This report provides an overview of the nature of open universities derived from the responses from 28 open universities in the Commonwealth. The data not only provide a snapshot of the nature of OUs, but also show some evidence of the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on open universities where institutions had to move all their learning and…

The report, overseen by the Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding (UEFISCDI) on behalf of the European Commission and of the European Education and Culture Executive Agency is the second report in the series dedicated to promoting inspiring practices in digital education from the 27 European Union…

This paper describes the project 'ITALO (MyLearning Log)', introduced as part of the Institution-Wide Language Programme (IWLP) at the University of Manchester. The project aimed to encourage student engagement with the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), monitor usage and effectiveness of the resources deployed, and develop learner autonomy.…

Information and communications technologies offer unprecedented opportunities for innovation in educational practice. Among all the educational technological tools, online discussion forums represent one of the most extensively adopted educational media in higher education. Yet a review of the literature indicates a lack of empirical studies…

This study describes how a professor-instructor of a Master of Arts (MA) programme in Contemporary Issues in an Adult Education classroom applied constructivist tenets to address an ICT-mediated teaching and learning class. The study provides an analysis of the professor's constructivist pedagogical approach in designing curriculum, engaging in…

Intercultural telecollaboration allows for a radical change in language education. New technologies enable learners of different languages and cultures to practice their intercultural skills. Teachers no longer need to design "fake" role-plays to develop interaction in the target language. Above all, teachers have the possibility to…

In today's world, Web-Based Distance Education Systems have a great importance. Web-based Distance Education Systems are usually known as Learning Management Systems (LMS). In this article, a database design, which was developed to create an educational institution as a Learning Management System, is described. In this sense, developed Learning…

Online learning constitutes the most popular distance-learning method, with flexibility, accessibility, visibility, manageability and availability as its core features. However, current research indicates that its efficacy is not consistent across all learners. This study aimed to modify and extend the factors of the Technology Acceptance Model…

In 2011, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation extended grants to three educational organizations working to develop or enhance competency-based approaches in large, urbanized school systems. The grant initiative, called Project Mastery, funded the development of technology-enhanced tools, including curriculum materials and online learning…

In 2011, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation created the Project Mastery grant program to support competency-based education initiatives in large school systems that serve a high proportion of disadvantaged youth. Competency-based education meets students where they are academically, provides students with opportunities for choice, and awards…

GIS has shown promise in Project Based Learning (PBL) environments, but many obstacles exist in its integration into school curriculums. This article discusses the development and utilization of an online GIS tool that was created to illustrate that the perceptual gap between relevance and ease of use of GIS software can be bridged at the K-12…

This column posits enhancing professional development through uses of digital tools to create professional learning communities (PLCs) designed to support collective inquiry and action research leading to schoolwide improvement. These digital tools include a social networking/discussion forum for teacher collaboration; teachers' individual…

This paper analyses the change and innovation strategies that Charles Sturt University (CSU) used from 2007 to 2009 during the implementation and mainstreaming of an open source learning management system (LMS), Sakai, named locally as "CSU Interact". CSU was in January 2008 the first Australian University to implement an open source…

The paper composes a framework for learning design, using Web 2.0 technologies in teacher training, transferring the advancement in technology to become an affordance in the teaching/learning process, based on Bloom's Extended Digital Taxonomy in order to enhance the Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge of teachers. As a case study, it…

Adaptive Educational Hypermedia Systems provide personalized educational content to learners. However most of them do not support the functionality of Learning Management Systems (LMS) and the reusability of their courses is hard work. On the other hand some LMS support SCORM specifications but do not provide adaptive features. This article…