Open, distance, and blended learning environments have increased globally in recent years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Stakeholders in the educational sector are facing new challenges on how to take advantage of the knowledge, skills, and experiences gained during the pandemic and, more importantly, how to move forward towards digitally transforming education. Emerging Trends and Historical Perspectives Surrounding Digital Transformation in Education: Achieving Open and Blended Learning Environments identifies cases, best practices, and experiences that highlight digital transformation via online, blended, and open learning environments at all levels and discusses how digital transformation can be achieved. The book also examines the influence of leadership, human resources, knowledge, skills, processes, and technologies in promoting digital transformation. Covering topics such as open learning, digital learning, online teaching, and learner support, this reference work is ideal for teachers, instructional designers, curriculum developers, IT consultants, educational software developers, policymakers, industry professionals, researchers, academicians, practitioners, and students.

Open, distance, and blended learning environments have had global momentum over the past 15 months due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Stakeholders in the educational sector are facing new challenges on how to take advantage of the knowledge, skills, and experiences gained due to the pandemic and how to move forward towards digitally transforming education. This book identifies cases, best practices, and experiences that highlight digital transformation via online, blended, and open learning environments in all levels (k-12 and higher education). It aims to present, discuss, and explain how digital transformation can be achieved and what is needed to be achieved at the macro and micro-level. The book also aims to examine and discuss the influence of leadership, human resources, knowledge, skills, processes, and technologies in promoting digital transformation. It is an ideal resource for researchers, practitioners, educators, educational leaders, policymakers, and instructional designers.

There have been seismic shifts recently occurring in the realm of education. There is an important transition from a focus on "qualification" to "competence" in the world of work, and the need to equip educators with the skills and methodologies required to meet these changing demands has never been greater. The role of a teacher can no longer be a static practitioner, but rather a dynamic decision-maker, ready to shape developing minds. Fostering Pedagogical Innovation Through Effective Instructional Design is an expansive research book that delves deep into the intricate art of teaching, emphasizing that pedagogy is not a one-size-fits-all endeavor. This scholarly work asserts that effective teaching is rooted in understanding context and a relentless commitment to refining one's instructional practices. The book introduces an array of critical parameters that educators must consider, including content selection, learner needs, and the ever-evolving realm of information and communication technologies. It navigates the reader through the intricacies of andragogy, the theoretical foundations of didactics, and innovative pedagogical approaches, offering a comprehensive toolkit for educators striving to optimize their craft.

Adjunct Faculty in Online Higher Education: Best Practices for Teaching Adult Learners is an essential handbook that delves into the pivotal role of adjunct faculty instructors in the booming realm of online higher education, with a specific focus on adult learners. As the demand for online education continues to soar, administrators, program directors, and adjunct faculty instructors alike are presented with unique challenges and opportunities. This comprehensive guidebook provides a wealth of knowledge and best practices for adjunct faculty instructors seeking to excel in online teaching roles. With a keen understanding of the competitive nature of the field, this book equips instructors with valuable insights that will set them apart in the ever-expanding landscape of higher education. University administrators and program directors will also find immense value in the book's content, which explores strategies for providing professional development to adjunct faculty and designing effective evaluations to support continuous improvement. Recognizing the paramount importance of the student experience, the book emphasizes the crucial role played by adjunct faculty in representing their respective institutions. Covering a wide range of topics, from the historical context of adult learners to the challenges associated with being an adjunct instructor, this handbook serves as a comprehensive guide for both aspiring and experienced adjunct faculty members. It offers practical advice on curriculum design, personnel development, and evaluation methods, empowering administrators and directors alike to make informed decisions in hiring and supporting adjunct faculty instructors.

The surge in enrollment for online courses is continually increasing. However, beneath the convenience lies a challenge that demands a resolution. Educators, administrators, and instructional designers must ensure that the human element is not lost in the virtual corridors of learning. Students with diverse backgrounds and learning needs require more than a simple virtual classroom. Research reveals a concerning trend: high attrition rates in online courses, often attributed to a lack of engagement and insufficient human interaction. To reverse this trend, deliberate measures must be taken to humanize the online learning environment. This book provides several solutions, offering an array of tools and strategies to promote engagement and infuse the human touch into online spaces. To confront this multi-layered challenge, it becomes paramount to undertake deliberate measures aimed at humanizing the online learning environment. Humanizing Online Teaching and Learning in Higher Education steps forward as a guide, offering an extensive array of tools and strategies meticulously crafted to foster student engagement and infuse the essential human touch into the digital educational landscape.

