America's K-12 education system faces three significant challenges: (1) increased global demands for skilled workers, (2) significant financial shortfalls, and (3) a looming teacher shortage. Independently, these factors present significant challenges for U.S. schools. In combination, they create a national imperative for swift action to create a…

Virtual environments, once used strictly for gaming and military training, have developed into spaces for community building and collaboration rather than competition. This literature review explores virtual worlds and underlying theories of interest to Human Resource Development (HRD). Findings suggest application opportunities for HRD in five…

Educators are increasingly using educational technologies at the postsecondary level although little research has investigated the effects of such technologies on learning. Our research explored the effects of traditional lecture, slide-show-supplemented lecture, and virtual learning environment (VLE) on learning and frustration among college…

The portability and immediate communication properties of mobile devices influence the learning processes in interacting with peers, accessing resources and transferring data. For example, the short message and browsing functions in a cell phone provide users with timely and adaptive information access. Although many studies of mobile learning…

Higher education today fails to exploit the power of emergent educational technology. If it did, the authors contend that "everyone on the planet would already have access to a top-quality college education for pennies a day acquired in less than half the traditional four years." The authors envision a college education that replaces the lecture…

An article this author wrote about avatar harassment and assault in Second Life (SL) inspired a considerable response after it was published. Perhaps the most notable reply was from Linden Lab, the company that created the virtual-reality world. In his initial essay ("The Chronicle of Higher Education," September 14, 2007; "The Education Digest,"…

When it comes to remote collaboration in eLearning, it's all about where people are now vs. where people are going. A 1999 innovation model presented by R.S. Rosenbloom describes three stages of development for any new technology: (1) imitation; (2) incremental improvement; and (3) transformation. Mapping these stages onto the current state of…

Teaching innovation in university education, especially when based on the use of information and communication technology (ICT), is a long process and is strongly conditioned by many variables such as the specific cultural context, the availability of resources (human and technological), the level of knowledge the faculty members possess on the…

Traditional approaches to learning have often focused upon knowledge transfer strategies that have centred on textually-based engagements with learners, and dialogic methods of interaction with tutors. The use of virtual worlds, with text-based, voice-based and a feeling of "presence" naturally is allowing for more complex social interactions and…

In social studies, the incorporation of technology presents some unique opportunities. With such innovations as blogging, interactive mapping, digital resources and others entering social studies classrooms, there is great potential for teachers, but it is hard to know where to begin. In this article, the authors focus on one familiar, yet rapidly…

The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive review of how technology has been used to enhance or replace field experiences in preservice teacher preparation programs, and discuss the benefits and limitations of traditional and technology-enhanced/virtual field experience approaches. In this paper, three types of technology-enhanced…

For over two decades educators have hailed the possibility of harnessing the capabilities of portable computing to transform Australian schools into places where students experience powerful learning environments, relevant to the 21st Century. For some schools in Australia this journey is well into its second decade with the use of networkable…

The authors embed their advocacy of educational technology in a consideration of contemporary pedagogy in geography. They provide examples of e-learning from a wide range of teaching and learning contexts. They promote the idea that considering best practice with reference to educational technology will increase the versatility of teaching…

While digital virtual worlds have been used in education for a number of years, advances in the capabilities and spread of technology have fed a recent boom in interest in massively multi-user 3D virtual worlds for entertainment, and this in turn has led to a surge of interest in their educational applications. In this paper we briefly review the…

Most people have at least secondhand knowledge about Second Life, a virtual-reality world created by Linden Lab, in which avatars (digital characters) lease "islands" for real-life purposes--to sell products, conduct classes, do research, hold conferences, and even recruit for admissions. About nine million avatars reportedly interact on this…