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Teaching in an online environment is not without its barriers. Time for course preparation, a need to engage students, and the need for near-constant accessibility make teaching online more difficult than might be the case in a face-to-face environment. However, changes in society, the need for students to interweave scholarship with their lives, work, and families, and continuing competition among higher education institutions are some reasons to do so. This article presents the reasons I believe it is important to teach online and offers a few suggestions for course development as a counterpoint to Dr. Holley's (2017) column on teaching management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the current higher education context, offering online programmes is seen as an effective means to recruit more international students. However, supporting online international students studying at a distance is not a simple task for both universities and tutors. The problem mainly stems from a lack of theoretical understanding of online international students and their learning experiences. The present article, therefore, aims to address the gap, by systematically, yet critically reviewing relevant academic narratives about online international students. Our review reveals four types of narratives presented in the literature, describing online international students in particular ways: unspecified others with a rapid increase in their numbers, specific others with deficits, specific others as pedagogical resources and active participants in international learning communities. We discuss the merits and the drawbacks of each type of narratives for online educators seeking pedagogical suggestions about supporting online international students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a systematic review of 52 empirical studies of formally-organized and informally-developed online teacher communities from the early 2000s to the present time. Focusing on the social as well as technological aspects of online participation, the review explores how teacher communities are shaped by broader contexts of teaching. The review shows that while formally-organized and informally-developed communities address different needs amongst teachers and support different outcomes, they also share several common characteristics. Indeed, regardless of type, online communities can be a valuable means of developing supportive and collegial professional practices. That said, more evidence is required on the specific collaborative merits of teachers' online interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the continuous development of internet technology and computer technology, various English teaching systems based on computer algorithms emerge as the times require. It has been developed rapidly, which realizes the sharing of English teaching information and intelligent teaching management. But algorithm optimization for improving students’ English achievement has not yet appeared. This paper constructs a LCAM model based on neural network, and the original “full intelligence” algorithm is used to achieve students’ English achievement and optimization of English Teaching Strategies. So teachers can make more targeted English teaching activities according to the optimization results of the system algorithm. At the same time, it realizes the depth mining of students’ characteristics information, and provides more solutions for the optimization of English teaching strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the background of big data, network in continuing education has become a new educational model. Continuing education network breaks space and time constraints, and how to make use of current resources and technology to realize the information sharing of software resources in continuing education, so as to better serve the teaching, has become an urgent problem to be solved. Based on idea of genetic algorithm, using advantages of genetic algorithm in spatial search, the development of software resource system in continuing education based on big data is carried out. And the modular design for function requirements of resource system in continuing education is also in progress. Finally, system tests show that the system has a certain reliability and stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teachers participate in social networking sites to share knowledge and collaborate with other teachers to create education-related content. In this study we selected several communities in order to better understand the networks that these participants establish in Twitter and the role that the social network plays in their activity within the community, especially related with peer production. We analyzed the topology of these networks in two ways: a) the indirect relations by counting followers and followed people; and b) the conversational networks by counting mentions in tweets. We also analyzed the communities' websites in order to elucidate whether their production was lightweight or heavyweight peer production. Results indicate that teacher networks adopt a community clusters archetype in which some teachers act as bridges between several groups. Although these networks do not form a tight crowd, their degree of tightness is superior to that of the general networks established in Twitter. Our results also indicate that the degree of tightness is important for sustaining heavyweight peer production and strong leadership can play a crucial role in establishing long-term commitment to a collective task. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The flux distribution generated by the heliostat field of solar central receiver system (SCRS) over the receiver needs to be carefully controlled. It is necessary to avoid dangerous radiation peaks and temperature distributions to maximize the efficiency and keep the system in a safe state. These tasks imply both selecting the subset of heliostats to be activated and assigning each one to a certain aiming point at the receiver. The heliostat field is usually under human control and supervision, what is a potential limiting factor. Thus, there is an active research line to define automatic aiming procedures. In fact, a general and autonomous methodology is being developed by the authors of this work. However, the mathematical modeling leads to face a complex large-scale optimization problem. In this work, applying Teaching-Learning-Based Optimization (TLBO), a population-based large-scale optimizer, is considered. It is intended to serve to perform large explorations of the search-space to finally deploy further local optimizers over the most promising results. Considering the computational cost of the objective function, a parallel version of TLBO has been developed. It significantly accelerates the procedure, and the possibility of being included in a more complex process remains viable. Additionally, the parallel version of TLBO is also linked as a generic open-source library. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peer observation of teaching is an established developmental tool in face-to-face settings. While there have been studies into peer observation as applied to asynchronous online teaching, less is known about its application to teaching online using synchronous communication systems. We describe a small-scale study of an online peer observation scheme with a group of associate lecturers in physical sciences at the UK Open University. This cohort of teaching staff was engaged in a series of peer-observed tutorials, with the aim of fostering their development through subsequent reflection and dialogue. The study was evaluated through the thematic analysis of subsequent structured conversations. Emergent themes lead us to consider the value of peer observation in the context of synchronous online tuition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper outlines the design and implementation of a nine-month faculty development programme delivered using a combination of face-to-face and online methods. Participants from a range of disciplines met at regular intervals throughout the year. Between the face-to-face meetings, participants engaged in online activities such as discussions, collaborative writing and peer review activities. Using the theoretical framework of a community of inquiry, data were analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively. Participant feedback on the programme offers some insight into how faculty developers can plan extended length professional development programmes offered in a blended format. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the internal and external factors that affect user intention to apply IT instruction. The internal factors were examined from the standpoint of user attitudes toward IT instruction, which included computer knowledge, perceived usefulness, and interest in applying IT instruction, while external factors included climate, school policy, facility, and training in IT instruction. The effects of participant demographics were also investigated. As an empirical study, 141 valid science and technology university teachers in Taiwan were surveyed for their experiences with teaching websites. The results indicate that all of the internal factors significantly affect teacher intention to apply IT instruction, but none of the external factors do, except for the climate variable. The results may help school administrators in promoting IT instruction.

