With the advent of web 2.0 and virtual technologies and new understandings about learning within a global, networked environment, online course design has moved beyond the constraints of text readings, papers, and discussion boards. This next generation of online courses needs to dynamically and actively integrate the wide-ranging distribution of…

"Cloud computing" refers to the use of computing resources on the Internet instead of on individual personal computers. The field is expanding and has significant potential value for educators. This is discussed with a focus on four main functions: file storage, file synchronization, document creation, and collaboration--each of which…

The media environment is currently being dramatically changed by social networking, mobile computing, augmented reality, and transmedia. Of these four, transmedia is probably the least familiar to most educators. Transmedia enhances a central story idea with a variety of media components that provide additional information, give increased…

Two decades ago, many campuses mobilized a major effort to deal with a clear problem; faculty and students needed access to desktop computing technologies. Now the situation is much more complex. Responding to the current challenges, like mobile computing and social networking, will be ore difficult but equally important. There is a clear need for…

An in-depth qualitative study with nine secondary pre-service teachers from an undergraduate "Language and Literacy" class was conducted to examine the potential of simulation using Second Life (SL) in teacher education. Games and simulations were operationally defined in the broadest sense to distinguish key characteristics between…

While many may disparage the online website Rate my Professor, it remains a popular public evaluation site for students to post their evaluations and commentary on their professors. What implications can be drawn about students' perceptions of instruction and what are the implications of students' perceptions for professors and their work? Using…

Given the challenges facing higher education in the fast-changing educational and social environment, what can be learned from an instructor who has braved the rapidly changing stream of technologies and has subsequently developed a personal and productive approach to using emerging technologies to teach better and farther? What aspects of…