In order to be successful, online learning should be planned systematically. It can be said that offering distance education courses without preparation and knowledge about the theoretical background can cause drawbacks. While distance education has become widespread and popular, it is observed that there could be problems in its application. Such problems can include technical problems, inability to meet the learning needs at the learners’ own speeds, lack of communication among learners and between learners and teachers, and lack of quality materials appropriate for online learning or the inclusion of materials used in traditional methods directly into online learning. For successful online courses, these critical aspects of distance education are important, and they should be taken into account by the institutions and the instructors offering online courses. The Handbook of Research on Managing and Designing Online Courses in Synchronous and Asynchronous Environments provides up-to-date knowledge and experiences regarding technologies, processes, and environments for online course design in distance education systems and covers topics related to the aspects of successful distance education systems with a focus on teaching and learning in online environments. Focusing on topics such as instructional design and integrated systems, it is an ideal guide for online course designers, instructional designers, curricula developers, administrators, educators, researchers, trainers, and students.

"This book presents contributed chapters for professionals who want to improve their understanding of online learning and develop their skills in designing and managing online courses offering different aspects of a successful distance education system and can be a guide for the institutions and the instructors offering distance education courses"--

Exploring online learning through the lens of synchronous and asynchronous instructional methods can be beneficial to the online instructor and to the course designer. Understanding the underlying theoretical foundation is essential to justify both types of instructional pedagogies. Learning theory as it applies to online environments encompasses myriad techniques and practices. Edited by Dr. Cynthia Mary Sistek-Chandler, who was named the 2020 Higher Education Technology Leader Winner by EdTech Digest, Exploring Online Learning Through Synchronous and Asynchronous Instructional Methods is an essential scholarly book that provides relevant and detailed research on the applications of synchronous and asynchronous instructional pedagogies and discusses why they are critical to the design and implementation of contemporary online courses. Featuring an array of topics such as student engagement, adaptive learning, and online instruction, this book is ideal for online instructors, instructional designers, curriculum developers, course designers, academicians, administrators, e-learning professionals, researchers, and students.

The use of technology has a profound influence in educational settings and has experienced significant paradigm shifts with the advents of e-learning and m-learning. As an expected consequence of the evolution of e-learning and m-learning and improvements in the capability of online networked technologies, educators from the fields of distance education and open and distance learning benefit from ubiquitous learning technologies and environments. With the rising import of flexibility and personalization of online learning programs, this new learning format is needed to accommodate shifting student needs. Managing and Designing Online Courses in Ubiquitous Learning Environments is a critical scholarly resource that provides empirical and theoretical research focused on the effective construction and management of advanced online educational environments. Highlighting a variety of topics such as heutagogy, technology integration, and educational resources, this book is essential for educators, curriculum developers, higher education staff, practitioners, academicians, instructional designers, administrators, policymakers, and researchers.

Developments in online learning and its design are areas that continue to grow in order to enhance students’ learning environments and experiences. However, in the implementation of new technologies, the importance of properly and fairly overseeing these courses is often undervalued. Project Management Approaches for Online Learning Design boldly focuses on this unique area of virtual learning by adopting a theoretical point of view and discussing the planning, organizing, securing and managing of resources to bring about the successful completion of online learning goals and objectives. This reference source brings together project management based approaches with an exclusive focus on each online learning design project.

The book explores a cognitive load perspective on instructional guidance. Cognitive load theory is focused on instructional design implications and prescriptions that flow from human cognitive architecture, and it has become one of the leading theories of instructional design. According to this theoretical perspective, the purpose of instructional guidance is to reduce learner potential cognitive overload by providing appropriate information in the right time and in a suitable format. As the learner’s level of prior knowledge is considered as the main factor influencing this decision, the effect of learner prior knowledge on effectiveness of instructional methods (the expertise reversal effect in cognitive load theory) provides the basic framework for the book. The fully-guided direct instruction and minimally-guided inquiry (discovery or exploratory) learning are often discussed in instructional psychology literature as examples of approaches with opposed degrees of guidance provided to the learners. This book considers the whole range of the levels of guidance (including intermediate levels) and approaches the problem of balancing learner guidance from a cognitive load perspective. The significance of this approach is in applying our current knowledge of human cognitive architecture to develop an integrated instructional approach bringing together the best features and advantages of direct instruction and inquiry learning. Both direct instruction and inquiry learning approaches have been around for long time, and their proponents can produce evidence of their effectiveness. This evidence needs to be treated within the context of appropriate learning goals in specific instructional settings for specific types of learners. This book provides an unbiased theoretical framework for managing learner instructional guidance and working principles for selecting appropriate levels and methods of instructional guidance (e.g., sequences of exploratory problems and explicit instruction; forms and levels of embedded guidance; and adapting methodologies) optimal for learners at different levels of prior knowledge.

In recent years, the rampant development of worldwide communications and powerful modern technologies has reformulated the idea of distance learning and the transmission of higher education content. Combined with these new developments and the outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is an apparent need for a thorough discussion on all features of e-learning. Online Distance Learning Course Design and Multimedia in E-Learning disseminates research, experiences, and philosophies surrounding innovation within higher education online teaching and learning environments. It includes case studies of relevant and fruitful applications, practical challenges, and examinations of the most recent innovations. Covering topics such as online management education, student engagement, and gamification, this book is an essential resource for academicians, researchers, educators, pre-service educators, principals, administrators, consultants, instructional designers, technologists, computer scientists, and policymakers.