Cases on Formal and Informal E-Learning Environments: Opportunities and Practices

Yang (curriculum and instruction, Central China Normal U. and State U. of New York at Oswego) and Wang (curriculum, instruction, and special education, U. of Southern Mississippi) collect 19 cases relating practices and research on different formal and informal e-learning environments, for educators, trainers, administrators, and researchers in disciplines from education to instructional technology to computer science. Researchers working in education, technology, and other fields in the US, Europe, Canada, Japan, and Uganda cover network and learning communities, professional and disciplinary implementations, and the pedagogical design and implications of e-learning environments. Specific topics include the use of social media to create personal learning networks and a sense of belonging in off-campus students, connecting first year students to informal and formal learning experiences, an online platform to promote mobility, computer-mediated communication between second language students, blended storytelling with technology in the professional development of police officers, the experiences of homeschooling families with online math instruction, an interactive trivia game for training football referees, digital technology and contextual learning in museums, the use of Web 2.0 tools in a course on the role of gender in models of health care leadership, the use of Twitter chat, and an online theatre learning environment.