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Successful technology integration into the teaching of social studies is imperative in the twenty-first century classroom. This study sought to answer the following questions: do synchronous and asynchronous technology integration increase a student’s understanding of social studies content? Are synchronous technology-integrated social studies lessons more effective than asynchronous technology-integrated social studies lessons? How do students perceive the effectiveness of a synchronous technology-integrated lesson vs the effectiveness of an asynchronous technology-integrated lesson? The paper aims to discuss these issues.

This paper presents the results of a quasi-experimental research project comparing the learning outcomes of students who participated in synchronous and asynchronous technology-augmented lessons.

The results of this study found that synchronous and asynchronous technology-enhanced lessons are both viable pedagogies for increasing a student’s understanding of social studies content. The results also yielded no statistical significance between the effectiveness of the synchronous instruction vs asynchronous instruction. However, a statistical significance exists when analyzing a student’s perception of their own learning. Students participating in synchronous technology-integrated instruction reported a higher confidence in the lesson’s ability to teach them, when compared to that of the asynchronous population.

By continuing to seek new ways to integrate technology effectively into classrooms, social studies teachers can design lessons more effectively to meet the needs of today’s social studies students. The need to understand the learning outcomes of various technology-integrated approaches will continue to grow as more technologies become available to social studies teachers.

The purpose of this paper is to explore to what extent a flipped classroom pedagogy (FCP) design as a digital pedagogical tool enhances student teachers’ learning in economics education at an open distance e-Learning (ODeL) university.

This exploratory study used a quantitative approach and online survey design. The sample consisted of 214 Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) and 157 Baccalaureus Educationis (BEd) (senior and further education and training phase) student teachers. A closed structured online questionnaire, Flipped Classroom Pedagogy Questionnaire, designed on a four-point Likert scale, was used to collect data. Descriptive and inferential data were computed to explore student teachers’ learning to teach an economics education in a teacher education course. Ethical clearance was granted and therefore adheres to the policy on research ethics of the university.

Empirically, the findings of this paper revealed that the FCP digital pedagogy enhanced economics students’ academic performance and perceptions in an online open distance learning environment. Furthermore, student teachers perceived that the functionality of the FCP experience as an online strategy was useful and effective for their learning. Therefore, these findings confirmed and extended what is revealed by earlier research studies regarding the debate on the usefulness of the FCP approach as a powerful technology-integrated teaching design in teacher education courses.

The findings of this investigation could not be generalised because a small sample was selected. Further investigation is needed regarding comparing other similar modules of the PGCE/BEd (senior and FET phase) programmes over a longer investigative period in the college. Further research should be explored, employing a mixed-methods approach on how student teachers perceived academic support in the FCP strategy towards self-directed learning.

Ultimately, several implications for using the FCP approach emerged, in particular for rethinking teacher education programmes to support and accommodate the digital learner. To implement this approach successfully, faculties should formulate clear intended outcomes for implementing the FCP pedagogical approach. In addition, faculties at higher education institutions should seriously consider the merits of the FCP approach in order to avoid becoming redundant. Therefore, lecturers who intend to use this strategy either through a contact, blended or ODeL mode of delivery, are compelled to provide consistent, ongoing constructive feedback and monitoring required learning tasks.

The paper empowers PGCE/BEd (senior and FET phase) students to teach the subject in a diverse society.

This research study has shown that student teachers perceived an FCP approach in an online platform as an empowering tool that is both effective and useful and that positively impacts on their lived experience in an ODeL context. It extends the epistemology (subject of knowledge) of the effectiveness of the FCP strategy as an enhancer for student learning in an ODeL environment, teacher education in particular. Furthermore, a noteworthy contribution is made towards the application of the FCP as one of the digital pedagogies in teaching economics in an ODeL context. This exploratory study also makes a methodological contribution to the validation of an online data collection instrument for use in future studies.

By studying the leadership role of management and faculty in a Pakistani University to find out gaps in the delivery of technology integrated services in enrolment and advisory capacity offered at the beginning of every new term at the University of Central Punjab in Lahore, Pakistan, this paper seeks to find the impact of the process of service delivery on customer loyalty and positive word of mouth, the key objectives for attaining quality.

