This volume of essays from leading British, North American and Australasian contributors looks at the issues of the convergence of distance and conventional education. The term 'convergence' refers to the breaking down of barriers between open and distance learning and conventional institutions, and the creation of more and more institutions working across a range of modes. Such convergence has been driven by a number of factors, including the new technologies for teaching and learning, the impact of lifelong learning policies, the entry of larger than ever numbers of adult part-time students into tertiary education, and the demands of both employers and individuals for professional and work-related education throughout their working lives. The fourteen chapters engage critically with a range of aspects of convergence, including: * how well is open and distance learning carried out by conventional institutions for which it may continue for a lengthy period to be seen as of secondary importance? * to what extent will open and distance learning be more effectively carried out by conventional institutions able to offer a variety of modes to a wide range of learners? * how well will the variety of learners be served by systems that are converging? * what are the managerial issues at institutional level where converging systems are being developed?

This book focuses on the convergence of open and distance learning approaches with conventional education, driven to a considerable extent by a range of technologies which support learning and which are being adopted in all sectors.

"This comprehensive, six-volume collection addresses all aspects of online and distance learning, including information communication technologies applied to education, virtual classrooms, pedagogical systems, Web-based learning, library information systems, virtual universities, and more. It enables libraries to provide a foundational reference to meet the information needs of researchers, educators, practitioners, administrators, and other stakeholders in online and distance learning"--Provided by publisher.

Here, the authors' unique focus is on the key issues of networked learning. These include: policy issues, the costs of networked learning, staff development issues, and the student experience. With contributions from authors based in Europe and the US and Australia, it offers a global perspective which is designed to inform professional practice and its administration. It will be essential reading for practitioners and researchers in higher education and learning technology and will be of interest to policy-makers and managers in HE academic administration. It will also be relevant to learning technologists, support staff, as well as students and researchers in education and social science.

"The case studies in this volume enforce technology is a principle catalysts for transnational collaborative interventions in providing learning and professional development opportunities to the people of both developed and developing countries"--Provided by publisher.

The higher education landscape is embracing the call to be innovative, yet scholars have not clearly defined what it means to innovate. Innovation is not limited to the use and adoption of educational technologies, and it encompasses a broad array of elements that must be considered if we are to truly aspire toward innovative teaching in higher education. Enhancing Learning Design for Innovative Teaching in Higher Education is a critical scholarly publication that examines how instructional systems design, instructional design, educational technologies, curriculum design, and program design impact innovation and innovative teaching in higher education. The book offers definitions of innovative teaching and examines critical intersections to achieve innovation and innovative teaching in post-secondary environments. Highlighting a wide range of topics such as program mapping and learning design, this book is essential for academicians, administrators, professionals, curriculum developers, instructional designers, K-12 teachers, educational technologists, researchers, and students.

The main common themes of an earlier book in this series, Virtual Learning and Higher Education, were: the extent to which education should become ‘virtual’, the actual cost and value of such innovation and to what degree such education suits its stakeholders. In order to further engage with these important issues a conference was held in Mansfield College, Oxford in September 2003. An edited selection of the papers from that event along with relevant papers that developed as a result of the conference’s subsequent correspondences are the contents of this book. The chapters cover a spectrum of practical issues from ‘at the e-chalkface’ experimentations with virtual technologies via those who consider the consequences of establishing such systems through to those interested in developing long-term strategy or policy in the area. This stimulating and important book is aimed at researchers of topics such as technology-driven education, philosophy, innovation and cultural studies. It is also meant to appeal to anyone with an interest in the ‘virtual’ world of education.