All over the world, educational institutions confronted emergency policy changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to this, academic activities were provided mostly by remote teaching and learning solutions. The transition to emergency remote teaching and learning raised some challenges regarding technical, pedagogical, and organizational issues. It is important for higher education institutions to prepare themselves to deal with future emergency scenarios, promoting an in-depth reflection about the future challenges in the post-pandemic era. Developing Curriculum for Emergency Remote Learning Environments supports creating and promoting an education-as-a-business strategy for higher education institutions by sharing possible business models. It provides a collection of different approaches to online education in the perspective of the future of education environments. Covering topics such as distance learning experiences, online practice improvement, and remote testing, this premier reference source is an excellent resource for educators and administrators of higher education, pre-service educators, IT professionals, librarians, researchers, and academicians.

As the educational sphere witnessed an unprecedented shift to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, a pivotal transformation was set in motion. The surge in online enrollment, spanning synchronous, asynchronous, hybrid, and mobile formats, has established the digital domain as a formidable medium of education. However, this transition comes with a responsibility to uphold the principles of equality and accessibility, a responsibility that mirrors the concerns long prevalent in traditional brick-and-mortar classrooms. Designing Equitable and Accessible Online Learning Environments is a pioneering endeavor which delves into the multifaceted dimensions of online education and reveals a crucial revelation that students from disadvantaged backgrounds exhibit a pronounced affinity for online courses. This book magnifies the essence of this observation, venturing beyond the surface to uncover the means to cultivate a genuinely inclusive online pedagogical experience. Meticulously curated, this book amalgamates diverse perspectives from luminaries in the field. The ultimate aspiration is to empower educators, administrators, researchers, and students with a profound understanding of the symbiotic relationship between inclusivity and technology. From theoretical underpinnings to practical strategies, every chapter resonates with the heartbeat of equitable education in the digital age. Embarking on a comprehensive journey, this book is an exploration of design theories that embrace the ethos of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. Topics span the spectrum, from deciphering the architecture of accessible digital tools to unraveling the tapestry of culturally responsive teaching in the virtual classroom.

This open access volume provides insight into how organizations change through the adoption of digital technologies. Opportunities and challenges for individuals as well as the organization are addressed. It features four major themes: 1. Current research exploring the theoretical underpinnings of digital transformation of organizations. 2. Insights into available digital technologies as well as organizational requirements for technology adoption. 3. Issues and challenges for designing and implementing digital transformation in learning organizations. 4. Case studies, empirical research findings, and examples from organizations which successfully adopted digital workplace learning.

Teaching and Digital Technologies: Big Issues and Critical Questions helps both pre-service and in-service teachers to critically question and evaluate the reasons for using digital technology in the classroom. Unlike other resources that show how to use specific technologies – and quickly become outdated, this text empowers the reader to understand why they should (or should not) use digital technologies, when it is appropriate (or not), and the implications arising from these decisions. The text directly engages with policy, the Australian Curriculum, pedagogy, learning and wider issues of equity, access, generational stereotypes and professional learning. The contributors to the book are notable figures from across a broad range of Australian universities, giving the text a unique relevance to Australian education while retaining its universal appeal. Teaching and Digital Technologies is an essential contemporary resource for early childhood, primary and secondary pre-service and in-service teachers in both local and international education environments.

This book addresses the issues confronting educators in the integration of digital technologies into their teaching and their students’ learning. Such issues include a skepticism of the added value of technology to educational learning outcomes, the perception of the requirement to keep up with the fast pace of technological innovation, a lack of knowledge of affordable educational digital tools and a lack of understanding of pedagogical strategies to embrace digital technologies in their teaching. This book presents theoretical perspectives of learning and teaching today’s digital students with technology and propose a pragmatic and sustainable framework for teachers’ professional learning to embed digital technologies into their repertoire of teaching strategies in a systematic, coherent and comfortable manner so that technology integration becomes an almost effortless pedagogy in their day-to-day teaching. The materials in this book are comprised of original and innovative contributions, including empirical data, to existing scholarship in this field. Examples of pedagogical possibilities that are both new and currently practised across a range of teaching contexts are featured. ​