A mixed methods approach, comprising survey and interviews were used to investigate customer satisfaction. Factorial analysis and SEM modeling was applied to quantitative data, whereas coding and interpretive analysis were used for qualitative data.

The results highlight the differences in leadership style adopted by management and faculty. The SEM model suggests that, as long as students lack autonomy and perceive a lack of empowerment of faculty, their satisfaction with the enrolment and advisory services will be affected negatively and will result in negative outcomes on word of mouth.

The small sample and contextual nature of study limit the scope of generalization. However, the analysis contributes toward improving the leadership approach of Pakistani management and faculty at private universities.

The study identifies the challenges faced by the management in providing customer satisfaction with the services by approaching the problem from a different angle, i.e. leaders' use of their cognitive resources and their relationship focusing on customer satisfaction. It extends the research literature on leadership styles as being applicable to student services available.

Efforts to prepare new teachers to integrate technology into their teaching have a lengthy history. Increasingly, scholars are beginning to understand the importance of linking technology with specific content areas and pedagogy (Zhao, 2003). Mishra and Koehler (2006) refer to this intersection of technology, pedagogy, and content as Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPCK). Structuring field experiences that systematically address curriculum-based technology integration in the context of specific content areas is one way that teacher preparation programs can operationalize this development of TPCK in pre-service teachers (Bolick, 2002; Dawson & Nonis, 2000). Analysis of the data in the Bolick study revealed three benefits for the pre-service teachers working within a content-specific technology field placement: (a) increased knowledge and skill related to digital history pedagogy, (b) increased content-area knowledge, and (c) increased confidence in developing and teaching technology-integrated lessons (2002). Using Bolick’s findings as initial assertions, this study investigated the use of collaborative field placements, digital history, and an apprenticeship model of training to teach pre-service teachers about technology and elementary social studies instruction. This paper discusses the results of the Technology Leadership Cadre (TLC) collaboration and provides recommendations for future studies in this area of research.

Both private and public sector organizations continue to be challenged by the need to determine and assess the applicability and viability of information technology (IT) advances to their situations. Traditionally, IT has not been perceived as a major contributing factor in developing and supporting the strategic direction of organizations. Yet the many diverse advances in IT can present both positive and negative influences on an organization especially in a rapidly changing global environment. Some organizations do not conduct formal strategic planning due to a perception that the effort will be outdated before it is completed. Others may undertake the planning process but fail to continue to implementation. Regardless of whether there is formal, informal, or non-existent strategic planning, the importance of assessing relevant IT advances is seldom considered as a critical factor to be integrated into an organization’s long-term direction.

This chapter utilizes both primary research and case studies to propose that IT advances need to be appropriately incorporated into an organization’s strategic direction. Supporting rationale will be presented for a variety of private and public sector entities and situations. Some IT advances that are addressed include the following:

• Stakeholder involvement in assessing appropriate IT advances

• Technology strategy planning for mergers and acquisitions

• Mobile device integration in future organizational planning

• IT outsourcing vs. insourcing implications

Stakeholder involvement in assessing appropriate IT advances

Technology strategy planning for mergers and acquisitions

Mobile device integration in future organizational planning

IT outsourcing vs. insourcing implications

The paper reviews major changes in technology, integrated circuit packaging, materials and surface mounting techniques, and assesses their impact on the printed circuit board industry. It identifies major forces and examines interconnection technologies such as thick film and new techniques for providing interconnections of ICs as related to the technology in Europe.

The shift from physical class to online classes in the pandemic COVID-19 situation has posited opportunities as well as challenges for teachers and students. The primary purpose of this research is to investigate challenges faced and benefits availed by the teachers at the tertiary level in universities of Pakistan and Indonesia.

To achieve the purpose a mixed-method approach is employed to answer the three research questions of the present study. The quantitative data is obtained from the responses of 66 teachers, teaching online in Mehran UET Pakistan and 102 teachers from Indonesian university. The personal, technological, and pedagogical challenges were analyzed by descriptive statistics on SPSS. Thus, the independent-samples t-test was run to test for statistically significant differences faced by teachers in both countries.

