learning. These meaningful contexts provide not only encouragement for students to learn but also a raft of learning enhancements including higher-order learning and forms of learning…