Jan Herrington

Although emerging technologies are becoming popularised for teaching, learning and research, the relationship between their use and transformative effects on higher education remain largely unexplored. This edited collection seeks to fill this gap by providing a nuanced view, locating higher education pedagogical practices at an intersection of emerging technologies, authentic learning and activity systems. Providing numerous case studies as examples, the book draws from a wide range of contexts to illustrate how such a convergence has the potential to track transformative teaching and learning practices in the higher education sector. Chapters provide the reader with a variety of transformative higher education pedagogical practices in southern contexts, theorised within the framework of Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) and tool mediation, while using authentic learning as a pedagogical model upon which this theoretical framework is based. The topics covered in the book have global relevance, with research paying particular attention to South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, where the authors are based. The book will be of interest to educators, researchers and practitioners in higher education, as well as those interested in emerging technologies in education more generally.

Part of the groundbreaking Connecting with e-Learning series, A Guide to Authentic e-Learning provides effective, working examples to engage learners with authentic tasks in online settings. As technology continues to open up possibilities for innovative and effective teaching and learning opportunities, students and teachers are no longer content to accept familiar classroom or lecture-based pedagogies that rely on information delivery and little else. Situated and constructivist theories advocate that learning is best achieved in circumstances resembling the real-life application of knowledge. While there are multiple learning design models that share similar foundations, authentic e-learning tasks go beyond process to become complex, sustained activities that draw on realistic situations to produce realistic outcomes.

The chapters of this e-book comprise the pedagogical and research endeavours of a team of academics in higher education who worked with mobile learning devices over two years on a project entitled New Technologies: New Pedagogies project: Using mobile technologies to develop new ways of teaching and learning. The project endeavoured to take an innovative approach not only in the creation of new, authentic pedagogies for mobile devices but also in the action learning approach adopted for the professional development of participants. The project involved 15 people including teachers, IT and PD personnel. It was a large and ambitious project that resulted not only in a range of innovative pedagogies, but in the creation of more knowledgeable and confident users of mobile technologies among teachers and students

Learning and teaching in higher education is experiencing rapid change, in part, as a result of the influences of emerging technologies. These proceedings are the refereed papers of the 2nd Annual Conference on Emerging Technologies conducted by the University of Wollongong’s Centre for Educational Development and Interactive Resources (CEDIR) and the Faculty of Education’s Research Centre for Interactive Learning Environments (RILE) between 18 - 20 June 2008. The conference provided a showcase for research into these technologies and an insight into the way they can be used to promote meaningful learning in the higher education sector.

Research for teachers demystifies the research process and helps teachers appreciate that their role requires this understanding for two reasons: first, they need to be reasearchers of their own classroom practice; second, they are consumers or reasearch and need to understand how it works in order to know what to trust. Written in accessible and engaging style, Research for educators is an excellent introduction for teachers to the world of research. Aims to do two things: to emphasise that teachers are consumers of research and therefore need to understand how research is conducted to make more informed decisions about the trustworthiness of research findings, and to emphasise that teachers are researchers in their classroom, operating as reflective practitioners.

As greater accountability in higher education grows, authentic learning has found a prominent place in the education agenda. Technology continues to open up possibilities for innovative and effective learning opportunities, and students and teachers are no longer happy to accept familiar classroom-based pedagogies that rely on content delivery and little else. Authentic learning environments have their foundations in situated approaches to learning which advocate that learning is best achieved in circumstances that resemble the real life application of knowledge. Authentic Learning Environments in Higher Education provides a coherent description of the principles that guide the development of an authentic learning environment, and gives concrete examples across a wide range of discipline areas. The book helps teachers to reflect on the important elements of an authentic approach, and to use the descriptions of a range of implementations to guide their own design and development of an authentic learning environment.