The findings revealed that there were no statistically significant differences found in personal, and pedagogical challenges faced by both countries' teachers, whereas there is a significant difference in facing technological challenges between Pakistani and Indonesian teachers. The benefits of online teaching were investigated qualitatively by conducting semi-structured interviews with 10 teachers 5 from each country. There are very positive aspects of online teaching revealed in the interviews.

The paper includes implications for the development of Computer Assisted Language Learning, the development of technology integrated courses, and for managing the balance between physical and online classes.

The findings of the study have implications on finding out the solutions of the derived challenges, further it suggests to concentrate on students of public and private universities in Pakistan and Indonesia so that a comparison of challenges faced by teachers and faced by students can be researched and evaluated and it can generate significantly different results.

The implications on the research society and the teachers and designers' communities are very clear in this research because it paves the way forward towards the blending of technology in any way either synchronously/ asynchronously into education, further researches can be done on designing the new concepts, courses, instructional platforms for students and investigate the new dimensions and effects of them.

Findings have value, because two countries' context (developing countries) with respect to the comparison of the challenges and benefits is better understood, it would have different results if had done in the developed countries.

A flipped classroom refers toa model of learning which reverses how time is spent in and out of the class to shift the ownership of learning from the teachers to learners. But from the perspective of ecology, education can be healthily developed in a harmonious and dynamically-balanced ecological system. Therefore, this project, exemplified through translation teaching, constructed a flipped teaching model based on an ecological perspective that open university distance learners will adapt to after revisiting the flipped classroom. Through the teaching experiment in the course on Translation Theory and Practice, the author highlighted that a good ecological relationship should be established in the translation subject, the translation object, the objectives of the translation course, and translation sources and requirements from the translation market — based on which the basic teaching process of a flipped classroom was developed. Using a questionnaire and interviews, the results of a one-year experiment showed that the flipped teaching model with the integration of modern information technology (functions of interaction, virtual simulation and social networking) in translation teaching could foster greater student engagement and higher levels of motivation and translation competence; and the teachers were excited by the opportunity to enhance their teaching practice and the profession. However, some major challenges were also posed to the students and teachers, viz.: (1) how to make the students transform from knowledge-receivers to knowledge-producers; and (2) how to improve the teacher's TPACK(technology integrated into some curricula) — for example,how to explaina concept in a bite-sized video (the pace, the visual representation, and the aligned assessment practices) and how to extend these activities into the classroom.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate computer‐aided design (CAD) and computer‐aided engineering (CAE) as enablers of agile manufacturing (AM).

Based on the literature review, the importance of technology integration enabling AM has been found. CAD technology has been used for modelling baseline product; CAE has been used for deriving optimized parameters; new designs have been derived.

The feasibility of CAD and CAE as enablers of AM has been ensured.

The study has been conducted only in one automotive sprocket manufacturing organization.

The practical feasibility of generating new products through technology integration has been ensured.

Very little research has been reported on technology‐integrated AM practices. In this study, CAD and CAE have been used for enabling product development.

Proposes a new real estate valuation methodology and presents the architecture for a decision support system for real estate analysis based on Geographic Information Systems (GIS) techniques integrated with fuzzy theory and spatial analysis.

The proposed information system architecture/problem‐solving methodology uses GIS technology integrated with two approaches: fuzzy logic and spatial analysis. The steps required in the proposed methodology are: database design and implementation; criteria and rules; system design; and implementation. The components/modules included in the proposed methodology are: requirement and definition analysis; data production; topology; integrated database; visualization; variables; quantification; valuation; and implementation.

The applicability of the system is evaluated via a case study in estimation of house sale prices. The proposed system/methodology was used in order to valuate property values in one municipality of Attica in Greece. The estimation, market analysis, forecasting and management of property values are of great importance and a prerequisite for real estate development.

The proposed methodology is innovative, easy to implement and has a vast theoretical background. Following the methodology/architecture, a prototype information system is presented in order to move from theory to practice. The value of the paper is the combination of new technology assessments and GIS tools, integrated with fuzzy theory and spatial analysis.