Educational Equipment & Technology, Computer-aided Learning (cal) books

Social media are increasingly popular platforms for collaboration and quick information sharing. This volume is a collection of reports on how these technologies are being used to educate educators with social media in creative and effective ways. Social networking technologies enable the integration of students and alumni in co-curricular activities in exciting and still evolving ways. The use of wikis, blogs, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, text messaging, Flickr, Delicious, YouTube, Yahoo Pipes, Diigo, Second Life, Moodle, and other Web 2.0 technologies are shown in vivid examples and insightful critiques. The processes, design, delivery and evaluation of instruction using social media are examined in detail and include such topics as: the use of social media in developing countries for new approaches to teaching as support for individual and peer-based learning; new teaching orientations premised on social media such as focused distraction; enhancing in-class participation; how instructors are increasing the technical expertise that is needed by educators to develop their own 21st century curricula projects; and, creating an ecosystem for life-long learning through social media.

Human learning, reasoning and thinking, and the different sites in which these activities take place, are the focus of this book. It presents the results of research into the nature of learning and the influence of different contexts and factors within the context of learning, the constraints that contexts place on reasoning and learning, and the nature of learning when using the tools and artefacts. It also addresses the nature of the influence of technology on learning, focusing especially on information technology and how it can influence any type of learning situation. The book begins by asking whether the context determines the nature of the knowledge to be learned, such that different sets of contextual practices related to the knowledge in question need to be acquired in order for learning to be successful. Next, it describes the forms of reasoning and learning in social and physical contexts, including but not limiting itself to logical reasoning, and asks how particular types of context constrain or activate different forms of reasoning and learning. It then looks at people learning with computers, examining how IT resources enhance or hinder learning. Finally, it compares human learning with learning done by machines in specific contexts.

Recent years have witnessed an explosion of technological advances, which has transformed virtually every aspect of human existence. Prominent among these advances are assistive technologies, which have been employed to improve the quality of life for individuals with disabilities. In this volume, recent advances in technological applications for individuals with learning and behavioural disabilities are described and discussed, in a collection that includes reviews of research, and original research reports. Technologies in this area have provided a multiplicity of uses, from advances in tools for basic research to text and content-enhancements to promote learning and behaviour change in educational environments. Discussed in this volume are technologies for improving our understanding of eye movements in learning from text, as well as technological applications in reading and literacy development. These technologies are employed to promote learning within classrooms, and also to connect learners with mentors outside the classroom. Beyond text, the use of virtual reality has been employed to promote understanding of complex concepts in physics. In many cases, these technologies have been employed effectively with students with emotional or behavioural disorders. Also discussed are issues in technological applications, including considerations of the most effective and appropriate uses of technology, where research is or should be heading, and teachers' understandings of the uses of technology with students with learning and behavioral disabilities. Also included in this volume are discussions of issues in learning disabilities, including discussions of significant issues in discrepancy models, and strategic coherence of individuals with learning difficulties. Overall, the ten chapters in this volume aim to provide some of the most current thinking and applications in learning and behavioural disabilities.

This book features contribution from people who have developed and used video in teacher education. The focus is on video as opposed to other technology (e-mail, etc.) and its use in teacher education. The video can be stored on videotapes, CD-Rom, DVD, or computer drives, and it can be used in either preservice or inservice teacher education/professional development programs. Contributors explain the nature of the video they use in their teacher education programs or courses and talk about how they use it, focusing in particular on principles for: making the videos (decisions about how and what to capture on video, the degree to which the teaching should be scripted, whether it should be shown uninterrupted or segmented and edited, and so on), and principles for using the video in the teacher education program (why and how it is used at what points in the program, how viewings are structured and scaffolded by the teacher educator, and so on).