Networked Learning: Perspectives and Issues

The area of networked learning (learning in which information and communications technology (ICT) is used to promote connections between people and resources) is wide and growing in importance, especially in further and higher education. It offers the opportunity to offer more flexible access to learning programmes over time and space, but not enough is yet known about exactly what it can offer and how best to ensure that institutions maintain and improve the quality of the learning experience. This book focuses on the key issues which anyone involved with the use, administration, or study of networked learning will need to know about. 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 and support staff, who may not have direct involvement with teaching but still need to understand the opportunities and issues presented by networked learning, and also to students and researchers in education and social science. "The list of authors reads like a "Who's Who" of Networked Learning" (Professor Diana Laurillard, OU, UK).

1 Perspectives and Issues in Networked Learning.- Section 1 The Context for Networked Learning.- 2 Networked Learning in Higher Education: The Mule in the Barn.- 3 The Costs of Networked Learning.- 4 Psychological Foundations for Networked Learning.- 5 Studying Networked Learning: Some Implications from Socially Situated Learning Theory and Actor Network Theory.- 6 The Changing Nature of Instructional Design for Networked Learning.- 7 Views on Staff Development for Networked Learning.- 8 Managing Institutional Change for Networked Learning: A Multi-Stakeholder Approach.- 9 Information Specialists and Networked Learner Support.- 10 Evaluating Networked Learning: Developing a Multi-Disciplinary, Multi-Method Approach.- Section 2 Studies of Networked Learning.- 11 Approaches to Researching Teaching and Learning Online.- 12 Learning from Watching Others Learn.- 13 Issues for Democracy and Social Identity in Computer Mediated Communication and Networked Learning.- 14 Small Group Teaching Across the Disciplines: Setting the Context for Networked Learning.- 15 Designs for Networked Learning in Higher Education: A Phenomenographic Investigation of Practitioners’ Accounts of Design.- 16 Online Collaborative Assessment: Power Relations and ‘Critical Learning’.- 17 The Campus Experience of Networked Learning.- 18 Learning Networks and the Issue of Communication Skills.- 19 Beyond E-Learning:A Future for Networked Learning.