Although institutions of higher education have recognized the need for preparing their graduates for a digitalized, global workplace, these efforts have been sporadic, individualized, and varied from discipline to discipline. Nevertheless, over the past 10 years, trends such as “double classrooms,” “inverted classrooms,” and “collaborative online international learning” (COIL) have gained traction at universities across the globe. With the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, efforts to engage students in the use of digital tools and virtual collaborative teamwork increased tenfold. Creative and innovative virtual learning environments (VLEs) have emerged, and instructors have used them to connect with their students much more frequently. The holistic nature of virtual learning, its impact on employability, and the development of global citizenry have become prime areas of research amongst the digital education landscape. Now more than ever, it is essential to look at virtual learning environments and how they can be used to prepare students and employees for the opportunities and challenges of a global, digital workplace. Developments in Virtual Learning Environments and the Global Workplace provides readers with a rationale and tool kit for facilitating virtual learning in a wide variety of contexts in response to the opportunities and challenges presented by the digital global workplace. This book covers virtual learning practices, the value of virtual learning for professionals and employers, and the best practices in online learning in different settings. Additionally, the chapters dive into the future perspectives and trends within virtual learning environments and the creation/evaluation of virtual learning strategies. These insights range from diverse countries, education levels, industry sectors, and academic disciplines, making this book a comprehensive research tool. This book will greatly benefit e-learning and instructional designers, university senior managers, university staff responsible for mobility and exchange, researchers, professionals responsible for organizational development and further education, human resource directors, global company executives, managers, practitioners, stakeholders, academicians, and students looking for information on how virtual learning environments are preparing students for the global workplace.

"This book should be used by human resource managers, corporate educators, instructional designers, consultants and researchers who want to discover how people use virtual realities for corporate education"--Provided by publisher.

Social problems are increasing as many nations industrialize, modernize, and become interconnected. Addressing these problems requires a well-educated workforce capable of adapting evidence-based interventions to their local culture. Providing a world-class education for these professionals is an important challenge. Online education is growing much quicker than the research and development efforts needed to insure the quality of online learning. Experiential Learning and Virtual Learning Environments in the Acquisition of Active Listening Skills illustrates how virtual learning environments that use experiential learning can deliver the global knowledge needed by these professionals while they live in their local communities. It reviews the literature, explains the process of designing a virtual learning environment, and describes research to insure online learning is an effective method for workforce training on core stills, such as listening. It provides important information for trainers and educators who are teaching future professionals using online tools such as virtual environments.

"This book explores the methods, skills, and techniques that are essential to lifelong learning and professional advancement offering critical insights for interested in the constantly shifting shape of the modern workforce"--

Advances in Business Education & Training is a Book Series to foster advancement in the field of Business Education and Training. It serves as an international forum for scholarly and state-of-the-art research and development into all aspects of Business Education and Training. This new volume deals with several aspects of the challenge to design learning in and for a changing world. The first part concerns program development. How to build curricula that are future-proof? Principles to innovate our curricula are identified. It answers the question how we can incorporate the need for change in our thinking about curriculum-development and identify the necessary elements to incorporate in our curricula. The second part focuses on the increasing diversity of students and employees within our schools and organizations, in terms of culture, language, and perception of ability, gifts, and talents. This offers a range of opportunities, but at the same time can possibly jeopardize some processes that are taken for granted. Chapters in this part analyze the processes that play a crucial role in dealing with this diversity and identify educational practices that can help to harvest the potential that lies within this diversity. The third part of this book digs further into the possibilities that are opened up by the implementation of ICT-support in our learning environments. E-learning provides tools to adapt these environments to the needs of an increasingly diverse student-population. In the last part we focus specifically on the workplace and how learning can be designed in such a way that employees are equipped for a shifting workplace. On the one hand it is looked how training can affect performance in the workplace. Does learning transfer to the work environment? On the other hand it is questioned how one can design affordances to trigger learning in the workplace.

Engaging with the topic of critical intercultural education at tertiary level, the book aims to strengthen what critical intercultural communication means and facilitate its implementation in higher education classrooms. With contributors coming from a variety of educational contexts and disciplines, the book provides a versatile and comprehensive picture of how intercultural communication can be approached in different fields. By offering a reflection on theoretical frameworks for teaching and learning critical intercultural communication, it bridges the gap between theory and practice in recent years. Furthermore, it proposes concrete pedagogical solutions that will help educators working at the tertiary level move from essentialist approaches to meaningful intercultural education. Higher education teachers, lecturers and professors responsible for the design and delivery of teaching on intercultural communication will find this book helpful and resourceful.

The social and emotional welfare of students in both K-12 and higher education settings has become increasingly important during the third decade of the 21st century, as students face a variety of social-emotional learning (SEL) challenges related to a multitude of internal and external factors. As concepts around traditional literacy education evolve and become more culturally and linguistically relevant, the connections between SEL and academic literacy opportunities warrant considerable exploration. The Handbook of Research on Supporting Social and Emotional Development Through Literacy Education develops a conceptual framework around pedagogical connections to social and emotional teaching and learning within K-12 literacy practices. This text provides a variety of research and practice protocols supporting student success through the integration of SEL and literacy across grade levels. Covering topics such as culturally relevant literacy, digital literacy, and content-area literacy, this handbook is essential for curriculum directors, education faculty, instructional facilitators, literacy professionals, practicing teachers, pre-service teachers, professional development coordinators, school counselors, teacher preparation programs, academicians, researchers, and students.

"This book highlights invaluable research covering the design, development, and evaluation of online learning environments, examining the role of technology enhanced learning in this emerging area"--Provided by publisher.--

Online and virtual education is continually integrated in university classrooms. While online learning provides a more cost-effective alternative for students, educators must also analyze the psychology of online learners and identify ways to support their growth and development in their respective instructional settings. Student-Centered Virtual Learning Environments in Higher Education is a collection of innovative research that focuses on connecting contextual analyses of student-focused online instruction with quality assurance principles to improve higher education. Highlighting a range of topics including instructional design, professional development, and student engagement, this book is ideally designed for educators, software developers, instructional designers, educational administration, academicians, and students seeking current research on emerging principles and practices related to designing, implementing, and evaluating virtual teaching and learning.

Building Online Learning Communities further explores the development of virtual classroom environments that foster a sense of community and empower students to take charge of their learning to successfully achieve learning outcomes. This is the second edition of the groundbreaking book by Rena Palloff and Keith Pratt and has been completely updated and expanded to include the most current information on effective online course development and delivery. A practical, hands-on guide, this resource is filled with illustrative case studies, vignettes, and examples from a wide variety of successful online courses. The authors offer proven strategies for handling challenges that include: Engaging students in the formation of an online learning community. Establishing a sense of presence online. Maximizing participation. Developing effective courses that include collaboration and reflection. Assessing student performance. Written for faculty in any distance learning environment, this revised edition is based on the authors many years of work in faculty development for online teaching as well as their extensive personal experience as faculty in online distance education. Rena M. Palloff and Keith Pratt share insights designed to guide readers through the steps of online course design and delivery.