The opportunity to design a learning space does not come along often. Usually, it involves the construction of a new building or the complete remodel of an old one, and both of these require a lot of money. Smaller projects, such as renovation of a single room or a defined space, can be the best way to test ideas and establish a model for…

In these troubled economic times, members of college and university communities must provide effective learning environments to support ever-changing curricula while reducing budgets. At the same time, a growing body of literature points to shifting needs of the variously named digital natives, Millennials or the Net Generation. This article…

Traditional colleges who have implemented distance education programs would benefit from using instructional design processes to develop their courses. Instructional design processes provide the framework for designing and delivering quality online learning programs in a highly-competitive educational market. Traditional college leaders play a…

As the use of mobile learning educational applications has become more common anywhere in the world, new concerns have appeared in the classroom, human interaction in software engineering and ergonomics. new tests of foreign languages for a number of purposes have become more and more common recently. However, studies interrelating language tests…

This article presents generalisations drawn from experience gained designing and renewing study programmes so that the use of learning outcomes became the underlying principle of curriculum organisation. Conceptions of a purpose (profile), aim and outcomes of a study programme are presented, their formulation requirements are discussed and…

In an increasingly global world, where events in one corner of the world simultaneously affect other remote areas of the planet, global competition is becoming a continuously evolving phenomenon. Competition is also increasingly becoming an individual endeavor. Individual's own knowledge and skills will be the differentiators in a global economy.…

A thorough review of the research relating to Human-Computer Interface (HCI) form and content factors in the education, communication and computer science disciplines reveals strong associations of meaningful perceptual "illusions" with enhanced learning and satisfaction in the evolving classroom. Specifically, associations emerge…

At Santa Clara University (SCU), Vice Provost for Information Services and CIO Ron Danielson led the design and construction of the campus's 194,251-square-foot Harrington Learning Commons, Sobrato Technology Center, and Orradre Library, a single building opened in March 2008. Danielson and his team were responsible for describing design goals,…

One issue that public librarians must consider when planning Web site design is accessibility for patrons with disabilities. This article reports a study of Web site accessibility of public libraries in Georgia. The focus of the report is whether public libraries use accessible guidelines and standards in making their Web sites accessible. An…

This study provides an account of how architectural competencies are made visible in the work of critique in architectural education. It shows how critics enact a set of disciplined visual practices through which architectural qualities of proposed buildings become available for competent remark. Particularly prominent among these practices is the…

Student commons are no longer simply congregation spaces for students with time on their hands. They are integral to providing a welcoming environment and effective learning space for students. Many student commons have been transformed into spaces for socialization, an environment for alternative teaching methods, a forum for large group meetings…

The guide allows users to adapt and implement suggested O&M (operating and maintaining) strategies to address specific energy efficiency goals. It recognizes and expands on existing tools and resources that are widely used throughout the high-performance school industry. The guide is organized into the following sections: (1) Chapter 1:…

This paper identifies a set of universal instructional design (UID) principles appropriate to distance education (DE) and specifically tailored to the needs of instructional designers and instructors teaching online. These principles are then used to assess the accessibility level of a sample online course and the availability of options in its…

This column presents a continuation of an article published in last month's issue of "Libraries in Computers," in which the author began to consider what it might mean to build dynamic, instantaneous libraries based solely on the materials held on the computers of people in the same space. The goal of this column is to think about what libraries…

This book offers the reader new achievements within the Assistive Technology field made by worldwide experts, covering aspects such as assistive technology focused on teaching and education, mobility, communication and social interactivity, among others. Each chapter included in this book covers one particular aspect of Assistive Technology that…