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Cybereducation
Is Revolutionizing Teaching And Learning In Schools All Around The
World, Says New Book
Source:
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.
LARCHMONT,
N.Y. -- Cybereducation -- the use of the worldwide web, the internet,
virtual reality, and multimedia to facilitate teaching and learning --
is revolutionizing academic institutions around the globe, including
leading universities, schools in developing nations, high school science
labs, and K-12 home schools. This trend is examined in an original and
provocative new book, Cybereducation: The Future of Long-Distance
Learning, published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. (www.liebertpub.com).
Edited by Larry R. Vandervert, Ph.D., of American Nonlinear Systems;
Larisa V. Shavinina, Ph.D., of the University of Toronto; and Richard A.
Cornell, Ed.D., of the University of Central Florida, the book explores
the explosive worldwide growth of cybereducation.
Practical applications of long-distance learning are changing just as
fast as technology today, says Vandervert. "Cybereducation offers a
broad, bold perspective on the nature of cyberspace and where
cybereducation is headed," he said. "It tracks and explains
exciting new advances in the field for educators, administrators, web
designers, systems developers, training specialists, neuroscientists,
media executives, and anyone interested in cybereducation's vast
potential for enhancing teaching, learning, and human
productivity."
These advances include a three-year program originated by the World
Bank, called World Links for Development (WorLD), which has established
computer labs for 13,000 teachers and 230,000 students in more than 600
secondary schools in 20 developing countries. WorLD provides internet
connectivity and technology training, linking schools in African, Latin
American, and Middle Eastern nations in order to improve education,
enhance cultural understanding, and develop skills needed to enter the
21st century job market.
The Educational Technology Expertise Center of the Open University of
the Netherlands has designed a cybereducation experiment called The
Virtual Learning Company to close the gap between learning and working.
This internet-based networked learning environment, modeled on the
functional structures of real companies, gives students responsibility
for running businesses that deliver knowledge-based products and
services to actual external customers.
The Smart Engineering Project of the Instructional Software
Development Center at the University of Missouri-Rolla has developed a
framework for web-based learning systems design and assessment that
begins with a clear delineation of the intended audience, usage context,
and learning goals. It incorporates seven basic components:
directionality, usability consistency, interactivity, multimodality,
adaptability, and accountability.
Changing technology is forcing higher educational institutions to
reconsider how they do business. The University of Central Florida in
Orlando, a predominantly commuter campus, researched demographic trends
as well as student and faculty reactions to online experiences in
developing and expanding a distributed learning initiative to solve
problems of limited classroom space. Six complete online degree programs
are now offered via fully online and web-enhanced courses.
New hybrid cyberschool models are using different approaches to
integrating computer technology in the classroom. Cybereducation
profiles working programs at two Washington state public schools:
Edmonds Cyber-school, a resource center for 456 home-schooled K-12
students; and Kamiak Cyberschool, a technology-driven satellite program
emphasizing interactive learning for 43 juniors and seniors at a small,
overcrowded high school.
The Maryland Virtual High School of Science & Mathematics, a
statewide project originally funded by a National Science Foundation
grant, has created an online science lab shared by 30 schools that
implements computer modeling activities in the classroom for teachers
and students.
About Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., is a privately held, fully integrated media
company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals and
books in new and promising areas of science and biomedical research,
including the journals Cyberpsychology and Behavior and Biotech Software
& Internet Report and the book Biophysical Neural Networks:
Foundations of Integrative Neuroscience. Its biotechnology trade
magazine, Genetic Engineering News (GEN), was the first in its field and
is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A
complete list of the firm's 60 journals, books, and newsletters is
available at www.liebertpub.com.
Contact Information
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.
Paula Masi
914/834-3100 ext. 615
pmasi@liebertpub.com
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