Can we learn socially and academically valuable concepts and skills from video games? How can we best teach the "gamer generation?" This accessible book describes how educators and curriculum designers can harness the participatory nature of digital media and play. The author presents a comprehensive model of games and learning that integrates…

Recent research has shown that technology is extremely important when used in the classroom because it enhances student learning. It is imperative that teachers learn the best practices for use of technology in the classroom. Using interviews, questionnaires, and observations with social studies teachers in a rural school district in Central New…

After billions of dollars, thousands of studies, and immeasurable effort by educators at all levels, why is the performance of students and teachers so unaffected by technology? Moreover, what should be done to extract genuine benefit from the information and communication technology (ICT) revolution? In this groundbreaking book, technology and…

Instructors are under pressure to integrate technology into their traditional or online instruction, but often they aren't sure what to do or why they should do it. The "Technology Toolbelt for Teaching" offers instructors a down-to-earth guide to common technologies, explains the pedagogical purposes they serve, and shows how they can be used…

The availability of political information throughout society made possible by the evolution of contemporary information communication technology has precipitated conflicting debate regarding the effects of technology use on real life political participation. Proponents of technology argue that the use of new information technology stimulates…

Despite the growing number of books designed to radically reconsider the educational value of video games as powerful learning tools, there are very few practical guidelines conveniently available for prospective history and social studies teachers who actually want to use these teaching and learning tools in their classes. As the games and…

With online education courses within public institutions realizing lower than average retention and success rates for students, current retention practices and models are falling woefully short of providing workable, viable answers to keeping students and helping them be successful without lowering academic standards. While a relationship between…

How is the natural environment in the neighborhood representative of the larger biosphere in which people live? Studying the local birds and flora of the Pacific Northwest in the context of the local parks and ponds provided a rich opportunity for third-grade students at St. Thomas School in Medina, Washington, to explore and learn about…

Existing research on choice of online learning utilized factors such as perceived level of control, independence, and satisfaction, yet the relationship among these factors is under-researched. Due to the value of "learning anytime," biological factors underlying "choice of time" might provide additional insights. This article…

The digital explosion of information on the Internet has resulted in a need for a new and up-to-date way for Digital Natives to learn English. Educators have reported numerous benefits of using weblogs in English language learning. This article presents a small scale study on the use of weblogs for English language learning at tertiary level in…

This article is written by two new professors teaching at a faculty of education and follows on the completion of their first two years of teaching. They taught both core and elective courses offered in their faculty of education pre-service program. This article is a critical review of action research and teacher preparation literatures. It will…

This article is the second of a two-part series on how schools in different types of communities meet the challenge of implementing technology. The emergence of technology as a critical component of education has presented rural districts with an invaluable tool for overcoming the problems created by sparse and remote populations. But rural…

Preservice teachers need both awareness of and skill with the latest digital technologies in order to use these tools effectively in their teaching. Historically in our university, this preparation has been reserved for a stand-alone information technology course focused on learning how to use various computer-based programs. However, more direct…

When asked what Facebook is for, kids will say that it's there to help them make friends. The kids the author celebrated in his early books as "digital natives," capable of seeing through all efforts of big media and marketing, have actually proven less able to discern the integrity of the sources they read and the intentions of the programs they…

In this technology-oriented age, teachers face daily decisions regarding the use of advanced digital technologies--graphing calculators, dynamic geometry software, blogs, wikis, podcasts and the like--to enhance student mathematical understanding in their classrooms. In this case study, the authors use the Technological, Pedagogical, and Content…