This edited volume builds upon the premise that online learning is not separate from the social and material world, and is made up of embodied, socially-meaningful experiences. It is founded on a “postdigital” perspective in which, much more than interactions with keyboards, computer screens, hardware or software, the learning that happens on online postgraduate programmes spills out into professional and informal settings, making connections with what comes before and after any formally-scheduled tasks. Unlike other books relating to online education, this book combines a theoretical perspective, in which the digital, physical and social are all interconnected within complex educational ecologies, with a focus grounded in postgraduate practice. This focus has important implications for the kinds of students and learning that are explored in the chapters of the book. This book provides an important contribution to the knowledge of what is required to produce quality, online postgraduate programmes at the level of teachers, curriculum designers, faculty developers and policy-makers.

Providing a comprehensive examination of the nature of online higher education, this book proposes effective ways in which it can be conceptualised and designed to be more accessible and authentic for adult learners. Against the backdrop of differing historical origins, which have resulted in multiple, misaligned understandings, applications and interpretations of online and distance education, this book presents an empirical research study which uses a narrative approach to explore the lived experiences of online postgraduate students. It positions two arguments on the (in-)accessibility and (in-)authenticity of online education side by side, effectively demonstrating how they can be conflict and contradict each other. Using narrative data, the authors re-examine the concepts of distance and interaction in order to present a new understanding of the concept of openness relevant to the for-profit postgraduate distance learning sector. This book illuminates the postgraduate distance education experience and presents a set of alternative theoretically informed conceptions which the authors present as three essential pillars of online postgraduate education: openness, distance, and interaction. Carefully presented and supported using real online higher education scenarios, the book will enable higher educators, practising online education in a range of pedagogical contexts, to re-imagine their practices; further, to create more accessible and authentic learning opportunities for their learners.

This open access book examines the interrelations and correlations of the postdigital condition and its relationship to education, with a particular focus on participation. Contributions reflect on how educational institutions are affected by the recent transformations of media technologies and practices, and how at the same time institutions such as schools and universities are supposed to enable people to participate in media practices in an informed and reflective way. How, and under what conditions, can teachers and students participate in contemporary media constellations? The book will be of interest to academics and researchers involved in teacher education, digital pedagogy, educational technology, instructional design, education philosophy and media education.

This book explores genealogies and the challenges related to the concept of the postdigital, the ambiguous nature of postdigital knowledges, and the many faces of postdigital sensibilities. The book answers three key questions: What is postdigital knowledge? What does it mean to do postdigital research? What, if anything, is distinct from research conducted in other perspectives? As such, this book is a one-stop publication for those interested in the theory of postdigital research. Postdigital Research: Genealogies, Challenges, and Future Perspectives is complemented by Constructing Postdigital Research: Method and Emancipation, also edited by Petar Jandrić, Alison MacKenzie, and Jeremy Knox, which explores these questions in practice.

This cutting-edge Research Handbook presents a comprehensive overview of key developments in the field of student engagement, with particular reference to equity and diversity issues. Promoting a more holistic and inclusive understanding of engagement, it highlights key empirical findings alongside practical case studies, presenting valuable recommendations for the field. This title contains one or more Open Access chapters.

Ethics and Educational Technology explores the creation and implementation of learning technologies through an applied ethical lens. The success of digital tools and platforms in today’s multi-faceted learning and performance contexts is dependent not only on effective design and pedagogical principles but, further, on an awareness of these technologies’ interactions with and implications for users and social systems. This first-of-its-kind book provides an evidence-based, process-oriented model for ethics in technology-driven instructional design and development, one that necessitates intentional reflective practice, a critical and theoretically informed interrogation of technology, and a participatory approach to technology design and applications. Rich with real-world ethics examples and design cases, supported by reflection questions and applied activities, and attentive to ethical codes among preeminent educational technology organizations, this is an ideal resource for students, faculty, researchers, and professionals across educational technology, instructional design, learning sciences, learning engineering, organizational training, and other disciplines.

This open access handbook offers a one-stop-shop for both new and established researchers, educators, policy makers and administrators in the field of open, distance and digital education (ODDE) to gain a comprehensive overview of the history, theory and practice at all levels of ODDE, and at the same time stimulates in-depth discussions on various themes and issues of ODDE for today and future. Researchers, scholars and students in the field of ODDE can use this handbook as a major reference to conduct their own research and learning agendas. To cover the field comprehensively, the handbook is structured following the 3M framework developed by one of the chief editors Zawacki-Richter. The 3M framework categorizes the major research areas and issues in ODDE on three levels. Accordingly, the handbook is divided into six sections in total, two section at each of the three levels: 1) Macro Level – ODDE Systems and Theories, 2) Meso Level - Institutional Perspectives, Management and Organization, and 3) Micro Level – Learning and Teaching in ODDE. This is an open access book.

This edited book collection offers strong theoretical and philosophical insight into how digital platforms and their constituent algorithms interact with belief systems to achieve deception, and how related vices such as lies, bullshit, misinformation, disinformation, and ignorance contribute to deception. This inter-disciplinary collection explores how we can better understand and respond to these problematic practices. The Epistemology of Deceit in a Postdigital Era: Dupery by Design will be of interest to anyone concerned with deception in a ‘postdigital’ era including fake news, and propaganda online. The election of populist governments across the world has raised concerns that fake news in online platforms is undermining the legitimacy of the press, the democratic process, and the authority of sources such as science, the social sciences and qualified experts. The global reach of Google, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and other platforms has shown that they can be used to create and spread fake and misleading news quickly and without control. These platforms operate and thrive in an increasingly balkanised media eco-system where networks of users will predominantly access and consume information that conforms to their existing worldviews. Conflicting positions, even if relevant and authoritative, are suppressed, or overlooked in everyday digital information consumption. Digital platforms have contributed to the prolific spread of false information, enabled ignorance in online news consumers, and fostered confusion over determining fact from fiction. The collection explores: Deception, what it is, and how its proliferation is achieved in online platforms. Truth and the appearance of truth, and the role digital technologies play in pretending to represent truth. How we can counter these vices to protect ourselves and our institutions from their potentially baneful effects. Chapter 15 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

Online learning poses a multitude of challenges for educators as there are oftentimes limited resources, and in most cases educators are forced to rely on trial-and-error strategies. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, an urgent need has risen for a better understanding of creating and maintaining an engaging digital classroom environment. Pedagogy, Presence, and Motivation in Online Education provides best practice techniques and utilizes analogies from brick-and-mortar education to provide a conceptual framework to a better understanding of how online education functions and shows how to engage students and build a positive digital culture. Covering topics such as hybrid classrooms, self-directed learning skills, and principal leadership, this book is an excellent resource for educators of both higher and K-12 education, educational administration, pre-service teachers, government institutions, policymakers, researchers, and academicians.