Education for a Digital World: Advice, Guidelines and Effective Practice from Around Globe

Reviewed by Dustin Bailey, Head of Educator Preparation, Hanover College on 4/23/21

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

Hirtz addresses what has become common practice within a global pandemic. The text centralizes the purposeful establishment of a clear philosophy within construction first, unlike many who address tools and suggestions after, which leave educators grappling to figure out why they do what they do.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

This text provides an accurate assessment of the needs of e-learning from a global perspective.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

This text is extremely relevant in our current world. As with many technologies, it is ever-evolving, but this text framework is most current.

Clarity rating: 5

The text includes an easy to read format, organized around a framework for addressing technology proactively.

Consistency rating: 5

This text is circular in that it begins with perspective, then moves into creation, and culminates with reflection---a system that is essential for educators.

Modularity rating: 4

This text brings topics together, but does allow for a division around various independent elements, such as universal design. This is most helpful when assigning topics to a course.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The text appears to present topics in a logical flow, a circular fashion that mirrors how most courses operate.

Interface rating: 5

The text's interface appears clear and includes no issues.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

No grammatical errors!

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

Very culturally relevant. I appreciated the global perspective!

Comments

This is a strong text relevant to today's changing world. Aside from a pandemic, I would use this text to interconnect diverse perspectives along with important creation elements such as universal design and thinking purposefully about one's moral compass while creating lessons.

Reviewed by Jill Channing, Assistant Professor, East Tennessee State University on 10/7/18

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The text covers a variety of topics from diverse perspectives such as challenges involving online education, quality assurance issues, and effective design and communication strategies.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The content is accurate and provides a great overview of issues in online education.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

The text is somewhat dated at this point since its initial publication in 2008. Something to consider are the improvements made in learning management systems, especially in the last decade.

Clarity rating: 5

The text is written through selections from various authors; despite this, each piece is clearly organized and is written in accessible prose that could be useful to experienced and beginning online educators.

Consistency rating: 4

For the most part, there is consistency. The books is written by various authors whose experiences and terminology may differ somewhat due to their perspectives from diverse places in the world.

Modularity rating: 5

The organization of this book is one of its strengths. The text covers instructional technology, online course design, technology implementation, and specific online communication and engagement strategies.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The topics are presented in a clear way. The different sections make much sense for the topic. All the major points are covered such as design, communication, quality assurance, and technologies.

Interface rating: 5

There are no interface issues. It is easily navigable.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

The text is free from grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The text actually presents diverse perspectives in order to address cultural issues in e-learning. This is what is unique and interesting about this text!

Comments

This is an excellent overview of distance education issues from a global perspective. The text covers all important e-learning topics such as technologies, communication and design strategies, global perspectives in e-learning, and e-learning engagement.

Reviewed by Dana Brackney, Assistant Professor, Appalachian State University on 2/1/18

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

This textbook is very comprehensive. It provides global context for digital education

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The content was accurate and did not show bias.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

The content was appropriate but was not up to date. The digital world is constantly changing. Many of the references are prior to 2005. Approximately 75% of the links I chose to explore had expired.

Clarity rating: 5

The text was well written. A strength of the book was its inclusion of a glossary with each chapter.

Consistency rating: 5

The text is internally consistent with some overlapping content in chapters.

Modularity rating: 5

I was able to select about 17 of the 31 chapters that I believe will easily meet the needs of my course.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The topics are logical and topically collected.

Interface rating: 2

I did not find the display helpful. The use of a two column layout made it challenging to read in a digital format. This seemed especially odd for a text on digital education. In addition many of the links no longer work.

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

There are a few misspellings' They for there. waises? for waste. The text was generally in an active voice and well written

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The text included cultural case examples in two chapters, discussed diversity, universal design and learner differences.

Comments

I am looking forward to using this text in my course. I will advise my students to use key terms from the text to search for their own external resources as many of the links were no longer active. The text provides a good historical, theoretical and practical knowledge base for the use of technology in education. The sections on the use of simulation could be further developed as this application of technology in education has developed significantly since the writing of this book. Thank you for the use of this excellent resource.

