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This paper aims to review the literature to discuss engaging online instructional design and instructors’ role in enhancing learner engagement in educational and corporate settings.

This paper carries out a narrative literature review.

Instructor presence in online learner engagement is a multidimensional effort, and learner engagement can be established in online instruction through communication, consistent feedback on learner performance and critical discourse. Building connection with the learners is essential in an online learning environment. Engaging online instructors challenge and encourage learners to spare more academic effort, use techniques to improve engagement and involve and care about learners.

Instructors’ roles in shaping online learning and instruction deserve more attention. More research is needed to understand which technologies work best for specific academic areas or learner demographics and why online learners find it difficult to learn with peers unless supplemented with appropriate online instruction.

This review offers strategies for improved online instructional design to achieve learning engagement.

This review highlights an underexplored concept of instructors’ role in creating engaging online instructional design by understanding learner needs and receptiveness.

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to assist teachers in developing inquiry-based learning environments in secondary and post-secondary subject area classrooms that support their diverse students’ capacities for deep and intellectually engaged reading.

Design – Reading Apprenticeship professional learning has been developed to transform teachers’ understanding of their role in students’ literacy development and to build teachers’ capacity for re-enacting literacy instruction in the academic disciplines, engaging students in text-based inquiry, supporting their ongoing engagement, and gradually turning the work of learning over to students. The model reflects the understanding that for practice to become truly responsive to the needs and varied contexts of teachers’ work, teachers must become adaptive and generative in their use of specific practices. Reading Apprenticeship immerses teachers in experiential learning through patterns of practice that we expect them to recreate in their own classrooms. Teachers participate in inquiries designed to help them become reacquainted with their own disciplinary expertise in relation to literacy. Importantly, teachers collaboratively analyze students work through case studies of student literacy learning and videotaped classroom lessons designed to help teachers to reimagine what they and their own students can accomplish.

Findings – Reading Apprenticeship instructional tools and routines offer multiple opportunities for teachers to hear and respond to student thinking in relation to the text, thereby deepening the student reasoning processes and turning work over to students. The work of gradual release occurs in recursive cycles of reciprocal modeling that respond to students’ particular puzzlements and challenges with specific texts and engage students in shouldering more of the work of learning moment-to-moment, over time. Just as curricular ideas and topics build on one another over the course of a year of study, the challenges of text-based inquiry increase and build on previous accomplishments, constantly extending students’ reach. Engaging learners in taking up the work of text-based inquiry is a continuous cycle of support and graduated release and challenge calibrated to students’ needs and skill levels in the current learning moment.

Practical Implications – Current policies focused on accountability and efficiency in school reform conflict with evidence-based understandings of the learning process. The ongoing nature of learning and development through the gradual release of responsibility require that we not only tolerate, but unreservedly embrace and value learning progressions and their messiness for both students and their teachers. Embracing the ongoing learning journey calls for tolerance and generosity that we often withhold from teachers and students alike – to be in process, to be a learner, and to be en route to accomplishment. Learning entails risk and vulnerability. If we are truly invested in growth for both students and teachers, we must expect to invest continuously in and provide sustained support for their learning. The more opportunities to learn teachers are able to offer students, the more students can do. And the more students can do, the more teachers can give them.

The chapters in this book focus on using different types of mediated discourse technologies such as classroom response systems and class replay systems to create technology-rich social learning environments within the classroom. Improvements in low-cost, ubiquitous digital technologies and development of modern learning theories are rapidly changing the manner in which we teach and learn in the postindustrial age. These transformative advancements are also refining our views of what it means to teach and learn in a globalized world. At both the individual and group levels, mediated discourse technologies are becoming more prevalent in higher education as teaching and learning tools across a wide range of disciplines to better engage students and create more participatory and engaging learning environments. Using these technologies in a purposeful manner also has the potential of creating more interesting and enjoyable social learning environments for both instructors and students.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the core dimensions of user experiences in a physical and technologically embedded learning environment (LE) designed to support active student-led inquiry-based studies and collaborative knowledge creation in higher education.

