Studies show that affordances of social media have not yet been fully exploited in the promotion of authentic e-learning in higher education. The e-Learning of the Future project (2009-2011) has met these challenges through working life mentoring using social media. In this paper, we examine the planning and implementation of social media in nine…

The implementation of authentic learning elements at education institutions in five countries, eight online courses in total, is examined in this paper. The International Virtual Benchmarking Project (2009-2010) applied the elements of authentic learning developed by Herrington and Oliver (2000) as criteria to evaluate authenticity. Twelve…

The widespread proliferation of computer games for children as young as six months of age, merits a reexamination of their manner of use and a review of their facility to provide opportunities for developmental play. This article describes a research study conducted to explore the use of computer games by young children, specifically to…

Professional learning is an important process in enabling teachers to update their pedagogical knowledge and practices. The use of online technologies to support professional learning has a number of benefits in terms of flexibility and scalability. However, it is not clear how well the approach impacts on teachers' classroom practices. This…

A constant challenge facing university faculty and academics is determining how innovative and authentic elements, based on constructivist philosophy, can be manifested effectively in online learning settings. In this article, we describe an educational technology postgraduate course on evaluation that incorporated a scenario whereby assessable…

In business and commerce, the concept of marketing myopia has been a useful tool to predict, analyze and explain the rise and fall of businesses. In this article, we question whether the concept can also be used to predict the ultimate downfall of online learning in higher education, if universities continue to confuse their key mission-education-…

Examines students' use of higher-order thinking as they use an interactive multimedia program based on a situated learning framework. Analysis of types of talk used by students working with the program shows the majority of their thinking was higher-order. Findings suggest such a program can provide a learning environment capable of supporting and…