Reviewed by Lilian Baeza-Mendoza, Associate Director, Spanish Language Program, American University on 2/1/18

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

Education for a Digital World is a thought-provoking book that gives the reader a comprehensive view of the impact of technology in education. The book is divided into five different sections, covering topics such as the impact of instructional technologies to engagement and communication using new technologies, such as blogs and wikis. The target audience for the book is faculty, staff, and school administrators that experience the impact of technology in education firsthand, both in and out of the classroom. However, this book can be equally effective for students, as it gives an overview of the use of technology in the classroom, as well as a display of different perspectives for this impact around the world. The structure of the book reinforces its larger argument, which is an analysis of how education is changing because of digitalization. Although some of its five parts could be re-arranged to provide a pattern of organization that goes from general ideas about technology to more specific tips and ideas to implement in the classroom, the book in its entirety gives a comprehensive view of how technology is changing education.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The book covers a wide range of perspectives, and it documents empirical results. The book complements some ideas by some clear and complete charts, so the reader can see the differences in teaching approaches. For example, Chapter 31 (“Looking forward: Stories of Practice”), offers a useful chart to illustrate the differences between online instruction, facilitated instruction, blended instruction, and studio-based instruction.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

This book effectively describes how technology has emerged as a powerful tool in education. Although some information about social media is slightly outdated, this book provides a good overview of tools for online teaching. For example, in “Tools for Online Engagement and Communication,” the author analyses the use of blogs as a teaching tool, and it provides clear and useful instructions of how to incorporate this tool into your own teaching methodology.

Clarity rating: 5

This book is easy to read, and it exposes the reader to a rich set of technology terms, so it is a good reference.

Consistency rating: 5

Although this book is divided into several chapters and topics, it remains focused on giving the reader an overview of education in a digital world. Having learning outcomes at the beginning of each chapter is effective, and it allows the reader to feel like an active participant in the discussion, and not just a spectator.

Modularity rating: 4

It is always a challenge to attempt to have a modular approach when writing a book, but this book’s design shows that there is an effort to separate some components so that the reader can easily select the information they would like to explore further. Having a list of websites listed at the end of several of the chapters is a good idea. Perhaps having a master list of links at the end of the textbook may be helpful as well.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

This book is well-structured and organized, and the use of simple vocabulary allows the reader to understand and quickly grasp the main ideas.

Interface rating: 5

I did not encounter any issues related to interface.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I did not see any grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The topic of online education is a quick-growing and evolving field, and this book is effective in showing how technology has affected the way we learn and educate. It provides a good summary of guidelines and effective practices.

Comments

Overall, this book is clear, organized, and engaging. I am glad I picked it, and I will use it as a reference as I continue developing online, hybrid language courses for my students.

Reviewed by Victoria Raish, Assistant Librarian, Penn State University on 2/1/18

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less

This is an edited book so there is no index or glossary but there are references at the end of each chapter. One really nice piece of the book is that the abstracts for each chapter are listed at the beginning of the book. The chapters cover a broad range of online learning and they are connected to the chapters so when you click the title it takes you to the chapter. In terms of the content covered, there is good coverage but definitely missing the global perspective being clearly defined and it is a hodgepodge of chapters - there is not a consistent message thread throughout them.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The material seems to be fairly accurate but it is outdated and when the topic is global eLearning, change is occurring rapidly. Also, I don't agree with evaluating a book for being unbiased - EVERYTHING has bias.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 3

The text is organized effectively and I think could be updated easily. One change I would make is that there are SEVERAL references linked. It is more than likely that these references will break so they should all be updated with a perma CC link in addition to the link listed.

Clarity rating: 4

The first chapter of the book has several very helpful definitions and this alleviates jargon experienced later. The book has great headers, is formatted well and has limited pictures. There are also learning outcomes for each chapter. It would be quite helpful if the end of every chapter rehashed these learning outcomes.

Consistency rating: 5

Yes! There is extreme consistency in terminology across the framework and each section has its own introduction.

Modularity rating: 3

Yes, the book has good modularity in terms of headings and clear identification of what is located within but the organization is different than other books around this topic. For example, the book does not group things into geographic regions which the title infers. It seems to follow the sequence of course development but then part 5 overlaps with part 3 and part 1.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

There is good flow within individual chapters but not within the book as a whole. For example, there is a chapter on building communities of practice which seems to fit in engagement and communication but is placed in implementing technology.

Interface rating: 5

Yes, the book looks great in that regard. The images are useful but obviously PDFs have accessibility issues so those people who need that would need to use a different version.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

There were no obvious grammatical errors and the readability was good but I am not a grammatical expert so there could be some mistakes.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

I think this book does a great job in terms of diversity because there are examples from multiple countries with e-learning but I would prefer a more indigenous take on impacts of eLearning on local cultures.

Comments

There is really good content in the book although it is definitely outdated by this point. It needs to be updated and some of the suggestions I made above would really help. For example, in the media selection chapter the most recent citation is 2004 which is obviously not where media selections are at currently.
Access to the internet, etc. also changed significantly since that point.

Reviewed by George Robinson, Learning Technologist, University of Sussex on 2/1/18

Comprehensiveness rating: 1 see less

The text overall covers a lot of ground regarding digital education covering everything from LMS systems to gamification. There is a focus on the pedagogical application of a large variety of technologies and the text looks at how and why these technologies should be used backed up with strong educational theory and a large number of case studies and references.