Academic reference librarians frequently work with students who are not aware of their professional roles. In online interactions, a student might not even realize that the librarian is a person. The ways students initiate conversations reveal their understanding of the mutual roles involved in reference encounters. Conversation analysis of live chat transcripts at two institutions establishes the importance of opening exchanges to shape the potential for teaching. Chats that students open with relational cues (greeting, introduction, courtesy, verbal softeners) last longer than chats without these cues. Longer chats include more expressions of enthusiastic gratitude. The transcripts show evidence of successful strategies by librarians to shift chats from transactional openings to conversations with potential for engaged learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using Warner and Hausdorf’s (2009) framework, the authors empirically examined work–life balance and work outcomes among collegiate faculty teaching courses online. Quantitative and qualitative results from 138 online instructors demonstrated that basic psychological need satisfaction was related to higher levels of work–family enrichment, job satisfaction, performance, and intention to teach online courses again and lower levels of work–family conflict and stress. Work support was also related to job satisfaction, performance, and stress but was not related to work–family balance. These findings are important as universities are seeking ways to promote involvement with online education. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Number comparison is a fundamental skill required for academic and functional mathematics (e.g., time, money, purchasing) for students with disabilities. The most commonly used method to teach number comparison is number lines. Although historically paper number lines are used, app-based number lines may offer greater flexibility. This study compared using paper-based and app-based number lines to teach number comparison skills to students with intellectual disability using a single-subject alternating treatments design. Three secondary students with intellectual disability participated in a classroom setting during baseline and intervention phases and a simulated grocery store setting during generalization phases. Both the adapted paper-based and app-based number lines were effective for students with intellectual disability. However, the app-based number line was slightly more effective in terms of accuracy and completion time during number comparison and price comparison tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Utilization of this path enabled this study to investigate AWE scores by comparing them to ratings based on teachers' intuitions as well as to scores based on assignment rubrics. Qualitative focus group data suggested that the path can help teachers articulate their intuitions. Quantitative results showed that the grades provided by raters trained to use the path tended to support AWE scores from Criterion, a webbased AWE system, more strongly than did rubric-generated grades. The findings from this study suggest that Criterion scores not only closely correlated with teachers' intuitions and with raters trained to use the path, but that the use of the path for teaching may support the implementation of AWE systems in classroom contexts, and would help students focus on the core of a cause-effect essay: appropriateness and sophistication of causal language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teaching and Learning as a form of scholarship has struggled for recognition in universities, with one of the biggest hurdles being visibility. As the Internet is now one of the primary sources of visibility, this study examines how Australia’s 39 universities present their teaching and learning profiles online. The purpose was to examine the aspects of teaching and learning that were visible and those which were not, highlighting the areas of scholarship that may require enhanced focus. The study used a scoring system of 15 primary criteria drawn from the literature, in conjunction with common teaching and learning website elements as ascertained from a brief study of 20 websites. The results revealed that while certain teaching and learning aspects such as professional development and awards are consistently presented across the Australian tertiary sector online, other aspects such as scholarship of teaching and learning research foci and external impact are not generally visible on Australian university websites. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article showcases the use of gamification as a means to turn an existing curriculum into a game-based learning environment. The purpose of this article is to examine how gamification, coupled with effective pedagogy, can support the acquisition of 21st-century skills. Gamifying content allows students to earn experience points, badges, and awards to 'level up' through the curriculum by completing quests. We discuss the theoretical framework, New Literacies theory, which has informed our case study of one teacher's journey using gamification. We align our case study within two educational reforms and initiatives: the Common Core State Standards and Partnership for 21st Century Skills. Survey results and teacher interview data are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the development, usage, implementation and testing of software tools in order to enhance and promote assessment and self assessment among the teaching staff in a university. We also present a new plagiarism detection tool and algorithms that will be later integrated in the University's Learning Management System, Libri, which could be optimized to detect and report plagiarism for papers written in Albanian and Macedonian languages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most universities today enhance their classroom teaching and learning with online learning systems. However, a mismatch between learning styles and instructional methods can create conflicts that affect cognition, affect, and behaviour during the learning process. In this study, the authors examine the use of online learning systems. The results identify significant differences between cognitive learning styles and login (F = 32.25, p < 0.001)/download (F = 23.59, p < 0.001) patterns, browsing (F = 5.069, p < 0.05) / edits (F = 4.987, p < 0.05) patterns though no significant differences were found in forum usage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cloudworks (Cloudworks.ac.uk) is a social networking site designed for sharing, finding and discussing learning and teaching ideas and experiences. Design and development of the site has been based on an iterative analysis, development and implementation approach, underpinned by ongoing research and evaluation. To this end, we have been seeking to establish strategies to enable us to systematically position transactions and emerging patterns of activity on the site so that we can more reliably use the empirical evidence we have gathered. In this article we will introduce a framework we have developed for observing and supporting community development on the site. In building our framework we have used empirical evidence gathered from the site, then related it to the literature from a range of disciplines concerned with professional and learning communities. We link research relating to distance learning communities with studies into Computer Mediated Communication, self-organising communities on the web, and wider research about the nature of learning organisations and continuous professional development. We argue that this framework can be used to capture the development of productive communities in the space (i.e. how far cohesive, productive groups can be said to be emerging or not) and also help focus future development of the platform, and provide guidelines for community support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers tips and strategies how elementary teachers can integrate the Web 2.0 presentation tools, Storybird, Voki, PhotoPeach, Glogster and Tagxedo, into their own teaching. Topics discussed include description of each tool, with Voki allowing users to create customized avatars and Glogster allowing users to create multimedia posters, and how utilization of such applications can produce and publish individual and group assignments in 21st century digital and global environments.

