Rethinking Twitter

Despite being more widely known for its contributions to pop culture, and more recently political news and events, a growing body of literature exists about Twitter's use in education. This chapter presents a framework for using Twitter as an instructional review tool, leveraging its timely, unique, and efficient communication style while incorporating theories of memory and cognitive psychology that are more than two centuries old. The authors present applied practice study examples of how Twitter may be used as a means for distributed practice in learning concepts. While practitioners may be concerned about student adoption of Twitter, research presented in this chapter reports that Twitter is user-friendly and is most engaging for students when an instructor frequently participates.

E-Learning in the Hashemite University

The development of information and communication technology (ICT) and e-learning has enhanced the process of teaching and learning in Jordanian higher education institutions particularly in the Hashemite University (HU). HU is considered one of the leading universities in adopting e-learning. The attitude toward ICT and e-learning is measured to understand how ICT and e-learning would be accepted through applying the diffusion of innovation (DOI) theory. The results showed a significant relationship between students' perception of technology characteristics and their attitude towards using the technology in the educational system. In this chapter, factors influencing user acceptance and adoption of ICT in Jordan on student motivations for the acceptance of technologies necessary for the delivery of e-learning activities are being handled.

Technology-Based Education

The expansion of technological applications such as computers and mobile phones in the past three decades has impacted our lives from different perspectives. Educational contexts are no exceptions, and like other environments, they have also been influenced by new teaching sources and software. More recently, there has been a passionate debate about the usefulness of the smart-phones for educational purposes and their possible uses in educational instruction; therefore, in this chapter, a review of the current published literature focusing on the use of technology-based instruction by instructors or students was conducted. The results of the study demonstrated that technology-based instruction has significant effects on learners' achievements; however, there are some challenges such as social and technical barriers in blending technology and education in different educational contexts.

Managing the Knowledge for an E-Tourism Curriculum

The evolution from an information-based economy to a knowledge-based society requires higher education to produce intellectual outputs which match market and society needs by improving its educational process and outputs. Curriculum, as a core factor in refining this process, is therefore a key part of the transformation. management solutions such as knowledge management (KM) or supply-chain management (SCM) have been applied to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of higher education but were mostly applied at an administrative level. To improve the quality of education to meet industry and society needs requires a holistic management of the curriculum design and development process. This empirical research in Thailand proposes a knowledge supply chain (KSC) approach as a potential solution, which integrates theories and practices of KM and SCM to design an e-tourism curriculum to meet the industry and society needs in the context of the Greater Mekong sub-region (GMS).

A Phenomenological Interpretation of Teachers' Online Technology Experiences With Students in Blended Tertiary Environments

This research made a phenomenological interpretation of key stakeholders' educational online technology (EOT) experiences to establish their current EOT needs and challenges and provide a basis from which to provide effective support. It analyzed the experiences of 10 students and 10 teachers from New Zealand and Australia and interpreted their meanings through an abstraction and articulation of local and global themes. This chapter is an update of the fourth in a series of six publications to present the local themes. It documents the interpretations of teachers' experiences with students, in reference to their use of three types of EOTs: learning management systems, online video platforms, and online networking tools. These interpretations, which include descriptions of teachers' challenges using these tools, helped to inform a set of recommendations for effective EOT use, to assist tertiary education institutes (TEIs) to address technology-based challenges and meet their key stakeholders' needs.

Influence of Context in Teachers' Perception of Graphing Calculator Use in Mathematics Instruction

This study focuses on the influence of socio-contextual factors in the interrelations between teachers' perceptions of the role of graphing calculators, as mediating tools, to help facilitate mathematics instruction of students from two different SES backgrounds. The main source of data are in-depth semi-structured interviews with four teachers, two from each SES school. To better understand the role of SES socio-context, this study suggests a framework, consisting of teacher, student, subject matter, and graphing calculator use, for graphing calculator integration in the classroom. The components of the framework were taken to be continuously in interaction with one another implying that a change or perturbation in one of the components affected all the other components. As such, addressing equity issues in connection to the successful integration of graphing calculator in the classroom requires continually creating, maintaining, and re-establishing a dynamic equilibrium among all components of the framework.

Does the Degree of Abstraction of Interactive Visualizations Affect Students' Learning of Surveying?

Many benefits have been claimed for visualizations, a general assumption being that learning is facilitated. However, several researchers argue that little is known about the cognitive value of graphical representations, be they schematic, such as diagrams, or more realistic, such as virtual reality. In the first part of the chapter, the authors present theories that guide the research on learning with visualizations, report different visualization taxonomies, and discuss the differences between realistic and schematic visualizations. In the second part, the authors discuss surveying education and describe a study that investigated the effect of the type of visualization on students' learning of surveying practices. The study compared two virtual learning environments, one with realistic visualizations of terrains and instruments, and one with schematic graphical representations. Results of an experiment with 62 students show that there were not significant differences in learning between students who interacted with the realistic visualizations versus those who interacted with the schematic ones.

The Reality of Use of WhatsApp as a Tool for Distance Education in Teaching and Learning

This research aims to investigate the reality of WhatsApp use among faculty members at the Department of Information Studies (IS) at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) in the Sultanate of Oman as a tool for distance education (DE) and as a tool for teaching and learning. The study also focuses on the information retrieved on WhatsApp teaching groups and its use. Data was collected through the interview method. The results of the study showed that three faculty members out of nine are using WhatsApp in teaching and learning. They use it for class discussions and explanations of projects. The study showed that the three faculty members in the Department of IS who used WhatsApp in teaching and learning are using it in general to communicate with the students and also for educational purpose. In addition, the study showed a relationship between age, nationality, and specialization. The study also proved that students used WhatsApp as an open source of information.

Professional Development in the Twenty-First Century

High-stakes student testing, accountability for students' outcomes, new educational trends, and revised curricula and standards are only a few of the reasons that teachers must learn to teach complex material with skilled and intentional practices. As a result, professional development for educators is in critical demand. Nevertheless, research in the field of professional development indicates that most teachers do not experience effective teacher training. Therefore, the purpose of this chapter was to examine one professional development opportunity using the video-sharing tool, YouTube, as a training modality for in-servicing teachers. For this study, the researchers conducted interviews with eight educators in the United States to analyze their perceptions about the YouTube teacher training method. The results of the study indicated that the YouTube training tool is a quality training tool to assist teachers in the implementation of teaching strategies. Additionally, the results indicated that YouTube training videos could reinforce in-person training.

Seismic Risk Communication

The chapter presents some aspects of the seismic risk communication within a systemic disaster management system (SDMS) model. Information and communication technology (ICT) plays a key part in managing natural disasters. An example of seismic risk preparedness for the case of preparatory schools in Mexico City has been used to illustrate this feature of the model. Some conclusions are (1) the model has shown the potentiality to the understanding of the flow of information amongst they key subsystems of the model. It can also be used to any natural hazard management. Regarding the case study, (2) 52% of the participants are not sure whether the key decision makers are concern regarding the level of preparedness of the students for the case of earthquakes; (3) 44.1% of the students considered the best way to learn more on earthquakes was through “civil protection” courses; (d) finally, the actions that the decision makers could take are the implementation of seismic risk courses that should be run by civil protection and to promote the culture of preparedness on seismic risk.