Perceived Challenges and Opportunities of Digital Games

This qualitative study explored the perceived challenges ELL teachers encounter when using and implementing digital games as educational tools. Six ELL teachers were interviewed, and a phenomenological lens was used to analyze the data. The synthesis of textural and structural meanings and essences as a last step of phenomenological data analysis lead to two major findings of ELL teachers' experiences with digital games: logistical and pedagogical. The findings indicate that there is a lack of resources, support, time, and overwhelming choices that characterize the logistical challenges. On the other hand, ELL teachers teaching philosophy, curriculum, and training highlights the pedagogical challenge of incorporating digital games.

Familismo and Nontraditional Educational Possibilities in Third Space

The authors explore children's and mothers' perceptions and experiences regarding school and an after-school tutorial agency. The latter serves a South Texas colonia, an unincorporated Southwestern settlement lacking basic services. They asked, “What are participants' perceptions and experiences regarding this agency and school?” Latinx participants, who spoke Spanish as a mother tongue, included 19 children, their eight mothers, two agency staff, and 15 teacher candidates (TCs). TCs were Bussert-Webb's university students who tutored the children and used iPads for multimodal, multilingual experiences. Using Third Space and social justice frameworks and qualitative analysis, these themes emerged: power, engagement, and diversity; participants described traditional educational experiences at school and nontraditional ones at the agency. Implications connect to hybridity and power redistributions in and out of schools to affirm and extend the languages, cultures, and modalities of nondominant children and families.

Innovative Practices in Primary and Secondary School Learning Environments

There have been numerous changes to the design of learning spaces, inviting educators to innovate the way they teach. This chapter focuses on innovation and how this is shaping practices in primary and secondary schools with a focus on learning environments. The chapter begins with an examination of the notion of innovation exploring the role of leaders and technology-driven education. The focus of the chapter then shifts to frameworks that are used to guide teachers' knowledge looking at the technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) framework and the technology, pedagogy, content, and spaces (TPeCS) knowledge framework. The focus then moves to explore innovative learning environments and the innovative practices occurring in them with a consideration of pedagogy and flexibility. This is then followed by recommendations for further research.

Brain-Based Learning

Many models that take into account the learning styles have been developed with the formation of modern educational approaches. 4MAT model is a natural learning process moving sequentially through the learning cycle. According to the 4MAT model there are four learning styles and each student can learn more comfortable with their own learning styles. In consideration of neurological studies, also, the dominant hemisphere used by individuals in the information processing process is important in the 4MAT model. This chapter presents a lesson plan based on the 4MAT model as well as the results regarding the application of this lesson plan in a middle school located in the northern part of Turkey. The lesson plan was prepared by examining the books titled “4MAT 4 algebra: The system of mathematics” and “4 MAT 4 geometry teacher book” and receiving expert opinions.

Curbing Student Digital Distraction With Non-Traditional Teaching Strategies

Student use of mobile phones, laptop computers, and other digital devices for leisure purposes has become nearly omnipresent in college classrooms across the globe. The emergence of the digital distraction phenomenon has left many educators searching for strategies to curb the amount of habitual off-task behavior taking place in their classrooms. The chapter supplies educators with a menu of strategies to diminish the occurrence of student digital distraction in their classrooms. Specifically, the authors discuss evidence-based non-traditional strategies that can be applied to reduce student digital distraction in the traditional face-to-face setting, and they position the flipped classroom model as a viable approach for instructors who wish to curb student digital distraction while simultaneously boosting student engagement and learning. Finally, they discuss the importance of empowering students to take control over their digital device use and learning outcomes by training them to become autonomous, self-regulated learners.

Implementing Blended Learning in Classrooms: Educators' Perspectives

Blended learning is one of the modalities used to enhance students' learning experiences in the 21st century. South African educators who migrate to countries overseas have mixed feelings about their teaching using technology in schools. This chapter presents findings on implementation of blended learning in mathematics classrooms from the perspectives of two South African educators working in an international school in Saudi Arabia. The study was done using a qualitative case study within an interpretivist paradigm and it was guided by the technology acceptance model. Two South African educators teaching at an international school in Saudi Arabia were purposively selected to participate in the study. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews and document analysis. A significant contribution of the study was the development of a model which shows that perspectives of the educators on blended learning hinges on two entities: technology acceptance and educators' self-efficacy.

Challenging Traditional Programs for Providing International Educational Opportunities in Higher Education

This approach to cross-cultural experiences for students in higher education offers greater accessibility to global experiences by engaging students and faculty in virtual international teams. Built on a partnership agreement between two universities, Appalachian State University in the United States and Novgorod State University in Russia, the ideas developed into a graduate certificate program of study currently composed of four online courses. Each course requires engagement of the students in virtual international teams to solve simulated problems. In this chapter, the authors explore the initial lessons learned in such collaboration from both student and faculty perspectives as well as providing specific course information and student outcomes. They also offer future plans for expanding the project to include other universities in other countries. This model of globalization in higher education challenges the traditional courses, study abroad programs, and student exchanges often found in higher education.

Making and Modalities

The World Economic Forum's 2018 report indicated that students will need to be prepared for a rapidly changing, technology-filled world in which their future jobs likely do not yet exist. Recent education reform initiatives have focused on preparing the workforce for 21st century jobs by improving STEM literacy and acknowledging the importance of teacher preparation. Unfortunately, many teachers, designers, and technologists have not been trained in the same ways as they are expected to prepare students, and training opportunities are often delivered in traditional, business-as-usual formats. To better prepare individuals to prepare students, reimagining traditional educational delivery and modalities, while integrating STEM, making, and play to encourage the development and practice of 21st century skills may prepare those adult learners build toward the future. This chapter will discuss administrative and curricular changes we made geared toward meeting our adult audiences' needs in a teacher education program following their learning preferences.

Improving Experiential Learning in the Online Environment

This chapter provides a summary of the design and implementation of experiential learning at McMaster University's Continuing Education Unit within the Human Resources Management Program between its initial launch in 2017 through 2020. The chapter highlights the evolution of the model, its challenges, and improvements over the three-year period through which three versions of the experiential learning project were adapted and improved. The chapter concludes with recommendations for institutions who may be considering the adoption of experiential learning for online adult audiences in post-secondary education. Among the recommendations identified are, to provide clear expectations of the work and roles required by students, industry partners, and instructors. To create a tight-knit design and an implementation team, to provide sufficient training to instructors who will facilitate the process of work-integrated learning, and to adopt an attitude of continuous improvement.

Student Collaborative Learning Strategies

The authors of this study utilized the logistic regression analysis using extreme student groups (top and bottom quartiles) defined by students' collaborative learning scores to develop a model for predicting group membership of low and high levels of collaborative learning college students. The focus of the study was to identify characteristics of the learning environment that differentiate between high and low collaborative learning groups. Results of the logistic regression showed a statistically significant model that can be used to reliably predict student's classification into low or high collaborative learning groups based on the selected institution and personal variables. The logistic regression model showed the lowest total percent correctly classified was at 98.1% while the highest total percent correctly classified was at 98.6%. Majority of the model variables made significant differences between the low and high collaborative learning groups. ANOVA results indicate significant group differences in all the predictor variables.