""At the beginning of Chapter 1, I quote author Arthur C. Clarke, who wrote "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" (1984, p. 36). To me, technology has always been somewhat magical. Growing up I liked both magic tricks and electronic gadgets. When I was very young I remember being picked out of the audience by a magician to help him with a trick, thrilled with the seemingly mystical act that he accomplished with my assistance. I loved seeing magicians live or on TV, and I borrowed magic books from the local public library to learn tricks that I tried out on my family. As I became older and obtained various technological devices, they too fascinated me with the somewhat magical (to me) things they were able to do. Two items, in particular, stand out in my memory. I acquired an analog audio tape recorder that I used to play duets with myself by recording one part and then playing it back while performing the other part live. This made practicing my euphonium so much more fun and likely increased my practice time as I worked to record the perfect "take" of each line of the various duets I had in my books! I was also excited to receive a CB radio one Christmas, which allowed me to stay in close contact, at all times of the day and night, with my best friend who had received the same gift. It augmented my social network, such as it existed in those days. In addition, it was amazing to be able to use the radio to listen to and learn from the conversations picked out of the air of people from all over. Technology had magical qualities and I loved how it allowed me to do things that were otherwise not possible, as well as things that made life more interesting and enjoyable. I still feel the same way today. ""--

This collection has pieces from all the key names in distance education worldwide

With all that we know about how students learn, the nature of the world they will face after graduation, and the educational inequities that have existed for centuries, maintaining a traditional, one-size-fits-all approach to teaching and learning is tantamount to instructional malpractice. International security, the success of global economies, and sustainability as a global society all depend on the success of our education system in the years to come. It’s our obligation to prepare our students for their future—not our past. Authors Eric C. Sheninger and Thomas C. Murray outline eight keys—each a piece of a puzzle for transforming the K–12 education system of teaching and learning—to intentionally design tomorrow’s schools so today’s learners are prepared for success . . . and stand ready to create new industries, find new cures, and solve world problems. The traditional model of schooling ultimately prepares students for the industrial model of the past. If we want our students to become successful citizens in a global society, we must dramatically shift to a more personal approach. Failure is not an option. We can no longer wait. Let Learning Transformed show you how you can be a part of the solution. The authors encourage you to use the hashtag #LT8Keys to continue the discussion online.

In Learning Targets, Connie M. Moss and Susan M. Brookhart contend that improving student learning and achievement happens in the immediacy of an individual lesson--what they call "today's lesson"—or it doesn't happen at all. The key to making today's lesson meaningful? Learning targets. Written from students' point of view, a learning target describes a lesson-sized chunk of information and skills that students will come to know deeply. Each lesson's learning target connects to the next lesson's target, enabling students to master a coherent series of challenges that ultimately lead to important curricular standards. Drawing from the authors' extensive research and professional learning partnerships with classrooms, schools, and school districts, this practical book - Situates learning targets in a theory of action that students, teachers, principals, and central-office administrators can use to unify their efforts to raise student achievement and create a culture of evidence-based, results-oriented practice. - Provides strategies for designing learning targets that promote higher-order thinking and foster student goal setting, self-assessment, and self-regulation. - Explains how to design a strong performance of understanding, an activity that produces evidence of students' progress toward the learning target. - Shows how to use learning targets to guide summative assessment and grading. Learning Targets also includes reproducible planning forms, a classroom walk-through guide, a lesson-planning process guide, and guides to teacher and student self-assessment. What students are actually doing during today's lesson is both the source of and the yardstick for school improvement efforts. By applying the insights in this book to your own work, you can improve your teaching expertise and dramatically empower all students as stakeholders in their own learning.