The authors present commentary on an article that compared the effects of online and face-to-face professional development (PD) programs for teachers in terms of curriculum implementation. Topics addressed include a need for further empirical research on principles that could be used to design and implement online PD programs for teachers, as well as the Next Generation Science Exemplar (NGSX) online teacher-learning program.

Social networking sites (SNS) have been used to support educational and professional endeavors. However, little research has been done to understand the relationship between educator identity and participation in SNS or to examine the implications that institutional regulation of such media may have upon educator identity. Using grounded theory, in this study we developed a framework for understanding how a group of teacher education students viewed their developing identities within social networking sites as they began the life transition to becoming educators. The theory that emerged from this study proposes that educator identity consists of a constellation of interconnected acceptable identity fragments, which are each intentional, authentic, transitional, necessarily incomplete, and socially-constructed and -responsive. This view of educator identity contrasts sharply with previous views of identity by highlighting the complicated, negotiated, and recursive relationship that exists between educator participation in SNS and educator identity. Additionally, this perspective suggests that educator participation in SNS is neither fully representative of authentic identity (as prominent SNS models imply) nor dramaturgical. These findings yield important implications for educators, researchers, educational institutions, lawmakers, and SNS developers alike, because they lead to a more sophisticated understanding of identity and online participation that is essential for developing mechanisms to support moral and legal judgments, professionalism, and social interactions relative to SNS. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

