Education is expanding to include a stronger focus on the practical application of classroom lessons in an effort to prepare the next generation of scholars for a changing world economy centered on collaborative and problem-solving skills for the digital age. The Handbook of Research on Technology Tools for Real-World Skill Development presents comprehensive research and discussions on the importance of practical education focused on digital literacy and the problem-solving skills necessary in everyday life. Featuring timely, research-based chapters exploring the broad scope of digital and computer-based learning strategies including, but not limited to, enhanced classroom experiences, assessment programs, and problem-solving training, this publication is an essential reference source for academicians, researchers, professionals, and policymakers interested in the practical application of technology-based learning for next-generation education.

Informal language learning beyond the classroom plays an important and growing role in language learning and teaching. This Handbook brings together the existing body of research and unites the various disciplines that have explored this area, in order to present the current state of knowledge in one accessible resource. Much of adult learning takes place outside of formal education and for language learning, it is likely that out-of-class experiences play an equally important role. It is therefore surprising that the role of informal language learning has received little attention over the years, with the vast majority of research instead focusing on the classroom. Researchers from a range of backgrounds, however, have started to realise the important contribution of informal language learning, both in its own right, and in its relationship with classroom learning. Studies in the areas of learner autonomy, learning strategies, study abroad, language support, learners’ voices, computer-mediated communication, mobile-assisted language learning, digital gaming, and many others, all add to our understanding of the complex and intersecting ways in which learners construct their own language learning experiences, drawing from a wide range of resources, including materials, teachers, self-study, technology, other learners and native speakers. This Handbook provides a sound and comprehensive basis for researchers and graduate students to build upon in their own research of language learning and teaching beyond the classroom.

Technology has become ubiquitous in nearly every contemporary situation, while digital media have acquired considerable importance in the lives of young people. Alongside their interest in digital media, schooling constitutes a core component of the life of children and adolescents. Youth’s use of digital media creates tensions between traditions and expectations of renewal within the school. The once-sharp divide between school and leisure time is eroding. How will the school as an institution relate to this comprehensive process of change known as the digital revolution? How can the school build a bridge between the world of youth and school material to enable students to learn in a new digital age? This endeavor is named polycontextual bridging in this book. What are the good examples of polycontextual bridging? What novel educational goals can be achieved by net-related activities when incorporated into the school, and how can out-of-school learning be successfully framed by educational purposes? These questions are addressed from different perspectives by several scholars in this book. The chapters in this volume offer the most thorough, up-to-date discussion on the challenges of technology use in school education. In tackling the critical issues created by technology, this book provides an important resource for student teachers, teachers, education scholars and those interested in a critical examination of digital expectations and experiences in school education. This book is motivated by a pressing need to come to grips with the dilemmas caused by an apparent clash of learning cultures in the individual classroom, in the schools, in the education of teachers, and in the institutions of teacher education. The book is also a tribute to Gavriel Salomon and his research on the cognitive effects of media's symbol systems, media and learning, and the design of cognitive tools and technology-afforded learning environments. The book also contains his masterpiece “It’s not just the tool, but the educational rationale that counts”. Further, three internationally recognized experts – Howard Gardner, David Perkins, and Daniel Bar-Tal – describe Salomon’s remarkable academic contributions. This book is an attempt to explicate, illustrate, and critically examine the idea of polycontextual bridging between youth’s leisure cultures and school material to enable students to learn in a new digital age. The authors do not present a common front on the complex question of the proper use of information and communication technology in the school but instead present a diversity of arguments and viewpoints. The book is an attempt to raise questions and start a debate.

Introduction; Part I. Educational Technology Beyond Learning; Educational Technology – Expectations and Experiences: An Introductory Overview; ICT and Education Beyond Learning: A Framework for Analysis, Development and Critique; Part II. Educational Technology in Schools; Educational Technology in Schools: Policymaking and Policy Enactment; What Explains Pupils’ Perceived Motivational Conflict between Academic Work and Off-Task Behaviour in Technology-Rich Classrooms?; Why Is There a Wedge between the Promise of Educational Technology and the Experiences in a Technology-Rich Pioneer School?; On the Life of ICT and School Leadership in a Large-Scale Reform Movement: A Case Study; A Small Step Strategy to Boost Integration of Digital Technology in Learning and Teaching at an Upper-Secondary School; Part III. Social Networking Sites, Social Media, and Internet: Challenging Issues for Schools; Social Networking Sites, Social Media, and Internet: Challenging Issues for Schools; The Social Media Natives: The Relationship between Young Peoples’ Media User Type and Their Media Use at School; Cyber Harassment and Quality of Life; The Impact of Cyberbullying and Cyber Harassment on Academic Achievement; Ninth Graders’ Use of and Trust in Wikipedia, Textbooks, and Digital Resources from Textbook Publishers; Examining Gender Differences in ICT Literacy, Interest, and Use: Norwegian Results from the ICILS 2013; Part IV. Coda; Backwards and Forwards: Reflections on Teaching in a Digital Age.

The International Science and Evidence Based Education (ISEE) Assessment is an initiative of the UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP), and is its contribution to the Futures of Education process launched by UNESCO Paris in September 2019. In order to contribute to re-envisioning the future of education with a science and evidence based report, UNESCO MGIEP embarked on the first-ever large-scale assessment of knowledge of education.