This chapter discusses common tools and resources for building a hybrid course in a higher education setting and provides recommendations for best practices in Learning Management Systems and Open Educational Resources.

As mobile learning becomes increasingly pervasive, many higher education institutions have initiated a number of mobile learning initiatives to support their traditional learning modes. This study proposes a framework for mobile learning for enhancing learning in higher education. This framework for mobile learning is based on research conducted…

Semantic Web technologies have been applied in educational settings for different purposes in recent years, with the type of application being mainly defined by the way in which knowledge is represented and exploited. The basic technology for knowledge representation in Semantic Web settings is the ontology, which represents a common, shareable…

How to plan an open and distance learning (ODL) unit in higher education is not clearly described in the literature. A number of ODL facilities at residential universities have not been successful because of a lack of planning or because of failure to ensure that all the different systems for ODL delivery were in place and functioning. This paper…

This article is a case study that aimed at understanding the dynamics of two complementary communities involved in a distance education graduate program: one community of practice formed by the instructors and instructional developers, who designed and developed the program, and another created by the students and instructor in one of the online…

This paper offers an emerging interpretive framework for understanding the active role instructional designers play in the transformation of learning systems in higher education. A 3-year study of instructional designers in Canadian universities revealed how, through reflexive critical practice, designers are active, moral, political, and…

This deliverable reports the technical and research development performed until M36 (January 2009) within tasks T5.2 and T5.4 of WP5 in the KP-Lab project, per the latest Description of Work (DoW) 3.2 [DoW3.2]. The described components are included in the KP-Lab Semantic Web Knowledge Middleware (SWKM) Prototype Release 3.0 software that takes…

A major challenge for Information Technology (IT) programs is that the rapid pace of evolution of computing technology leads to frequent redesign of IT courses. The problem is exacerbated by several factors. Firstly, the changing technology is the subject matter of the discipline and is also frequently used to support instruction; secondly, this…

Distance education course designers working alone often do not have the luxury of fully developing their instruction before releasing their courses to students. The Individual Iterative Instructional Design (I3D) model is useful for educators who both develop and present their distance learning instructional units in areas ranging from higher…

The role of educational technology, the cautionary use of instructional development in higher education change, and various personal glimpses in educational technology are discussed. (RAO)

The field of instructional technology has continued to evolve since its inception in the early 1900s. Academic technology units in higher education have witnessed tremendous change in the last one and a half decades. The changes have led to reorganizations, realignments, adoption of innovative administrative structures, increased demands for…

This paper discusses the implications for technology and distance education of the following value statement: "The world's resources are not infinite and they are not distributed equally on a global basis. Continued resource consuming growth and maldistribution of ever more scarce resources will increase conflict and poverty as well as…

Gives an overview of the development of educational technology in Japan evident in the increase of publications, the diffusion of technological innovations, and the organization of research pertaining to the field. (Author/MER)

This book, written by authors representing 12 countries and five continents, is a collection of international perspectives on distance learning and distance learning implementations in higher education. The perspectives are presented in the form of practical case studies of distance learning implementations, research studies on teaching and…

This paper analyzes impediments to implementation of instructional technology (IT) initiatives as seen by a faculty member who has actively used IT since 1995. The three major impediments (the steep learning curve, difficulty in assessing success, and questions of applicability toward professional advancement) are discussed and some tentative…