Higher learning has seen an increase in web-based distance education programs, which coincides with advancements made in educational technologies. As these programs are on the rise, it becomes increasingly more important to ensure that instructional designers are prepared to accommodate the needs of these academic institutions. Developing a culture of collaboration through the optimization of instructional design methods is part of the profession’s identity but has gotten overshadowed by the pressures of thinking of courses as products. Optimizing Instructional Design Methods in Higher Education is an essential reference source that discusses the importance of collaboration, training, and the use of new and existing models in supporting instructional designers to formalize and optimize curriculum development in higher education. It covers the importance of adapting, adjusting, and re-evaluating models based on learner needs in relation to both the process of learning and outcomes. Featuring research on topics such as human resource development, academic programs, and faculty development, this book is ideally designed for educators, academicians, researchers, and administrators seeking coverage to support design thinking and innovation that encourages student learning.

The mission of higher education in the 21st century must focus on optimizing learning for all students. In a shift from prioritizing effective teaching to active learning, it is understood that computer-enhanced environments provide a variety of ways to reach a wide range of learners who have differing backgrounds, ages, learning needs, and expectations. Integrating technology into teaching assumes greater importance to improve the learning experience. Optimizing Higher Education Learning Through Activities and Assessments is a collection of innovative research that explores the link between effective course design and student engagement and optimizes learning and assessments in technology-enhanced environments and among diverse student populations. Its focus is on providing an understanding of the essential link between practices for effective “activities” and strategies for effective “assessments,” as well as providing examples of course designs aligned with assessments, positioning college educators both as leaders and followers in the cycle of lifelong learning. While highlighting a broad range of topics including collaborative teaching, active learning, and flipped classroom methods, this book is ideally designed for educators, curriculum developers, instructional designers, administrators, researchers, academicians, and students.

Digital classrooms have become a common addition to curriculums in higher education; however, such learning systems are only successful if students are properly motivated to learn. Optimizing Student Engagement in Online Learning Environments is a critical scholarly resource that examines the importance of motivation in digital classrooms and outlines methods to reengage learners. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics such as motivational strategies, learning assessment, and student involvement, this book is geared toward academicians, researchers, and students seeking current research on the importance of maintaining ambition among learners in digital classrooms.

Under the Fourth Industrial Revolution, it is important that organizations recruit and retain managers with skills that allow them to focus on meeting strategic objectives. To achieve this, companies must focus on implementing strategic management that allows managers to manage and lead continuous change, creativity, innovation, learning, productivity, speed, and effectiveness of their activities that turn them into constant value generators. Managers must also possess personal competences such as initiative, resilience, assumption of risk, creativity, networking, empathy, negotiation, self-control, self-knowledge, and the ability to turn difficulties into opportunities. These capabilities are important in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution because they will allow organizations to cope with the highly changing environment that will enable them to consolidate their growth and profitability. Management Training Programs in Higher Education for the Fourth Industrial Revolution: Emerging Research and Opportunities delivers emerging research investigating empirical studies on the formation of management competences in higher education in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in regards to its development and linkage with the business sector in order to offer educational strategies at the national and international level. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics such as sustainable development, circular economics, and big data analysis, this book is ideally designed for academicians, educators, executives, managers, entrepreneurs, organizational development specialists, consultants, policymakers, researchers, administration professionals, and high-level students.

This book explores the role and function of instructional designers in higher education, highlighting the real-world discrepancy between their actual contributions to organizational growth and the official job descriptions provided by universities. Investigating how higher education professionals navigate the daily conflict arising from this misalignment, it highlights a number of approaches including improvising to accommodate additional tasks, or strictly adhering job descriptions. The volume is structured around main three themes: the interpretation of instructional design and the role of instructional designers, the concept of street-level bureaucracy and coping strategies, and the contribution of instructional designers to organizational development. The research is grounded in the sociological and management theory of street-level bureaucracy, allowing the author to dissect employee behavior into microelements and connect these to the macro-outcomes of organizational development. The study employs a qualitative approach, using quantitative content analysis and qualitative interviewing on a sample of 17 instructional designers from three different regions in the US. The findings challenge institutional and practice assumptions, offering a new perspective of understanding which asks whether instructional designers are predominantly acting as street-level bureaucrats, or whether behavior and performance is framed by institutional culture and personal characteristics. The author then discusses the implications of these findings for policy, practice, theory, and future research. It will be of interest to academicians, post-graduate students, and higher education leadership professionals from fields across education, management, instructional design, sociology, and research methods.

Doctoral programs are an important feature of academia. They foster professional development among future researchers and academicians. Ensuring the quality of these programs and providing quality mentorship encourages success among program participants and provides a high quality of preparedness for the professional world. Teaching and Learning Perspectives on Doctoral Programs in Education: Emerging Research and Opportunities is a critical scholarly publication that examines the effectiveness of doctoral programs and strategies for successful academic advisement. The book explores doctoral programs from three perspectives: designing a doctoral program, teaching/mentoring within a doctoral program, and being a student in a doctoral program. Featuring a wide range of topics such as higher education, professional development, and program design, this book is ideal for instructional designers, academicians, academic advisers, administrators, researchers, education professionals, and doctoral students attempting to successfully navigate a doctoral program.

Post-traditional students are rapidly becoming the majority of the higher education student population. This changing demographic within the higher education landscape increases the demand for flexible learning options accessible to non-traditional learners. Redefining Post-Traditional Learning: Emerging Research and Opportunities is a comprehensive research publication that explores shifting demographics within higher education and offers recommendations to current teaching methodologies. Highlighting a range of topics such as adult learners, pedagogy, and international students, this book provides a theoretical foundation, followed by an intentional dissection of current and best research practices through the lenses of andragogy, student demographics, and technology. It is ideal for teachers, instructional designers, curriculum developers, educational professionals, school administrators, policymakers, academicians, teaching professionals, researchers, and graduate students.