The mission of higher education in the 21st century must focus on optimizing learning for all students. In a shift from prioritizing effective teaching to active learning, it is understood that computer-enhanced environments provide a variety of ways to reach a wide range of learners who have differing backgrounds, ages, learning needs, and expectations. Integrating technology into teaching assumes greater importance to improve the learning experience. Optimizing Higher Education Learning Through Activities and Assessments is a collection of innovative research that explores the link between effective course design and student engagement and optimizes learning and assessments in technology-enhanced environments and among diverse student populations. Its focus is on providing an understanding of the essential link between practices for effective “activities” and strategies for effective “assessments,” as well as providing examples of course designs aligned with assessments, positioning college educators both as leaders and followers in the cycle of lifelong learning. While highlighting a broad range of topics including collaborative teaching, active learning, and flipped classroom methods, this book is ideally designed for educators, curriculum developers, instructional designers, administrators, researchers, academicians, and students.

"This book examines the benefits and costs associated with the utilization of technology-mediated instructional environments, recognizing that instructional technology could offer alternative means of communication for understanding"--Provided by publisher.

Higher learning has seen an increase in web-based distance education programs, which coincides with advancements made in educational technologies. As these programs are on the rise, it becomes increasingly more important to ensure that instructional designers are prepared to accommodate the needs of these academic institutions. Developing a culture of collaboration through the optimization of instructional design methods is part of the profession’s identity but has gotten overshadowed by the pressures of thinking of courses as products. Optimizing Instructional Design Methods in Higher Education is an essential reference source that discusses the importance of collaboration, training, and the use of new and existing models in supporting instructional designers to formalize and optimize curriculum development in higher education. It covers the importance of adapting, adjusting, and re-evaluating models based on learner needs in relation to both the process of learning and outcomes. Featuring research on topics such as human resource development, academic programs, and faculty development, this book is ideally designed for educators, academicians, researchers, and administrators seeking coverage to support design thinking and innovation that encourages student learning.

Discussions on the importance and impact of pedagogical practice on students as whole persons are often concentrated on the P-12 or undergraduate learning experience. In higher education, many institutions do an outstanding job of complicating the undergraduate classroom to include civic engagement, community-based learning, education abroad, social action, and project-based learning. But, what about the graduate classroom? While there are indeed numerous graduate programs that push students to interact with strong, meaningful, difficult, and sometimes harsh facts, scholarship, and ideologies, the instructional methods have largely remained stagnant. New methods of constructing deep and meaningful learning in graduate education is essential for the transformation and continued evolution of graduate school instruction. Reshaping Graduate Education Through Innovation and Experiential Learning is a crucial reference book that offers practice-based reflections on efforts to infuse creativity, social action, engaged learning, or other creative interventions into the graduate classroom. The book includes personal narratives that are grounded in pedagogical perspectives from graduate school instructors who share their experiences with innovative and transformative teaching practices. The goal of the book is to encourage graduate school professors to engage social justice education as something to be experienced and practiced in their courses and not just as a concept to be studied. As such, the book covers topics such as self-directed learning, counseling, and community mapping. It is ideal for graduate-level instructors in the field of education and other related social science areas, as well as junior faculty as they establish a teaching practice or veteran faculty seeking creative transformation.

The scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) is one of the most dynamic areas of research in the field of higher education today in which faculty continuously evaluate the quality of their teaching and its affect on student learning. Faculty are being held accountable for the effectiveness of their teaching and in turn they are starting to engage in SoTL-related intellectual exchanges not only in their research agendas but also in the ways in which they teach their students in the classroom. At the heart of this new movement, there is a simple idea: take a close look at how you teach and how your students learn, use the same methodology that you would use for formal investigations (be it in the humanities or sciences), and hold your research to the same standards most notably peer review. Optimizing Teaching and Learning will serve as a guide for anyone who is interested in improving their teaching, the learning of their students, and at the same time contribute to the scholarship of teaching and learning. It bridges the gap between the research and practice of SoTL, with explicit instructions on how to design, conduct, analyze, and write-up pedagogical research, including samples of actual questionnaires and other materials (e.g., focus group questions) that will jumpstart investigations into teaching and learning. It also explores the advantages and disadvantages of various pedagogical practices and present applications of SoTL using case studies from a variety of disciplines. This book will serve as an invaluable resource for both seasoned faculty and new faculty who are just beginning to assess their teaching methods and learn how to think beyond the content.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced companies, institutions, citizens, and students to rapidly change their behaviors and use virtual technologies to perform their usual working tasks. Though virtual technologies for learning were already present in most universities, the pandemic has forced virtual technologies to lead the way in order to continue teaching and learning for students and faculty around the world. Universities and teachers had to quickly adjust everything from their curriculum to their teaching styles in order to adapt to an online learning environment. Online learning is a complex issue and one that comes with both challenges and opportunities; there is plenty of room for growth, and further study is required to better understand how to improve online education. The Handbook of Research on Developing a Post-Pandemic Paradigm for Virtual Technologies in Higher Education is a comprehensive reference book that presents the testimonials of teachers and students with various degrees of experience with distance learning and their utilization of current virtual tools and applications for learning, as well as the impact of these technologies and their potential future use. With topics ranging from designing an online learning course to discussing group work in an online environment, this book is ideal for teachers, educational software developers, IT consultants, instructional designers, administrators, professors, researchers, lecturers, students, and all those who are interested in learning more about distance learning and all the positive and negative aspects that accompany it.

Education’s role should further social justice, prepare students to compete for higher social positions, train workers, and engage students so that they become active participants in a democratic society. However, as with many global systems, education has long ago fallen victim to the institutional ailments of systematic oppression and discrimination. In order to promote equity and social justice in education, it is paramount that educators and administrators acknowledge systematic challenges in education and the solutions. The Handbook of Research on Solutions for Equity and Social Justice in Education discusses how teachers and school administrators practice equity and inclusion in their schools. It provides examples of social justice and how it affects society, as well as specific case studies that aim at engendering equity and inclusion for minorities. It further discusses these issues in a global context. Covering topics such as agentic empowerment, social justice in dialogue, and teacher social justice advocacy, this major reference work is a critical resource for faculty and administrators of both K-12 and higher education, preservice teachers, teacher educators, school social workers and counselors, librarians, government officials, researchers, and academicians.