It is widely agreed throughout the world that education and access to education are human rights. In order to accommodate the educational needs of people globally, technology will be required that supports inclusion and promotes equity for both learning processes and governance in educational institutions. In order to achieve this, technological resources must be designed to be accessible and usable for all individuals by implementing user-centered design (UCD) and user experience design (UXD) processes. UXD and UCD Approaches for Accessible Education is an academic research publication that explores thoughts and experiences on accessible and equitable education from perspectives on human-computer interaction, user research, and design thinking. It seeks to improve the understanding on how technology should be designed to truly contribute to and support accessibility and equity in education. Featuring a wide range of topics such as online courses, inclusive education, and virtual reality, this publication is essential for academicians, curriculum designers, researchers, instructional designers, educational software developers, IT consultants, policymakers, administrators, and students.

La interacción entre las tecnologías de la información y comunicación (TIC) y la diversidad funcional por discapacidad, es decir, las formas en las que estas pueden contribuir al desarrollo de ambientes de aprendizaje que tengan en cuenta la diversidad de alumnado, que potencien otras formas de enseñar y aprender, de convivir y relacionarse, y la apuesta por la innovación educativa orientada a la equidad suponen un factor educativo de primer orden y una línea prioritaria de investigación. Tanto en escenarios totalmente virtuales como en modalidades de enseñanza presencial apoyada en las tecnologías, las TIC abren un abanico de posibilidades capaces de superar las deficiencias de los sistemas convencionales de enseñanza y de proporcionar "entornos de aprendizaje con mayor potencial pedagógico". El libro que presentamos se dirige al profesorado en general, tanto de niveles universitarios como no universitarios, y tiene el propósito de contribuir al análisis y discusión de los aspectos teóricos y prácticos de las TIC como apoyo al alumnado con diversidad funcional, en la formación del profesorado. De una u otra manera, los seis capítulos que componen este libro suponen avances en la literatura sobre tecnología y diversidad funcional.

Hoy en día, la utilización en el aula de las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación (TIC) supone un desafío para el docente de alumnado con discapacidad (diversidad funcional), ya que el aprendizaje con TIC constituye para las personas con necesidades educativas especiales una herramienta fundamental para que alcancen un aprendizaje integral. Además, estas tecnologías contribuyen al fomento de la interacción y la participación activa, a la vez que son una fuente de motivación para adquirir conocimientos. Así, el uso educativo y las actitudes que muestre el profesorado en relación con la incorporación de las TIC a su práctica educativa estarán fuertemente condicionados por su formación al respecto. En este contexto, el docente se convierte en la pieza clave a la hora de impartir una educación de calidad y caracterizada por la equidad. Esta obra recoge la importancia de que el profesorado esté adecuadamente formado en TIC y en diversidad funcional y ofrece un recorrido por las principales tecnologías de apoyo, las cuales son un medio para facilitar los aprendizajes escolares y al mismo tiempo para individualizar la enseñanza. Este libro pretende ser una obra de utilidad para todos aquellos maestros y profesores concienciados sobre el valor de caminar hacia una educación inclusiva en la sociedad de la información y comunicación.

This book documents and disseminates experiences from a wide range of universities, across the five continents, which showcase how the principles of sustainable development may be incorporated as part of university programmes, and present transformatory projects and programmes, showing how sustainability can be implemented across disciplines. Sustainability in a higher education context is a fast growing field. Thousands of universities across the world have signed declarations or have committed themselves to integrate the principles of sustainable development in their activities: teaching, research and extension, and many more will follow.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Concept Mapping, CMC 2016, held in Tallinn, Estonia, in September 2016. The 25 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 135 submissions. The papers address issues such as facilitation of learning; eliciting, capturing, archiving, and using “expert” knowledge; planning instruction; assessment of “deep” understandings; research planning; collaborative knowledge modeling; creation of “knowledge portfolios”; curriculum design; eLearning, and administrative and strategic planning and monitoring.

Gives a comprehensive overview of the field including historical and interdisciplinary perspectives. Looks at the relationship between the theory and application of Computer-Assisted Language Learning. Describes how the computer is conceptualized as both tutor and tool, and discusses the implications for computer programming, language teaching, and learning. So far the development of Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) has been fragmented. The points of departure for CALL projects have been enormously varied, and when the projects have been written up, they rarely refer to those that have gone before. Michael Levy addresses this shortcoming, setting CALL work into a context, both historical and interdisciplinary. He is the first person in the field to consider CALL as a body of work. He also aims to identify themes and patterns of development that relate contemporary CALL to earlier projects. The author goes on to explore how CALL practitioners have conceptualized the use of the computer in language teaching and learning. He achieves this through a detailed review of the literature, and through the results of an international CALL Survey, where key CALL practitioners from 18 countries respond to questions on aspects of CALL materials development. Drawn from this rich source of information on actual CALL practice, Michael Levy analyses and expands on a tutor-tool framework. He shows this to be of value for a better understanding of methodology, integration of CALL into the curriculum, the role of the teacher and learner, and evaluation.

The book Research on University Teaching and Faculty Development: International Perspectives contains twenty-five solid and powerful chapters treating research aspects that reflect current university issues in ten countries. The book has been written by 60 proficient educators and accredited researchers. They have explored university teaching and faculty development as a field of inquiry that uses qualitative and quantitative methodological approaches for studying almost forty university topics. These themes range from academic planning, accountability, and action research to change in teacher education. The question of a relationship between university teaching and teacher induction is first introduced in the book to train future teachers with techniques and social elements that require a scientific rather than an artistic approach to reflective practices. Eight chapters inquire why some university campuses produce more/better collaborative teaching and change predisposition in higher education. The sort of attempt to discover activeness during teaching practice and to define the nature of the induction year may well provide a path to some basic understanding and offers tremendous research potential into the teaching profession. The second section of the book regards faculty development as an enigma. Written throughout five chapters, it stresses expert-novice studies to make coherent sense out of experience within the faculty. The action research approach is a basic method to studying active teaching/assessment and, accordingly, to an understanding of the forces resulting in the internal consistency of the learning communitys styles and processes. A crucial point is the female perspective at the higher education level that has permeated the culture of justice. The third part of the book contains six chapters of a quality nature. Governments and funding initiatives are focusing on the provision of university leadership development as a vehicle for renewing curriculum and quality assurance. The major beneficiaries of a well-run university change system in higher education are the students and graduates of any age, social and personal condition. New research on student assessment is unique among academic responsibilities in providing a direct linkage between learning activities and quality assurance, strategic decision-making processes. In this respect, how universities interpret inclusive education for students with developmental disabilities, and establishing structural relationships with society are important strategic matters to improve the functioning of the universitys organisation. Technology as an agent of university change is the fourth part of the book. It covers six chapters dealing with the impact of digital technology on traditional academic practices. Students' navigating discourses seem appropriate to enhance university learning because they intersect knowledge, competencies, confidence, information, and communication. The present day routine of Web 2.0 instruments in university teaching includes the use of computer generation and storage, to create and disseminate artifacts of undergraduate and graduate students.