All over the world, educational institutions confronted emergency policy changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to this, academic activities were provided mostly by remote teaching and learning solutions. The transition to emergency remote teaching and learning raised some challenges regarding technical, pedagogical, and organizational issues. It is important for higher education institutions to prepare themselves to deal with future emergency scenarios, promoting an in-depth reflection about the future challenges in the post-pandemic era. Developing Curriculum for Emergency Remote Learning Environments supports creating and promoting an education-as-a-business strategy for higher education institutions by sharing possible business models. It provides a collection of different approaches to online education in the perspective of the future of education environments. Covering topics such as distance learning experiences, online practice improvement, and remote testing, this premier reference source is an excellent resource for educators and administrators of higher education, pre-service educators, IT professionals, librarians, researchers, and academicians.

This book exemplifies the challenges and successes of online learning, teaching and leading in times of crises. It helps shed light on the issues facing online and face-to-face practitioners having to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic and continue education within the confines of a specific interface. The volume includes new research and information, which can be built upon in the coming months and years depending on how long the pandemic persists. Therefore, it adds a geometric dimension to the current research on online teaching, learning and leading with emphasis on what can be done during a pandemic. The book is beneficial because it is timely and significant based on current happenings in the world. Its findings contribute to expansive research on online learning, teaching and leading but with a focus on emergency education. The information contained in the book is significant to different regions in the world such as the Caribbean, UK, USA, Greece, Mauritius inter alia. The book is of interest to teachers, students, parents, leaders and anyone who wants to adopt online education.

It has quickly become apparent in the past year that online learning is not only an asset, but it is critical to the continued education of youth during times of crisis. However, districts and schools across the nation are in need of guidance and practical, research-backed approaches to distance and hybrid learning. The current COVID-19 crisis has demonstrated that effective learning in K-12 is possible, but many districts struggled and continue to struggle in achieving that reality. There is also the growing consensus that even if things “return to normal,” distance and blended learning strategies should continue to be employed in many ways across the K-12 environment. Designing Effective Distance and Blended Learning Environments in K-12 provides key insights into the ways that school districts and educators from across the world have effectively designed and implemented distance and blended learning approaches to enable and enhance student learning. The diverse collection of authors from various demographics and roles in school systems will benefit readers across a wide spectrum of school community stakeholders. There will also be an emphasis on how research and theory is put into practice, along with an honest discussion of what strategies and actions were successful as well as those that were less so. This book is essential for professionals and researchers working in the field of K-12 education, particularly superintendents, curriculum developers, professional learning designers, school principals, instructional technology specialists, and teachers, as well as administrators, researchers, academicians, and students interested in the effective practices being used in blended learning approaches.

Teaching is a demanding profession as there is constant fluctuation and evolution. A portion of teaching is the ability to be able to adapt to various environments, especially shifting from in-person instruction to online practices. Over the last few years, early childhood and elementary school classrooms have been thrust into hybrid and remote learning environments, and it is vital that educators and institutions adapt to new practices and create various outlets for teachers to be able to more adequately reach their young audience. The Handbook of Research on Adapting Remote Learning Practices for Early Childhood and Elementary School Classrooms is a critical resource to assist teachers as they develop online teaching practices and work to cater to young students so that they can receive the strongest benefits from their education. Through coverage of topics such as hybrid learning and parental involvement, paired with sample lesson plans, course formats, concepts, ideas, and additional components to further the body of research pertaining to remote learning, this book is tremendously beneficial to administrators, researchers, academicians, practitioners, instructors, and students.

Educators are finding that communication and interaction are at the core of a successful web-based classroom. This interactivity fosters community, which contributes to effective and meaningful learning. Positive online communities and the communication therein encourage students to interact with others’ views which not only grows one’s empathy, but is an integral part of constructivist learning theories. Because of this, the most important role of an educator in an online class is one that ensures student interactivity and engagement. Creating Teacher Immediacy in Online Learning Environments addresses the most effective models and strategies for nurturing teacher immediacy in web-based and virtual learning environments. A number of innovative methods for building an authentic, personalized online learning experience are outlined and discussed at length within this publication, providing solutions for pre-service as well as in-service educators. This book is a valuable compilation of research for course designers, faculty, students of education, administration, software designers, and higher education researchers.