The paper integrated the USEframe of usability of built environments and the inquiry-based engaging learning environment (ELE) to test and develop the usability and pedagogy of future LEs. A group of ten teacher students was studied and interviewed semi-structurally after a seven-week inquiry-based course unit. The findings were considered in light of the two frameworks.

The physical and embedded LEs provided the students with socio-digital affordances that promoted experienced study engagement, knowledge co-creation and sharing and a sense of safety and belonging in the scientific community. The application of the ELE model and the agile physical setting complemented and supported each other and promoted learning.

The results shed light on how to integrate understanding the user process, user experience and use of embedded LEs to develop usability of new LEs.

The living lab provides different stakeholders with tangible information about usability and helps the designers in concrete streamlining of pedagogy and physical LEs.

The integration of digital technologies into education has brought about a profound transformation, fundamentally reshaping the learning landscape. The purpose of this study is to underscore the importance of investigating the factors influencing students’ engagement (SE) in this evolving digital era, particularly within formal digital learning environments. To address this need, the study is grounded in self-determination theory (SDT) and presents a comprehensive model comprising interconnected elements: digital competence (DC), smartphone use (SPU), perceived autonomy (PA), digital formal learning (DFL) and SE.

The research conducted an investigation within Saudi Arabian universities, collecting a robust data set of 392 cases. This data set underwent rigorous analysis to validate the proposed model. To untangle the intricate relationships within the framework, the study used partial least squares structural equation modelling. Given the distinct dimensions of the two constructs under study, the researcher used a disjoint two-stage approach to establish reflective-formative higher-order constructs (HOC).

The findings revealed that digital literacy and digital skills (DS) constitute the foundational constituents of DC. Simultaneously, the study identified facilitation, distraction and connectedness as integral components of SPU. Importantly, the study established that DC, SPU, PA and DFL significantly influence SE. Furthermore, the research illuminated the mediating roles played by SPU, PA and DFL in the complex relationship between DC and SE.

This study advances the literature by delineating the dynamic interplay between DC, SPU and SE in digital learning. It extends SDT within educational contexts, emphasizing the role of internal motivations and DS. Methodologically, it innovates through reflective-formative HOCs, deepening the analysis of complex educational constructs. Managerially, it guides institutions in enhancing DC and integrating smartphones effectively into learning, advocating for tailored strategies to foster engaging and autonomous digital learning environments, thereby enriching both theoretical understanding and practical application in education.

Due to a change in higher education and adult education ideas and practices globally that have become more learner-centered, higher education is undergoing a transformation at a rate never before seen. Education has also evolved into a lifetime endeavor as the importance of higher education and adult learning has grown. In light of the fact that it offers guidance on how people can find purpose in their lives, transformative learning theory has a prominent position in higher education and adult education. By critically examining their presumptions and expectations and updating them to support higher education students' successful learning, educators can transform their theory and practice of instruction through active and transformative learning. Adapting to the changing capacities brought on by digitization, technological advancements, growing technological connectivity, global market expansion, mobility and migration, and workplace diversity is becoming more and more difficult for higher education institutions. The idea of active and transformative learning and transformative learning strategies are discussed in detail in this chapter to help readers understand their importance and function in effective teaching and learning in the transforming world of higher education. This chapter's major contribution to Active and Transformative Learning: Digital Transformation in Education is the provision of a comprehensive guide and strategy on how to successfully incorporate digital technologies into the teaching and learning process in order to improve student engagement, knowledge acquisition, and the growth of critical thinking skills.

Gamification is the application of game features, mainly video game elements, into non-game context for the purpose of promoting motivation and engagement in learning. The application of gamification in a pedagogical context provides some remedy for many students who find themselves alienated by traditional methods of instruction. The use of gamification could provide a partial solution to the decline in learners’ motivation and engagement the schooling system is facing today. Specifically, the college environment could benefit a lot from gamifying not only their graduate recruitment strategies, but also the college course content and curricula. This critical analysis of literature on gamification is intended to be part of a sequence on the effect of gamification on motivation and engagement. A proposed methodology in the study of gamification effect on motivation and engagement in addition to an empirical study on three college courses are being finalized to complete this trilogy. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Themes covered in the literature review include: conceptualizing gamification, advantages of gamification over game-based learning, theoretical connections to gamification, motivation and engagement, connecting gamification to motivation and engagement, emotions and fun in gamification, player types and gamification features, gamification in action, and implementation guidelines.

