A Scenario That Works

Technology use in K-12 classrooms in this era of rapid high-tech change ranges from deep and meaningful technological immersion to an outright classroom ban on electronic devices. Attempting to mitigate this technological divide between students and teachers, school districts increasingly require professional development in applicable student technologies and teacher support resources. Unfortunately, the standards for continuing education requirements are broad, money is tight, and development efforts are often far less organized. As unfortunate, current issues and general information sharing dominate the professional learning communities (PLCs) or teacher learning communities (TLCs) originally designed to fulfill professional development requirements. These challenges render the occasional professional development initiative included in a PLC or TLC event, ineffective where the fragmented, uninteresting, and often poorly planned technology instruction very rarely seems to stick. Drawing on experience with military training and continuing education training, the authors propose a simple, inexpensive, and internally resourced means used by soldiers to train individual and collective military tasks, to assist elementary and secondary teachers to learn how emerging technology works, and more importantly, how to maximize its effective use in the classroom.

Positive Scholarship for K-20 Education in Africa

Challenges of the modern global world require a change in thinking and reform of educational curricular to incorporate means through which education can enhance scholarship and career advancement for adult learners in Africa. The main objective of this chapter is to develop K-20 educational strategies that promote scholarship and career development to meet the complex human resource demand of the business industry in Africa. The exploration focuses on the type of education that combines both work and scholarship through formal and informal means. The chapter critically examines the approaches that educational institutions should follow to enrich their curricular activities with work experience. The author discusses the means through which the opportunities from the industry could be employed to create conducive learning environment for learners pursuing K-20 education.

The Encore Chapter

As tens of thousands of Baby Boomers leave the workplace each month, the stark reality of retirement is often accompanied by an overwhelming sense of dread. Retiring from employment at the age of 65 is often not practical for those without ample financial resources. Many will retire outright while others seek employment in an encore career in roles that are fulfilling and typically require less of a time commitment. Identifying plans for the final chapter in life is essential for contentment and critical for staving off declining physical and mental health. When senior adults understand the nuances of adult learning and the myriad theories associated with lifespan development, they are equipped with fundamental tools to help them navigate the golden years. This chapter provides readers with essential tools to aid adults experiencing significant life changes especially those embarking on their encore chapter.

Adult Education With Technology for Transformative Learning

Adult learners often fear that employment will be difficult if they lack technological skills. Newspapers, magazines, and advertisements for positions often emphasize the importance of the use of technology in the workplace. Without adequate skills in the use of appropriate technologies, adult workers may face challenges in finding employment. Web technologies can provide powerful teaching and learning strategies, enhance learner engagement, provide a chance to acquire critical technological skills, and promote critical reflection. This chapter addresses technological applications in vocational and adult education advancement from different perspectives. Technology has the potential to support transformative learning. Technology, along with the vital role of adult educators, helps learners grow, change, and develop. Through the discussion of these, and related issues, a model titled, Learners' Seeking Transformation via Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 Technologies, emerged.

Women Leaders in Higher Education

An interesting inquiry is whether women leaders are desiring, dismissing, or being disqualified from senior leadership positions in the global K-20 educational academy. Why is there a leadership underrepresentation of those born female? It may be that women leaders have not been socialized in accordance with the male-centric leadership model; they are relatively outsiders who must forge new ways of leading. This chapter's author embarked on a small literature search of history to identify what is not new to us, but possibly forgotten – the experiences and lessons learned from women leaders who met challenges through their bold and effective leadership, as they forged paths for us. There is a feeling of belonging to the past, but not fully understanding it. There is a sense of having acquired a pressing but obscure responsibility, along with a peculiar female ancestry, for us to be the twenty-first century generation in a long line of uncommon women. The insights in this chapter are presented through a simple folktale, asking the question, Where is Walda?

The Impact of Storytelling in Leadership

Tell the organizational story! Take the data of the organization and turn it into real people doing real things and you just might influence education. This chapter demonstrates the relevance of the skills of storytelling and its impact on change. Leaders who tell stories compellingly communicate important messages in a memorable way, develop more effective relationships with those they lead, and create an inspirational culture as their organizations go through positive change. Storytelling does not need to be a foreign concept, as we can all search our own history and experiences of important lessons learned that can be communicated in the form of a narrative. The role of stories and storytelling contribute to a positive organizational approach – positive in the sense of positive psychology, positive organizational psychology, and appreciate inquiry.

Need We Train Online Instructors?

In an online setting, it is critical to understand the factors that influence learning outcomes and student satisfaction. Group work or collaborative learning is frequently prescribed as a vital part of online classes. Learning outcomes and student satisfaction in both research and anecdotal evidence show mixed results. A qualitative, multi-case study was undertaken to determine the role of instructor training on student learning outcomes and student satisfaction within the online class using group work. Data were collected via an online survey, personal interviews, and document examination. Analysis of those data revealed that those instructors using group work who had the most training and assistance in the design and facilitation of classes had the highest level of student satisfaction as well as the highest student perception of good learning outcomes. The data show that the amount of instructor training undertaken had a major impact on how students reacted to the classes.

Evaluating Latina Retention

Latinas are undereducated in rural community colleges. This chapter identifies the positive factors enhancing the college experience for Latinas in rural community colleges. To assess the college going experiences of Latinas attending a rural community college, and note if these experiences conform to or negate Chicana Feminist Theory, one rural community college in Oregon randomly selected 10 Latinas between the ages of 18 and 35 who took at least two terms of credit-bearing classes. Data was analyzed from interview recordings, and responses were transcribed based on a narrative analysis transcription protocol. The major findings were developed relying upon the theoretical framework of Chicana Feminist Theory. Significant themes emerging from this study related to positive factors that enhance retention including social integration and motivational factors to attend a rural community college. The retention of Latinas must embrace change and build on positive changes in the academy such as serving students' needs expressed in intentional opportunities for academic and social engagement and better access to financial and childcare resources.

Pro-Active Digital Citizenship

Technology advances, particularly in terms of information access and sharing, give rise to complex ethical issues that youth need to grapple with. Digital citizenship necessitates gleaning electronic information and participating actively and ethically in cyberspace to act wisely on that information for social and personal improvement. Today's youth tend to avoid traditional politics; instead, they get their information about the public sphere from social media and engage in lifestyle causes. This chapter explores the role of digital citizenship, civic engagement and the impact of technology on it, current issues in pro-active digital citizenship, conditions for teaching proactive digital citizenship, its curriculum and instruction, and the potential of citizen journalism as a mechanism for facilitating youth-centered proactive digital citizenship.

Online and International Field Experiences in STEM Education

This chapter describes the development and integration of engagement-rich, short-immersion field experiences using international and online settings in STEM education areas, specifically science and technology. Many STEM programs in higher education settings are now utilizing online and international formats to add value to their programs and to give students unique delivery options that are outside of the traditional college classrooms. Online and international settings create challenges and opportunities to the way that field experiences must be organized and managed. This chapter addresses how some programs are meeting these challenges and using online and international program development to their advantage as STEM fields continue to emerge.