As the educational sphere witnessed an unprecedented shift to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, a pivotal transformation was set in motion. The surge in online enrollment, spanning synchronous, asynchronous, hybrid, and mobile formats, has established the digital domain as a formidable medium of education. However, this transition comes with a responsibility to uphold the principles of equality and accessibility, a responsibility that mirrors the concerns long prevalent in traditional brick-and-mortar classrooms. Designing Equitable and Accessible Online Learning Environments is a pioneering endeavor which delves into the multifaceted dimensions of online education and reveals a crucial revelation that students from disadvantaged backgrounds exhibit a pronounced affinity for online courses. This book magnifies the essence of this observation, venturing beyond the surface to uncover the means to cultivate a genuinely inclusive online pedagogical experience. Meticulously curated, this book amalgamates diverse perspectives from luminaries in the field. The ultimate aspiration is to empower educators, administrators, researchers, and students with a profound understanding of the symbiotic relationship between inclusivity and technology. From theoretical underpinnings to practical strategies, every chapter resonates with the heartbeat of equitable education in the digital age. Embarking on a comprehensive journey, this book is an exploration of design theories that embrace the ethos of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. Topics span the spectrum, from deciphering the architecture of accessible digital tools to unraveling the tapestry of culturally responsive teaching in the virtual classroom.

There are many ways to motivate students to achieve their academic and personal goals. Due to the pandemic, more emphasis has been placed on finding alternative approaches to instruct students. Online learning has become the focal point of the educational setting, and new approaches to teaching are necessary. Since the change in delivery from face-to-face to online, teachers have been faced with motivating their students in an environment that is new and foreign to them. Teachers must find new methods to enhance their curriculum to motivate all students in this modality. The Handbook of Research on Creating Motivational Online Environments for Students considers how online students learn and how they progress through the learning process. The book also provides teaching techniques and technology that will improve motivational success for students in all modalities. Covering topics such as student behavior, online education, and motivational techniques, this premier reference source is ideal for administrators, researchers, academicians, scholars, practitioners, instructors, and students.

The surge in enrollment for online courses is continually increasing. However, beneath the convenience lies a challenge that demands a resolution. Educators, administrators, and instructional designers must ensure that the human element is not lost in the virtual corridors of learning. Students with diverse backgrounds and learning needs require more than a simple virtual classroom. Research reveals a concerning trend: high attrition rates in online courses, often attributed to a lack of engagement and insufficient human interaction. To reverse this trend, deliberate measures must be taken to humanize the online learning environment. This book provides several solutions, offering an array of tools and strategies to promote engagement and infuse the human touch into online spaces. To confront this multi-layered challenge, it becomes paramount to undertake deliberate measures aimed at humanizing the online learning environment. Humanizing Online Teaching and Learning in Higher Education steps forward as a guide, offering an extensive array of tools and strategies meticulously crafted to foster student engagement and infuse the essential human touch into the digital educational landscape.

Open, distance, and blended learning environments have increased globally in recent years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Stakeholders in the educational sector are facing new challenges on how to take advantage of the knowledge, skills, and experiences gained during the pandemic and, more importantly, how to move forward towards digitally transforming education. Emerging Trends and Historical Perspectives Surrounding Digital Transformation in Education: Achieving Open and Blended Learning Environments identifies cases, best practices, and experiences that highlight digital transformation via online, blended, and open learning environments at all levels and discusses how digital transformation can be achieved. The book also examines the influence of leadership, human resources, knowledge, skills, processes, and technologies in promoting digital transformation. Covering topics such as open learning, digital learning, online teaching, and learner support, this reference work is ideal for teachers, instructional designers, curriculum developers, IT consultants, educational software developers, policymakers, industry professionals, researchers, academicians, practitioners, and students.

The COVID-19 pandemic created a ripple effect that impacted education worldwide, felt from Pre-K through higher education. In response to the pandemic, teachers, parents, and students shifted to teaching and learning online to adjust to the affordances found in digital spaces. However, challenges quickly arose, and it was found that research was sorely needed on adapting learning to these digital spaces, including addressing issues with equitable access to technological tools, meeting the social emotional needs of all learners, and developing appropriate teaching strategies for young children in online spaces. Situating our understanding of emerging research in this area of remote teaching and learning in Pre-K through higher education is critical as we look to build upon evidence-based practices to better support 21st-century educators and learners. Cases on Practical Applications for Remote, Hybrid, and Hyflex Teaching presents emerging case studies on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and reports and responds to early evidence of these impacts and the predicted future impacts for students, families, teachers, policymakers, and higher education. Building on knowledge of how teaching and learning in digital spaces work, the literature presented in this book captures preliminary findings and emerging research examining how educators leverage teaching and learning across platforms and modalities and shares stories on how educators, families, and communities responded to the challenges of teaching and learning online to ensure all students were engaged and fully supported while learning remotely and as they transitioned back to the classroom. Covering topics such as pedagogies, remote teaching, and parental responses, it is ideal for teachers, academicians, preservice teachers, professors, researchers, community education providers, and students.