The literature on the effect of gamification on motivation and gamification is still limited on multiple levels. There is a gap between theory and practice in the study of gamification. There is limited literature on the implementation guidelines of the gamified designs.

This critical analysis of literature is followed by connecting it to future research by the same author as part of a sequence on the effect of gamification on motivation and engagement. The second project, will be proposing a methodology for any successful design to provide a holistic understanding of the topic of gamification. Finally, an empirical study on the effect of gamification on students’ motivation and engagement in three college courses will be submitted to complete the trilogy.

This paper is a literature review, so there is a strong connection to literature on this topic. However, the synthesis of the themes and ideas are original. The literature review is extensive and covers the different aspects of the topic of gamification and its relationship to motivation and engagement.

Contextualizing grammar in second language (L2) classrooms implies making grammar constructs relevant to the learners’ world; affording learners the opportunities to better comprehend and apply these concepts in their own milieus. This instructional design (ID) has been devised to contextualize grammar and to explore learner engagement of pre-service English teachers through Computer-Aided Learning (CAL) and Task-based Learning (TBL) in a technology-driven learning environment. CAL encompasses technology-aided discussions, multi-media presentations, online tests and exercises, and social media deployment. TBL, on the other hand, contextualizes grammar using technology and social network in planning, executing, and presenting four assigned tasks: picture essay, brochure design, dialogue composition, and comic strips illustration. Facebook is the e-portfolio of the class, archiving all group and individual output. The CAL-TBL tandem is propelled by group initiatives and class collaboration evident in group discussions and planning, microteaching, task presentations, peer reviews, and self-evaluations. These initiatives engage learners; empowering students to collaboratively take active part and responsibility for their own learning. The three-hour-class meets every week in a computer laboratory. The post-semester feedback and online poll course design review as well as the University Course Evaluation comments have shown that the ID, from the learners’ perspective, is effective in contextualizing grammar and in engaging learners.

This chapter reviews student engagement and learning over of a six year study period (>500 students) in a technology rich learning environment. The technology rich learning environment in this project consists of tablet PCs for each student (1:1 environment), visually immersive multiple projection screens, and collaborative digital inking software. This chapter reviews the education problem being addressed, and the learning theory used as a lens to focus specific active learning pedagogical techniques to address the educational problem. From this problem-based learning theory grounded approach, the features desired in a technology rich learning environment were developed. The approach is shared in this chapter with specific detailed examples to allow others to implement technology rich learning environments with active learning pedagogical approaches to address specific education problems in their institution. The technology rich learning environment implemented and studied includes multiple hardware/software pieces to create a system level solution versus a single device or single app solution.

Emerging technologies offer an ever expanding variety of means to support and enrich learning environments. However, there is currently a lack of information on how to best implement new media in tourism and hospitality education. This paper aims to describe an example of an international, collaborative learning project that involves Facebook so that future practice regarding social media use in teaching can be informed.

This paper adopts a case study approach to describe in detail how Facebook was used to foster self‐directed learning about sustainable tourism.

The findings presented in the paper are based on the postings of the students in Facebook as well as student and faculty reflections on the success of the project. Overall, the project was a success and led to the construction of a useful, current and engaging knowledge base about sustainable tourism. Also, the students appreciated the more informal learning environment. However, there were clear barriers to collaboration that could not be overcome by using Facebook. In addition, not all students were equally engaged and some clearly lacked experience with the medium.

The paper documents the use of Facebook in support of a collaborative learning project to illustrate the potential of social media in creating engaging learning environments. It situates the case study in the theoretical discussion of the value of edutainment and the promise of social media to foster self‐directed and social learning. The findings provide theoretical implications for the conceptualization of social media use in education and practical implications for tourism and hospitality educators who would like to integrate social media in their teaching.