Technology & Distance Learning

Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns

A crash course in the business of learning-from the bestselling author of The Innovator's Dilemma and The Innovator's Solution…

“A brilliant teacher, Christensen brings clarity to a muddled and chaotic world of education.”
-Jim Collins, bestselling author of Good to Great

According to recent studies in neuroscience, the way we learn doesn't always match up with the way we are taught. If we hope to stay competitive-academically, economically, and technologically-we need to rethink our understanding of intelligence, reevaluate our educational system, and reinvigorate our commitment to learning. In other words, we need “disruptive innovation.”

Now, in his long-awaited new book, Clayton M. Christensen and coauthors Michael B. Horn and Curtis W. Johnson take one of the most important issues of our time-education-and apply Christensen's now-famous theories of “disruptive” change using a wide range of real-life examples. Whether you're a school administrator, government official, business leader, parent, teacher, or entrepreneur, you'll discover surprising new ideas, outside-the-box strategies, and straight-A success stories.

You'll learn how

• Customized learning will help many more students succeed in school
• Student-centric classrooms will increase the demand for new technology
• Computers must be disruptively deployed to every student
• Disruptive innovation can circumvent roadblocks that have prevented other attempts at school reform
• We can compete in the global classroom-and get ahead in the global market

Filled with fascinating case studies, scientific findings, and unprecedented insights on how innovation must be managed, Disrupting Class will open your eyes to new possibilities, unlock hidden potential, and get you to think differently. Professor Christensen and his coauthors provide a bold new lesson in innovation that will help you make the grade for years to come.

The future is now. Class is in session.

Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms

"We need a solid book explaining and illustrating and letting teachers know about these powerful tools. This book meets the need in an awesome way!"
-Mike Muir, Director
Maine Center for Meaningful Engaged Learning

"This author is a gem! It startles me to be 'pulled' so happily through a text about these new Web tools in the context of good literacy instruction."
-Gary Graves, Senior Research and Evaluation Advisor, Technology in Education
Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory  

Discover how to harness Web tools to motivate and update student reading, research, and communication!

This book brings teachers a bold vision and on-the-ground Monday morning practicality. It will move educators to think differently about technology’s potential for strengthening students' critical thinking, writing, reflection, and interactive learning. Will Richardson demystifies words like "blog," "wiki," and "aggregator" making classroom technology an easily accessible component of classroom research, writing, and learning.

This guide demonstrates how Web tools can generate exciting new learning formats, and explains how to apply these tools in the classroom to engage all students in a new world of synchronous information feeds and interactive learning. With detailed, simple explanations, definitions and how-tos, critical information on Internet safety, and helpful links, this exciting book opens an immense toolbox, with specific teaching applications for

• Web logs, the most widely adopted tool of the read/write Web
• Wikis, a collaborative Webspace for sharing published content
• Rich Site Summary (RSS), feeding specific content into the classroom
• Aggregators, collecting content generated via the RSS feed
• Social bookmarking, archiving specific Web addresses
• Online photo galleries

This book makes it possible for anyone, no matter how inexperienced, to harness this amazing technology for the classroom today!

Integrating Educational Technology into Teaching (4th Edition)

For courses in Computers in Education and Educational Technology.

Integrating Educational Technology into Teaching, 4^th edition, by M.D. Roblyer, provides hands-on practice with technology tools to illustrate how to integrate technology into the curriculum to support and shape learning. The author’s five-part Technology Integration Planning Model (TIP Model) shows teachers how to create an environment in which technology can effectively enhance learning.

For this 4^th edition, the author has developed a cohesive, comprehensive technology integration framework that builds on the strong research, the TIP model, and the numerous integration strategies of previous editions, and includes powerful classroom video clips of effective use of technology to shape learning.