To facilitate professional development of teachers in the online context, the online community of practice (CoPs) has become an important platform in which individuals with similar interests or common goals get together to share their resources, develop working strategies, solve problems, and improve individual as well as organizational performance. In this study, we have collected self-reported knowledge-sharing behaviors from 321 members of the largest online professional CoP of teachers in Taiwan. The results show that closer connections among online CoP members can lead to greater recognition of and altruism towards others. Moreover, performance expectation and self-efficacy belief play essential roles in knowledge-sharing participation. Thus, the development of social relationships among online teacher members helps them obtain potential resources and reliable support through their social network. Also, teachers' membership in the online professional CoP fosters a prosocial attitude that heightens their willingness to share useful resources and solve other members' problems, both emotionally and instrumentally. Consequently, knowledge-sharing behaviors, in terms of knowledge giving and knowing receiving, are significantly predicted by prosocial commitment and performance expectation respectively. The implications to both research and practice are provided in this paper. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The advent of technology and access to the internet through the World Wide Web have stretched the traditional ways of teaching social studies beyond classroom boundaries. This article explores how teachers can create authentic and contextualized cultural studies experiences for young children by integrating social studies and technology. To prepare students for the expanded responsibilities of global citizenship, educators can access technological tools to look beyond token symbols of cultural diversity. Meaningful use of technology can be an effective way to address questions that challenge young learners' understanding of themselves in relation to others, both within their communities and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various articles within the issue on topics including cyber-learning, scholarship, and online teaching.

This article describes the author's experiences teaching oral history-based audio and video documentary techniques to high school students in the United States. More generally, it assesses the opportunities and challenges of doing such work in the digital age. The author argues that the digital revolution challenges students to process their research and writing and then present their work in ways that are appealing to broad and increasingly accessible audiences. Hyperlinks to samples of the students" video documentaries appear at the end of the article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Editors of The Reading Teacher introduce a new column, 'By Educators, for Educators' through sharing ideas from the Interesting Ways series edte.ch/blog/interesting-ways/. Curated by Tom Barrett, the Interesting Ways Series is an example of crowdsourcing or the power collaborative thought. The Interesting Ways Series has more than 30 topics, with new ideas continually added via EDTECH at edte.ch/blog/ and Twitter. It is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial Share Alike 3.0 License, allowing collaborators to share the work as well as add ideas. Therefore, the ideas for using different types of technology in the classroom are added via open source, with some more applicable than others. This column presents interesting ways to ue Twitter for teaching and learning literacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article describes the use of a virtual coaching model built around web-based, real-time communication which makes use of web cameras and the Skype software to enhance teachers' use of evidence-based classroom management strategies. It presents the findings of a research conducted to evaluate the efficacy of the virtual coaching model, offering a possible solution for developing teachers' initial and continued employment of such classroom management practices.

The article presents an adaptation of lesson plans “QARs + Tables = Successful Comprehension of Math Word Problems,” by Janet Beyersdorfer and “Solving the Math Curse: Reading and Writing Math Word Problems,” by Valerie A. Adair from teaching resource website ReadWriteThink.org.

Abstract: In recent years there has been widespread interest in the implementation of information and communication technologies (ICT) in schools. While most studies primarily focus on the use of ICT in teaching and learning, little attention has been given to their incorporation as a professional tool outside the classroom. Using a digital inequality approach, the aim of this paper is to develop and test a model of the factors that affect teachers'' professional use of ICT, particularly the Internet, in primary and secondary schools. One thousand four hundred and five (1405) teachers from a representative sample of 536 primary and 273 secondary schools in Spain were surveyed. The dependent variables include attitudes towards the professional use of ICT and the use of the Internet in professional practice. The explanatory variables are the socio-demographics, school-level information, frequency of Internet access within and outside the school, educational ICT training, digital literacy, and organisational development. Controlling for socio-demographics and school-level information, multiple regression analyses are used to make inferential judgements and test the separate effects of the independent variables. Findings suggest that technological factors and organisational practices are important predictors of ICT appropriation for professional purposes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article discusses how teachers evaluate technology that is designed to teach mathematics, specifically for teaching the concept of base 10 verses nonproportional models and measurement models. The computer applications, or applets, that the teachers evaluated included programs such as the ten frame, the hundred chart, and the number line. The article discusses applying technological teaching tools in the classroom, designing the tools, and evaluating free online tools.

