"The COVID-19 pandemic has sent students and teachers home, and during the last several months they have learned to study and teach online. Hence, e-learning has become a hot issue and provides the theme for this book entitled Challenges and Opportunities of Online Learning. The aim of this book is to link theoretical approaches with practical experiences and inspire teachers, students, and researchers in the field of e-learning in higher education. By reading this book, teachers in higher education may learn lessons from colleagues' experience that may enable them to dare trying out new ways of e-learning. This book includes contributions from four continents - the USA, South America, Africa and Europe - and the authors detail technical considerations as well as provide the different perspectives on e-learning of faculty, teachers, and students"--

"Informed by an intimate knowledge of a social literacies perspective, this book is full of profound insights and unexpected connections. Its scholarly, clear-eyed analysis of the role of new media in higher education sets the agenda for e-learning research in the twenty-first century" Ilana Snyder, Monash University "This book offers a radical rethinking of e-learning … The authors challenge teachers, course developers, and policy makers to see e-learning environments as textual practices, rooted deeply in the social and intellectual life of academic disciplines. This approach holds great promise for moving e-learning past its focus on technology and 'the learner' toward vital engagement with fields of inquiry through texts." Professor David Russell, Iowa State University Challenging e-learning in the University takes a new approach to the growing field of e-learning in higher education. In it, the authors argue that in order to develop e-learning in the university we need to understand the texts and practices that are involved in learning and teaching using online and web-based technologies. The book develops an approach which draws together social and cultural approaches to literacies, learning and technologies, illustrating these in practice through the exploration of case studies. It is key reading for educational developers who are concerned with the promises offered, but rarely delivered, with each new iteration of learning with technologies. It will also be of interest to literacies researchers and to HE policy makers and managers who wish to understand the contexts of e-learning.

Students’ Experiences of e-learning in Higher Education helps higher education instructors and university managers understand how e-learning relates to, and can be integrated with, other student experiences of learning. Grounded in relevant international research, the book is distinctive in that it foregrounds students’ experiences of learning, emphasizing the importance of how students interpret the challenges set before them, along with their conceptions of learning and their approaches to learning. The way students interpret task requirements greatly affects learning outcomes, and those interpretations are in turn influenced by how students read the larger environment in which they study. The authors argue that a systemic understanding is necessary for the effective design and management of modern learning environments, whether lectures, seminars, laboratories or private study. This ecological understanding must also acknowledge, though, the agency of learners as active interpreters of their environment and its culture, values and challenges. Students’ Experiences of e-learning in Higher Education reports research outcomes that locate e-learning within the broader ecology of higher education and: Offers a holistic treatment of e-learning in higher education, reflecting the need for integrating e-learning and other aspects of the student learning experience Reports research on students’ experiences with e-learning conducted by authors in the United States, Europe, and Australia Synthesizes key themes in recent international research and summarizes their implications for teachers and managers.

This book presents a collection of different researches and results on "e-learning". The chapters cover the deficiencies, requirements, advantages and disadvantages of e-learning and distance learning. So, the authors reported their research and analysis results on "e-learning" according to their areas of expertise.

"This is a wide ranging, clearly focused, accessible book that engages with the practices and findings of research into problem-based learning… The book is clear on the problems and the strategies, the debates and the research based practices which make PBL accessible wherever it is suitable for effective learning." Professor Gina Wisker, Anglia Polytechnic University "This book punctures the sometimes inflated rhetoric about PBL by exploring some of its inherent difficulties and contradictions, and moves debate on through critical glimpses of the rich and varied practices undertaken under the banner of PBL." Professor Graham Gibbs, University of Oxford "...provides a wealth of practical and theoretical insights into the challenges of using pbl which will be of value both to those currently using the approach and those thinking of introducing it into their programmes." British Journal of Educational Technology This book presents international research into Problem-based Learning within a range of subject and vocational disciplines, applications and cultures from a variety of perspectives: student, facilitator, module leader, curriculum designer.It presents a range of findings related to designing, implementing, assessing and evaluating PBL courses. Challenging Research in Problem-based Learning is key reading for academics and tutors utilising PBL, as well as those studying for teaching qualifications, lecturers involved in teaching for the professions and on continuing professional development courses. Contributors: Terry Barrett, Brian Bowe, John Cowan, Roisin Donnelly, Erik de Graaff, Chris Hockings, Bill Hutchings, Dan Jacobsen, Peter Kandlbinder, Sharron King, Ranald Macdonald, Claire Howell Major, Yves Maufette, Karen O’Rourke, Betsy Palmer, Maggi Savin-Baden, Charlotte Silén, Alexandre Soucisse, Kay Wilkie.

Digital resources—from games to blogs to social networking—are strong forces in education today, but how can those tools be effectively utilized by educators and course designers in higher education? Filled with practical advice, the e-Learning and Social Networking Handbook, Second Edition provides a comprehensive overview of online learning tools and offers strategies for using these resources in course design, highlighting some of the most relevant and challenging topics in e-learning today, including: • using social networking for educational purposes • designing for a distributed environment • strengths and weaknesses of delivering content in various formats (text, audio, and video) • potential constraints on course design • implementation, evaluation, induction, and training Illustrated by short, descriptive case studies, the e-Learning and Social Networking Handbook, Second Edition also directs the reader to useful resources that will enhance their course design. This helpful guide will be invaluable to all those involved in the design and delivery of online learning in higher education.

This book explores the impact of eLearning on the quality of teaching in higher education, focusing on three main issues: university teachers' perception of quality teaching, their strategies for achieving quality teaching in practice, and interventions that design and implement online collaborative activities in a large class. The book argues that if eLearning targets the real problems in practice and is appropriately designed and implemented, it can improve the teaching quality at universities. It also demonstrates the complexity of teachers' perception of quality teaching and contextual factors that affect teaching practice and quality. Further, it explores university teachers' perception of quality teaching in Italy, the UK and China - an aspect that is rarely addressed in the literature - and reveals why the impact of ICTs on university teaching is not as great as in other fields by explaining the issues that threaten the quality of day-to-day teaching. Lastly, it confirms that traditional lecturing, combined with online collaborative activities, improves the quality of teaching compared to traditional lecturing alone. As such, this book is a necessary and important resource for the research community.

The number of students taking online courses continues to grow each year. Despite the growth, a large percentage of faculties still don't accept the value of online learning. Online educators find themselves in exciting times where they continue advancing the dialogue about online learning, beyond the discussions of "is it as good as face-to-face instruction?" to more nuanced issues such as some of the various benefits, challenges, and misconceptions that go along with learning online. The purpose of this book is to address the various benefits, challenges, and misconceptions that coincide with online teaching and learning. The audience includes anyone with an interest in online learning, whether they are researchers, designers, instructors, or trainers. This book is organised into several themes that are current and emerging in the field of online learning, including student and instructor supports, instructional approaches, current trends and emerging technologies, reaching new audiences, and planning for the on-line learning environment.

E-ffective Writing for E-Learning Environments integrates research and practice in user-centered design and learning design for instructors in post-secondary institutions and learning organizations who are developing e-learning resources. The book is intended as a development guide for experts in areas other than instructional or educational technology (in other words, experts in cognate areas such as Biology or English or Nursing) rather than as a learning design textbook. The organization of the book reflects the development process for a resource, course, or program – from planning and development through formative evaluation, and identifies trends and issues that faculty or developers might encounter along the way. The account of the process of one faculty member's course development journey illustrates the suggested design guidelines. The accompanying practice guide provides additional information, examples, learning activities, and tools to supplement the text.