Music Learning Today: Digital Pedagogy for Creating, Performing, and Responding to Music presents an approach to conceptualizing and utilizing technology as a tool for music learning. Designed for use by pre- and in-service music teachers, it provides the essential understandings required to become an adaptive expert with music technology, creating and implementing lessons, units, and curriculum that take advantage of technological affordances to assist students in developing their musicianship. Author William I. Bauer makes connections among music knowledge and skill outcomes, the research on human cognition and music learning, best practices in music pedagogy, and technology. His essential premise is that music educators and students benefit through use of technology as a tool to support learning in the three musical processes - creating, performing, and responding to music. The philosophical and theoretical rationales, along with the practical information discussed in the book, are applicable to all experience levels. However, the technological applications described are focused at a beginning to intermediate level, relevant to both pre-service and in-service music educators and their students. This expanded second edition features an all-new student-friendly design and updated discussions of recent technological developments with applications for music teaching and learning. The revamped companion website also offers a new teacher's guide, with sample syllabi and lessons for each chapter.

Mathematics Teaching Today: Improving Practice, Improving Student Learning, Second Edition, updates the NCTM groundbreaking publication Professional Standards for Teaching Mathematics, first published in 1991. Like the original, this updated volume articulates a vision for effective mathematics teaching and describes the support systems that are required to achieve that vision. This book delineates Standards for various aspects of the teaching profession, including teachers' practise, professional supervision, collegial interaction and career-long professional growth. However, more than curriculum standards documents are needed to improve student learning and achievement. Teaching matters. Therefore, exploring what goes on in mathematics classrooms is essential to identifying issues and looking for opportunities for improvement. Principles and Standards for School Mathematics provides a framework for professional practise that supports the NCTM's vision of more and better mathematics for all children. This book expounds on that framework, explicating the roles of teachers, supervisors, teacher educators, mathematicians, professional developers, parents, politicians, community members and others in improving the teaching and learning of mathematics. The Standards offer a vision for high-quality mathematics teaching and support structures for teachers. What matters in the long run, however, is how classrooms across North America are transformed and how teaching practises evolve to address the mathematical learning needs of children.

In this revised and expanded edition of UDL Now! Katie Novak provides practical insights and savvy strategies for helping all learners meet high standards using the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL). UDL is a framework for inclusive education that aims to lower barriers to learning and optimize each individual's opportunity to learn. Novak shows how to use the UDL Guidelines to plan lessons, choose materials, assess learning, and improve instructional practice. Novak discusses key concepts such as scaffolding, vocabulary-building, and using student feedback to inform instruction. She also provides tips on recruiting students as partners in the teaching process, engaging their interest in how they learn. UDL Now! is a fun and effective Monday-morning playbook for great teaching.

Foreign Language Learning, Today and Tomorrow is a collection of papers that attempts to shed lights into the concerns and issues that will be encountered by foreign language instructors. The title first deals with the futurism in foreign language learning, and then proceeds to humanism in learning foreign languages. Next, the selection presents a thematic approach in learning a second language. The text then covers the individualization of foreign language learning. Chapter 5 cites some studies, which claim that children can learn to read far earlier. The selection also covers the system for evaluation of a foreign language program, along with the sequence of learning activities that work well in the classroom. Chapter 8 talks about possibility of language learning thrive as an elective in American schools, while Chapter 9 deals with individualizing and sequencing training for inter-cultural communication. The last two chapters detail the alternatives in education and suggestions for the continuing development of pre- and in-service programs for teachers of second languages. The book will be of great use to foreign language instructors. Individuals who are involved in the design and implementation of school curriculum will also benefit from the text.

This text looks carefully at the sociological, historical, and economic sides of our education systems today. Since education is ultimately linked to whose knowledge counts we are also forced to look at the world of Policy studies. Policy studies itself should fo-cus on diverse methodologies that guarantee authentic policy development. In this way our society can automatically recognize when certain policies are a mere placebo. This diagnosis of policy placebo is a pattern that we can see over and over and we should be-come more aware. Policy placebo is when policy is created to make it look like an issue was trying to be resolved or it attempted to solve an issue but the intention was never an altruistic one. Then there are some policies that may have good intentions but caused more, harm than good.

A comprehensive guide to online training in business, this handbook explains what kinds of skills and information should be taught online and who can benefit most.