The early twenty-first century is characterised by rapid change. Commentators note how permeating digital technologies engage increasing numbers of children, young people and adults as consumers and also producers. In the shifting technological landscape, childhood and youth are changing. Connectivity around the clock, with a parallel existence in…

The nature of teaching as a profession has been the subject of intense debate for many years, driven by the developments in digital technology, both in terms of the technology people use in everyday life and work (such as mobile phones, Facebook, the internet etc) and the technology now available to support teaching and learning (again, mobile…

This paper identifies the need for developing new ways to study curiosity in the context of today's pervasive technologies and unprecedented information access. Curiosity is defined in this paper in a way which incorporates the concomitant constructs of interest and engagement. A theoretical model for curiosity, interest and engagement in new…

In May 2009, the US Department of Education released a meta-analysis of effectiveness studies of online, face-to-face, and blended learning models. The analysis found that online learning produced better student outcomes than face-to-face classes, and that blended learning offered an even "larger advantage" over face-to-face. The hybrid approach…

This paper updates earlier work in which we defined three generations of distance education pedagogy. We then describe emerging technologies that are most conducive to instructional designs that evolve with each generation. Finally we discuss matching the pedagogies with learning outcomes. (Contains 3 figures.)

The recent advent of wireless broadband Internet access and mobile communications devices has provided remarkable opportunities for 21st century blended learning models--simultaneous online and face-to-face--and seriously called into question the industrial-age traditional "egg crate classroom" model of teaching and learning. It has…

Several publications, including "Navigating the Badlands" a book by Mary O'Hara-Devereux as well as a report by the National Research Council, suggest troubled times are ahead for society and possibly higher education. The latter report says that, "The impact of information technology on the university will likely be profound, rapid, and…

Motivation, engagement, goal attainment and effective interaction are essential components for college students to be successful in the online educational environment. The popularity and influx of electronic media applications has allowed educators the opportunity to incorporate social media (Facebook, Twitter), and volitional messages (Simple…

This article reports on the use of a text-based verbal protocol (Afflerbach, 2000) situated within individual interviews to elicit secondary English teachers' perspectives on new literacies (Albers & Harste, 2007; Coiro, Knobel, Lankshear, & Leu, 2008). Ranging significantly in their teaching experience and comfort with new media and…

This article shares findings from a year-long study about social practices of high school youth with mobile devices during school time. In particular, this study found that students see their school time as fluidly social and academic. Educators and policy-makers need to carefully consider these social practices when preparing 21st century youth…

In his work as a professor, Stephen Downes used to feel that he was helping those who least needed it. His students at places like the University of Alberta already had a leg up in life and could afford the tuition. When a colleague suggested they co-teach an online class in learning theory at the University of Manitoba, in 2008, Downes welcomed…

Over the last two decades, advances in information and communication technologies (ICTs) have contributed to the ideological construct of an emerging "knowledge society"--one which places a high value on knowledge and education and promises a better future for humanity. However, the severe economic--and by extension, social and…

Historically, writes the author, humans have experienced an impulse to write; have found the materials to write; have endured the labor of composition; have understood that writing offers new possibility and a unique agency, in spite of cultures that devalued writing, that at times prohibited writing by those who may have been female or of color,…

These are heady days for online learning in the academy. What was once the domain of innovative institutions, administrators, and faculty is quickly becoming mainstream. Higher education has seen rapid growth in online enrollments relative to the rest of the college population. More than one in five college students has taken a class online. A…

This essay brings together two lines of inquiry. Firstly, I revisit research on futures in education conducted during the 1980s and re-examine some of the propositions and principles that this research generated about "the future" as an object of inquiry in education. Secondly, I argue that the language of complexity invites us to…