This volume contains contributions from Edutainment 2008, the 3rd International Conference on E-Learning and Games. It serves as a forum for stimulating and disseminating innovative research ideas, theories, emerging technologies in the field.

This volume contains a selection of outstanding contributions from GDTW 2008, the 6th International Conference in Game Design and Technology, which took place in the UK, in November 2008, and Cyberworlds 2008, held in Hangzhou, China, in September 2008.

Novel trends and innovations have enhanced contemporary educational environments. When applied properly, these computing advances can create enriched learning opportunities for students. Mobile Technologies and Augmented Reality in Open Education is a pivotal reference source for the latest academic research on the integration of interactive technology and mobile applications in online and distance learning environments. Highlighting scholarly perspectives across numerous topics such as wearable technology, instructional design, and flipped learning, this book is ideal for educators, professionals, practitioners, academics, and graduate students interested in the role of augmented reality in modern educational contexts.

Over the last five years there has been an increasing use of immersive virtual worlds, in particular Second Life, in Higher Education. A Practical Guide to Using Second Life in Higher Education is a pedagogically-informed text that guides staff in the use of Second Life for Higher Education. Although there are currently a growing number of books about Second Life available, much of the focus has been on designing the environment, ways of building and the general ease and use-value of the environment. This book is aimed at those who want to use Second Life for teaching in further and higher education. It provides both an overview and an in-depth stance about aspects of the immersive world for teaching, learning and assessment, as well as suggestions about researching (in) Second Life.

The book explores advances in soft-skill training through the adaptation of traditional psycho-pedagogical methodology to digital and online settings. Several educational techniques are explored, such as role-playing, psychodrama and rule and drama-based games. The experiences reported in the book are the synthesis of several European projects, coordinated by the authors, aimed at applying known psycho-pedagogical training models to on-line, technology enhanced learning contexts in a broad range of applications and target groups. The specificity of such a psycho-pedagogical methodology, applied throughout all the discussed EU projects, is mainly represented by the importance of feedback and debriefing processes that can be conveyed to learners through different means, such as online group or individual chat with tutors, automatic reports and a psychologically informed scoring system. Tutors, either real or artificial, are seen as the key factor facilitating the training process. The ultimate objective of this book is to offer a theoretical framework where real examples, direct experiences and possible indications on how rule and drama-based multiplayer and single player games can support traditional practice for enhancing soft skills to a wide community of trainers, coaches, HR advisors, consultants and psychologists.

The Higher Education Learners’ Learning Outcomes (HELLO) project offers a comprehensive solution to the challenge of creating comparative metrics of learning outcomes that are valid across various cultures, languages, and higher education institution types. Traditional methods of assessing learning outcomes in higher education have limited institutions' abilities to compare student performance to that of their peers, hindering efforts to improve teaching practices and enhance student learning. This project creates learning outcome measures that are culturally and linguistically appropriate for different types of higher education institutions, enabling institutions to compare student performance to that of their peers as part of efforts to improve teaching practices and enhance student learning. Design and Implementation of Higher Education Learners’ Learning Outcomes (HELLO), edited by Kuntal Barua, Neyara Radwan Mohammed, Virendra Singh, and Ronnie Figueiredo, provides a persuasive account of the HELLO project and is intended for all students, teachers, administrations, and higher education institutions interested in improving teaching practices and enhancing student learning outcomes. The book presents the challenges in traditional methods of assessing learning outcomes, the limitations of diverse attempts to fill the quality information gap, and the rationale for HELLO beyond collegial approaches and student-centered learning. The book also explores key challenges in developing and executing HELLO, such as the risks of ranking and value-added methodologies. By offering a comprehensive overview of the HELLO project, this book provides higher education institutions with the information and motivation they need to participate in the project and enhance their students' learning outcomes.

Virtual and augmented reality is the next frontier of technological innovation. As technology exponentially evolves, so do the ways in which humans interact and depend upon it. Virtual and Augmented Reality: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications is a comprehensive reference source for the latest scholarly material on the trends, techniques, and uses of virtual and augmented reality in various fields, and examines the benefits and challenges of these developments. Highlighting a range of pertinent topics, such as human-computer interaction, digital self-identity, and virtual reconstruction, this multi-volume book is ideally designed for researchers, academics, professionals, theorists, students, and practitioners interested in emerging technology applications across the digital plane.

Education and learning opportunities bring about the potential for individual and national advancement. As learners move away from traditional scholarly media and toward technology-based education, students gain an advantage with technology in learning about their world and how to interact with modern society. The Handbook of Research on Learning Outcomes and Opportunities in the Digital Age provides expert research relating to recent technological advancements, technology and learning assessments, and the effects of technology on learning environments, making it a crucial reference source for researchers, scholars, and professors in various fields.

Construction researchers and industry practitioners have begun to explore the possibilities offered by mobile and pervasive computing in architecture, engineering and construction (AEC). It is expected that the construction industry will be keen to apply these technologies as they promise significant benefits in areas such as materials management, project management, distributed collaboration and information management, all leading to improvements in productivity. This book offers a comprehensive reference volume to the use of mobile and pervasive computing in construction. Based on contributions from a mix of leading researchers and experts from academia and industry, it provides up-to-date insights into current research topics in this field as well as the latest technological advancements and practical examples. The chapters introduce the key theoretical concepts in mobile and pervasive computing and highlight the applications and solutions which are available to the construction industry. More specifically, the book focuses on the manner in which these technologies can be applied to improve practices in construction and related industries. This book will be of particular interest to academics, researchers, and graduate students at universities and industrial practitioners seeking to apply mobile and pervasive computing systems to improve construction industry productivity.

This journal subline serves as a forum for stimulating and disseminating innovative research ideas, theories, emerging technologies, empirical investigations, state-of-the-art methods, and tools in all different genres of edutainment, such as game-based learning and serious games, interactive storytelling, virtual learning environments, VR-based education, and related fields. It covers aspects from educational and game theories, human-computer interaction, computer graphics, artificial intelligence, and systems design. This special issue consists of two parts: the first one features original research papers on interactive digital storytelling in the applied context of edutainment; the second part contains a selection of revised and expanded best papers from the 4th eLearning Baltics (eLBa 2011) conference. The papers on digital storytelling have been split into sections on theory, technology, and case studies; the eLBA 2011 conference papers deal with technology and applications, case studies and mobile applications, and game-based learning and social media.