Using Moodle: Teaching with the Popular Open Source Course Management System (Using)

Using Moodle is a complete, hands-on guide for instructors learning how to use Moodle, the popular course management system (CMS) that enables remote web-based learning and supplements traditional classroom learning. Updated for the latest version, this new edition explains exactly how Moodle works by offering plenty of examples, screenshots and best practices for its many features and plug-in modules. Moodle gives teachers and trainers a powerful set of web-based tools for a flexible array of activities, including assignments, forums, journals, quizzes, surveys, chat rooms, and workshops. This book is not just a how-to manual. Every chapter includes suggestions and case studies for using Moodle effectively. By itself, Moodle won't make your course better. Only by applying effective educational practices can you truly leverage its power. With this book, you will: Get a complete overview CMS in general and Moodle in particular. Review Moodle's basic interface and learn to start a course. Learn to add Moodle tools to your course, and how different tools allow you to give quizzes and assignments, write journals, create pathed lessons, collaboratively develop documents, and record student grades. Discover some of the creative ways teachers have used Moodle. There are plenty of ideas for effectively using each tool. Effectively manage your Moodle course, such as adding and removing users, and creating user groups. Learn to use Moodle's built-in survey functions for assessing your class. Find out how to administer an entire Moodle site. A system administrator usually handles these functions, but if you're on your own, there's a lot of power behind the curtain. Using Moodle is both a guide anda reference manual for this incredibly powerful and flexible CMS. Authored by the Moodle community, this authoritative book also exposes little known but powerful hacks for more technically savvy users, and includes coverage of blogs, RSS, databases, and more. For anyone who is using, or thinking of using, this CMS, Using Moodle is required reading.

e-Learning and the Science of Instruction: Proven Guidelines for Consumers and Designers of Multimedia Learning

In this thoroughly revised edition of the bestselling e-Learning and the Science of Instruction authors Ruth Colvin Clark and Richard E. Mayer— internationally-recognized experts in the field of e-learning—offer essential information and guidelines for selecting, designing, and developing asynchronous and synchronous e-learning courses that build knowledge and skills for workers learning in corporate, government, and academic settings. In addition to updating research in all chapters, two new chapters and a CD with multimedia examples are included.

Web 2.0: New Tools, New Schools

Web 2.0 has arrived--find out how it can transform teaching and learning!

What is Web 2.0? Once upon a time, Web sites were isolated information "silos"--all content and no functionality. Today, the next generation of Web sites gives power to the end-user, providing visitors with a new level of customization, interaction, and participation. Many Web sites now allow users to upload, categorize, and share content easily. Weblogs and podcasts allow anyone to publish or broadcast on any topic. Wikis provide information that is constantly updated by the end-user. Open-source software is free and customizable. These new technologies are changing our relationship to the Internet.

What can Web 2.0 tools offer educators? Web 2.0: New Tools, New Schools provides a comprehensive overview of the emerging Web 2.0 technologies and their use in the classroom and in professional development. Topics include blogging as a natural tool for writing instruction, wikis and their role in project collaboration, podcasting as a useful means of presenting information and ideas, and how to use Web 2.0 tools for professional development. Also included are a discussion of Web 2.0 safety and security issues and a look toward the future of the Web 2.0 movement. Web 2.0: New Tools, New Schools is essential reading for teachers, administrators, technology coordinators, and teacher educators.

Using Technology With Classroom Instruction That Works

Moodle E-Learning Course Development

A complete guide to successful learning using Moodle, focused on course development and delivery and using the best educational practices. This unique book gives you more than just a guide to the Moodle software; it uses Moodle as a route to better teaching, more motivated students, and more successful courses. Moodle E-Learning Course Development shows you how to use Moodle as a tool to enhance your teaching. It will help you analyse your students' requirements, and come to an understanding of what Moodle can do for them. After that you'll see how to use every feature of Moodle to meet your course goals. The social constructionist learning philosophy is at the heart of Moodle: we all "construct" knowledge through interation with one another and with learning materials in a social way. Moodle E-Learning Course Develelopment will show you how to add static learning material, interactive activities, and social features to your courses so that students reach their learning potential. Whether you want to support traditional class teaching or lecturing, or provide complete online and distance learning courses, this book will prove a powerful resource throughout your use of Moodle.

Engaging the Online Learner: Activities and Resources for Creative Instruction (Online Teaching and Learning Series (OTL))

Engaging the Online Learners includes an innovative framework—the Phases of Engagement—that helps instructors become more involved as knowledge generators and cofacilitators of a course. The book also provides specific ideas for tested activities (collected from experienced online instructors across the nation) that can go a long way to improving online learning. Engaging the Online Learner offers the tools and information needed to:

• Convert classroom activities to an online environment and use online activities in a classroom-based course

• Assess the learning that occurs as a result of collaborative activities

• Phase-in activities that promote engagement among online learners

• Help online learners use online tools

• Build peer interaction through peer partnerships and team activities

• Create authentic activities

• Implement games and simulations

Instructional Technology and Media for Learning (9th Edition)