Research on students’ media use outside of education is just slowly taking off. Influences of information and communication technologies (ICT) on human information processing are widely assumed and particularly effects of dis- and misinformation are a current threat to democracies. Today, higher education competes with a very diverse (online) media landscape and domain-specific content from sources of varying quality, ranging from high-quality videographed lectures by top-level university lecturers, popular-scientific video talks, collaborative wikis, anonymous forum comments or blog posts to YouTube remixes of discipline factoids and unverified twitter feeds. Self-organizing learners need more knowledge, skills, and awareness on how to critically evaluate quality and select trustworthy sources, how to process information, and what cognitive, affective, attitudinal, behavioral, and neurological effects it can have on them in the long term. The PLATO program takes on the ambitious goal of uniting strands of research from various disciplines to address these questions through fundamental analyses of human information processing when learning with the Internet. This innovative interdisciplinary approach includes elements of ICT innovations and risks, learning analytics and large-scale computational modelling aimed to provide us with a better understanding of how to effectively and autonomously acquire reliable knowledge in the Information Age, how to design ICTs, and shape social and human-machine interactions for successful learning. This volume will be of interest to researchers in the fields of educational sciences, educational measurement and applied branches of the involved disciplines, including linguistics, mathematics, media studies, sociology of knowledge, philosophy of mind, business, ethics, and educational technology.

This book offers a comprehensive overview of current, innovative approaches to assessing domain-specific and generic student learning and learning outcomes in higher education. The presented work from all projects of the KoKoHs program, the most significant research initiative in German higher education since 2011, describes established tools and empirical results.

Responding to the larger amount of students that are bearing an increasing proportion of the costs of their participation in higher education, this volume pays attention to the issue of what higher education does for its students. What do students gain from engaging in higher education, and how might this be accurately measured?

The events of the last years have shaken the world of higher education. The post-COVID-19 period has raised multiple questions in key areas, from digitalisation over quality assurance to internationalisation. This book brings together scholars, practitioners and policymakers in higher education, and discusses in a variety of topics the future of the higher education sector in a rapidly changing context: the complexities of digital education, the need or necessity for innovation or the impact of globalisation are some of the topics addressed in this book. Those topics are brought together around one central theme: how can the future of higher education be accelerated to address in a sustainable way the needs of a changing global context? Contributors are: Mario Alarcón, Bruno Broucker, James Calleja, Ida Iselin Eriksson, Magdalena Fellner, Hugo A. García, Corinna Geppert, Carmen Heidenwolf, Andrew S. Herridge, Torstein Nielsen Hole, Pablo Hormazábal Saavedra, Lisa J. James, Kerstin Janson, Cindy Konen, Gergely Kováts, René Krempkow, Alice Laufer, Clare Milsom, Darlington Mutakwa, Mark O'Hara, Attila Pausits, Pascale Stephanie Petri, Julia Rathke, Florian Reisky, Katharina Riesinger, Christian Schemer, Marit Ubbe and Denyse Webbstock.

This book is designed to help instructors effectively incorporate images and other aspects of material culture into their pedagogy in an engaging and relatable manner. The author draws on her personal experiences as an art historian of ancient art who instructs a wide variety of undergraduates. In addition to helping students to look and think critically, the book explores how the material culture of the past can be a potent tool in motivating student involvement with course content and sharpening skills vital for navigating contemporary culture.