Search results

Online learning in higher education has, until most recently, been delivered primarily through learning management systems (LMS) such as BlackBoard, Moodle, and others. However, responding to budgetary concerns and burgeoning enrollments, delivery of online learning via multiple open source (free) formats, is quickly becoming an attractive and inexpensive option for online distance and learning programs. Multi-user virtual environments, or MUVEs, are one such option that provides an interactive and socially rich learning experience for learners. In this chapter, the authors propose a dually fused pedagogical framework that has the potential to provide both asynchronous and synchronous online learning activities the elicit critical thinking skills and that further align with additional skills twenty-first century learners and instructors need to compete in today's global society.

This chapter focuses on growing professionally and encouraging peers' skills. The author opens by relating her experience in initiating and implementing museum-integrated instruction as a curricular program at all grade levels. She discusses the steps involved in creating one of the nation's first Museum Magnet Schools, from introducing the idea to her school and district to managing all the logistics needed to support it: funding, partnerships, professional development, curriculum writing, and partnerships. Strategically working with teachers, administrators, and organizations builds upon foundations in pedagogy and curriculum and reduces barriers to implementation. The chapter outlines effective strategies for building a dedicated team of faculty and administrators within your school, using professional development and encouragement to gain “buy-in” for projects such as school and student exhibitions. Such activities change the school culture in positive ways, with teachers becoming “ambassadors” to parents, professional learning communities, and other education stakeholders. Harnessing the power of connections to grow as a professional and growing communities of expertise cultivates performance pedagogy and brings history alive for students. By networking with experts from museums and historic sites, educators can tap into museum techniques such as exhibition design and object-based inquiry, which can be powerful tools for experiential learning. The chapter also contains outreach strategies for effectively presenting such initiatives at professional conferences and employing the power of social media through blogging and Twitter. As the author notes based on a decade of experience, the potential for student engagement from museum-related strategies is a persuasive argument for educators and administrators to collaborate in adapting them.

In an age when computer science largely shapes the engagement of widely diverse populations with the world, the majority of computing professions are dominated by males, primarily of European descent. This monolithic group exhibits hubris that needs to be mitigated by drawing upon diverse points of view. This chapter examines computer science production and its contribution to global climate change through e-waste, water usage, and technophilia. Examining Indigenous epistemologies and intersectional theory to address race, class, and gender issues in relation to global climate change, the chapter advocates for broadening computer science education as a culturally sustaining (Paris, D. (2012). Culturally sustaining pedagogy: A needed change in stance, terminology, and practice. Educational Researcher, 41(3), 93–97; Paris, D., & Alim, H. S. (2014). What are we seeking to sustain through culturally sustaining pedagogy? A loving critique forward. Harvard Educational Review, 84(1), 85–100) and revitalizing (McCarty & Lee, 2014) approach to nurturing a social and environmentally responsible movement in computer science education.

This chapter reports on an ethnographic case study of how a group of elementary school teachers designed technology enhanced learning with mobile technology (e.g. notebooks, tablet computers and mobile phones) to facilitate students’ development of literacy and twenty-first century competencies. These teachers designed the school’s literacy pedagogical approach, leveraging the use of technology, namely digital storytelling. The school in this case study is one of the eight Future Schools in Singapore under the FutureSchools@Singapore program. The school has been providing one-to-one mobile computing learning devices and wireless Internet access for its students. The introduction of technology in the classroom makes it possible for twenty-first century competencies to be integrated into literacy development. The conversational framework is used as a framework to examine how the design of the digital storytelling pedagogical approach brings about the various teaching–learning activities – acquisition, inquiry, practice, production, discussion and collaboration. The use of digital storytelling as an approach to integrate information communication technology (ICT) into the classroom has not only modified how ICT is being used in the school, it has redefined how ICT could be used to engage young learners. It has fundamentally transformed conventional storytelling with the use of current state-of-the-shelf (i.e. easily and widely available) technologies. This case study also outlines the processes involved in improving the design of digital storytelling over the years by the teachers. The ecosystem of the school is also taken into consideration and described in detail. Findings suggest the importance of the collaborative efforts of the teachers in the continuous improvements made to this design. The adoption of a learning design framework, such as the one used in this study, can be beneficial to ensure a systematic approach to the design of learning. In addition, the availability of technological infrastructure and computing devices are necessary for the seamless use of technology in the classroom. The just-in-time learning approach is adopted for students to learn technology as they are developing their digital stories.

In this chapter, we show how to use challenge-based learning (CBL) in Operations Management (OM) education, with a focus on Industry 4.0 technologies. CBL is a cutting-edge educational approach that integrates traditional learning modules (theory and practice) to real-life challenges that require solutions. The UoL4.0 Challenge is an initiative that implements CBL in an English university. In there, an OM module was designed to provide the necessary theoretical and practical knowledge to solve challenges concerning digital technology implementations within real organizations. This chapter explores the effectiveness of UoL4.0 Challenge in providing opportunities for experiential learning and evaluates the appropriateness of CBL to develop twenty-first-century skills. Results suggest that the proposed CBL approach is an experiential learning approach that may increase students' understanding of OM in real-life settings and can be conducive to students' development of twenty-first-century skills, including critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity.

This study discusses the role of librarian in the 21st century. Libraries are in a state of dilemma due to dramatic changes that information and communication technologies (ICTs) have brought to libraries. Libraries are faced with various challenges including insufficient funds, but the inability of librarians to acquire IT skills relevant to addressing 21st century library services could be seen as a more difficult challenge, because without these skills it will be difficult for today's librarians to render adequate services to their patrons. Therefore, it is important for librarians to recognize and proactively seek to acquire the ICT skills needed to deliver 21st century library services to their patrons. This means that librarians need to also recognize the need to continually update themselves to keep up with today's fast-paced IT changes so that they will be able to deliver what is expected of them in this new millennium.

Critical thinking is a challenging term to describe but considered necessary for academic achievement, success in the global job market, and essential in developing a life-long learner (Dwyer, Hogan, & Stewart, 2012). Many definitions exist, but some of the components include the ability to analyse, reflect, judge, and strategise in a systematic way, to be able to solve problems (Dwyer et al., 2012). Some of the definitions, taxonomies, models, and theories of critical thinking have been built by Western culture, and the United States contributes information towards this Western approach (Nicholas & Raider-Roth, 2016; Wang, 2017). These definitions, taxonomies, models, and theories make a significant contribution to the pedagogical approaches to the teaching of critical thinking in the United States. This chapter details the structures that support the definitions of critical thinking and the history of the connections between critical thinking and classroom instruction in the United States.

Critical thinking is a necessary construct for twenty-first century learning and discussed in scholarly professional literature and popular media (Dwyer, 2017). The term is a part of the twenty-first century four Cs of learning: collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking (Cunningham, 2018). The teaching of critical thinking can be challenging, and this chapter presents an overview of some helpful pedagogical approaches, including project-based learning, project-based design, e-learning, and active learning and descriptions of instructional pedagogy including the general, infusion, immersion, and mixed approaches (Abrami et al., 2008; Dwyer, 2017; Ennis, 1989; Marin & Halpern, 2011; Willingham, 2008). Quality assurance is an essential component in ensuring pedagogical approaches to critical thinking are effective. The contribution of core standards in the teaching of critical thinking in the United States will be discussed.