This paper proposes a retrieval architecture based on clustering techniques to search the web for resources that are potentially useful for educational purposes. This architecture makes use of Formal Concept Analysis to search the web as a sort of learning object repository and returns a clustering of results based on pedagogical criteria that can help providing a rich environment for content authoring, enhancing the possibilities of traditional search based on metadata. The retrieval system is designed to be seamlessly embedded in virtual learning environments or authoring tools, and combines information retrieval technologies with pedagogical objectives to help organizing and sorting search results in a meaningful way for educational content authors as well as grounding an approach for semantic-aware learning content retrieval. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A bibliography of classroom resources is presented which includes the article "From Activity to Learning: Using Cultural Historical Activity Theory to Model School Library Programmes and Practices" by E. M. Meyers, the book "Narrative Analysis" by C. K. Riessman, and the website http://www.nsrfharmony.org/ from the National School Reform Faculty (NSRF).

Copyright of RED - Revista de Educación a Distancia is the property of Universidad de Murcia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Emerging technology has produced changes in the ways that social workers learn, practice, and interact. As communication and educational innovations have increasingly involved the use of ever-improving technologies for social work practice, so too has social work education evolved to incorporate these advances in the classroom setting. This article describes and evaluates various aspects of one particular type of web-based learning environment, WebCT, and its incorporation into five face-to-face foundation courses in a bachelor's and master's level social work program. The authors utilized an online survey to assess frequency of access of the web-based course management system and perceptions of the features. Results of this online survey assessing student use and perception of hybrid courses are shared along with implications and recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2004 Technology, Pedagogy and Education published a review of literature which framed current understandings of pedagogy and the implications for the use of ICT in learning and teaching in formal educational settings. This article revisits the topic in the light of more recent developments in understandings of pedagogy. It offers three theoretical frameworks for understanding what teachers know, do and believe when using digital media in their practice: pedagogy and design; pedagogy and ‘Person-Plus’; and pedagogical reasoning and ICT. Examples of pedagogy and ICT are then illustrated by selected examples of research and related to a model of teacher knowledge which acknowledges the interaction between context, tools for learning and teaching, and content. The conclusions draw attention to how an approach to pedagogy which is constructive, interactive and complex is accomplished through praxis, the core of teacher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Educational researchers believe that advanced statistics topics are now essential for psychology graduates. To address this issue many statistics departments offer a second undergraduate course including analysis of variance and regression models, categorical data analysis, and nonparametric methods. This paper discusses the benefits of using technology resources when teaching this type of course. The results indicate that the integration of PowerPoint and statistical software (SPSS) into other traditional resources provide a highly effective teaching-learning method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The application of information and communication technologies (lCTs) is changing the organisation and delivery methods of higher education. The pedagogical and socio-economic forces which have driven higher learning institutions to adopt and incorporate ICTs in teaching and learning include greater information access and better communication and learning. In light of the above, a study to investigate the use of ICTs for teaching by academic staff in a department in a higher education institution in South Africa was carried out. The study used a quantitative method of data collection. The findings indicated that a majority of the academic staff used ICTs for teaching. Furthermore, the study identified various ICT hardware and software programs which were available at the institution for teaching and how staff used these lCTs to support their teaching. The findings showed that academics experienced a number of problems when using ICTs for teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal for Educational Research Online / Journal für Bildungsforschung Online is the property of Waxmann Verlag GmbH and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this article, the author demonstrates how pre-service English teachers applied their own out of school media literacy practices (e.g. participation in social network sites and practices associated with remix) to their developing teaching practices. This research is informed by a growing body of work in media literacy that theorizes the important connections between youths' out of school media lives and their in school literacy learning. The author aims to address an area that may be further developed in this regard: how preservice teachers might connect their own out of school media literacies to their in school learning in teacher education. Such connections provide opportunities for pre-service teachers to experience and demonstrate the applicability of media literacy with the youth they intend to teach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a discussion on computer assisted studies on magnetism. The objective of this activity was to expose students to a computer assisted environment by using various sensors and advanced tools for data analysis. The experiment took into consideration, things like magnetic field variations, solenoid and electromagnetic induction. It was found that the automation of experiments allowed students to continuously acquire and analyze data, thereby resulting in a better concept making.

The article reviews several Web sites including an Internet quiz on millennials from the Pew Research Center available at http://pewresearch.org/millennials/quiz/index.php, the Tammy Worcester's Tech Tip of the Week site available at http://www.tammyworcester.com/TipOfWeek/TammyWTechTipOfWeek/Tech_Tip_of_Week_Tammy_Worcester.html, and the teaching toolkit available from educator Kathy Schrock at http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/assess.html.

Copyright of RED - Revista de Educación a Distancia is the property of Universidad de Murcia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)