The text strikes a good balance between the practical and theoretical applications of digital technologies, for example some chapters offer very practical advice for the creation of e-learning content including instructional design considerations and accessibility concerns or choose to cover the issues of copyright, but then there's also chapters looking at more theoretical and abstract issues such as how to form identity for learnings within an online education system.

Clear learning outcomes are provided at the start of each chapter and the chapters text closely follow these learning outcomes enabling readers to begin each chapter knowing what they should have got out of it by the end. Each also chapter contains a glossary of terms used within its respective chapter. These glossaries are comprehensive and cover a vast range of concepts and technical terms.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

Content appears to be very accurate, all claims are backed up with evidence and examples which are clearly referenced. While a wide variety of topics are covered they all manage to have relevant knowledge

One slight falling is that learning styles are referred to multiple times throughout the text, learning styles are considered contentious and often misinterpreted as they seem to have been within this text.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

The content does cite certain examples of tools and services for certain areas such as blogs. Given the pace of technological innovation and change its highly possible many of these tools and services will become quickly outdated which would be a worry for any educator reading the text at a later date.

No cited studies or references are from after 2008 and again given the huge jump in technological innovation in the last nine years and the knock on effect this has had on the world of education there are perhaps some gaps to current digital education trends such as virtual reality and artificial intelligence. Chapter 22 does devote some space to topics such as virtual reality but mentions that it's a risky technology to engage with due to the limited software and expertise. This has obviously changed over the last five years or will likely change more in the future as these emerging technologies become more relevant so there is the risk of the text becoming vastly outdated as time goes on.

However a large amount of the content focuses on general digital educational tactics, problems, theories and solutions which can be applied to general applications of technology rather than being limited to specific tools or applications and in this case enables it to stay relevant.

Clarity rating: 4

Prose is very readable and accessible, any technical terms appear to be clearly explained and defined as and when they appear. There is a glossary of terms at the end of each chapter which is very useful for clarification purposes. The content is consistently engaging, being neither too dry nor too informal in tone.

There are frequent diagrams and illustrations in the majority of chapters that help to illustrate certain key concepts in a strong visual manner. However there are a few chapters that seem devoid of any visual imagery, multimodality is important and I feel these chapters would benefit from the inclusion of more images.

Consistency rating: 5

All chapters are laid out and formatted in the same consistent manner with an introduction, learning objectives, glossary and summary. This makes for very easy reading and once you become familiar with the format it means you know where to find relevant information such as being able to know immediately that there'll be a glossary at the end you can skip to if there's a term or concept you're unfamiliar with.

Modularity rating: 5

Each section within the text works well on its own due to each chapter being written by a separate author and whilst chapters within a section all build upon each other in relation to that sections theme they could easily be used on their own without losing much comprehension. This is due to factors such as each chapter having its own self contained introduction, learning outcomes and glossary.

I have personally provided certain isolated chapters of the text to colleagues such as chapter fifteen which revolves around copyright and they’ve found it helpful as a stand alone resources despite that chapter being divorced from the main text.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The book is divided into five parts each covering a relevant area of digital education and each part contains a number of chapters, these were well grouped and organised around central themes such as ‘Engagement and Communication’ . There is a section near the start of the text which provides separate abstracts for each chapter.

Each chapter is organized in a similar manner that introduces the topic and explains some of its context and concepts before looking at how best to engage with the topic backed up with case studies and examples.

All combined I found the structure made the text very easy to follow and read and enabled it to flow well as a singular text despite each chapter being written by a separate author.

Interface rating: 5

The interface is consistently clear with no distortion of charts or images I could see. Navigation from the contents page is easy with content header sections being clickable to take you through to the relevant section. References are hyperlinked allowing easy access to the referenced sources.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

After a number of hours reading the text several times I did not encounter any grammatical errors. Punctuation, spelling, tenses etc. all seem excellent.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The book did not contain any culturally insensitive or offensive images or descriptions. Examples used are all very culturally neutral and attempt to teach the reader how to apply technologies on a global scale. There are chapters devoted to considering the possibilities of digital education in developing countries and the challenges that may arise such as lack of infrastructure and how this can be addressed through solutions such as engaging with more mobile technologies. The book as a whole is written in a way that encourages the reader to think about diversity and accessibility, for example chapter 4 in part one is entirely about addressing diversity in the design of online courses. At many points throughout the text tolerance and respect for all learners is addressed.

Comments

Overall I was very impressed by the sheer scope of this text in trying to cover nearly every aspect of digital education. I would definitely recommend this to anyone with an interest in the pedagogical applications of technology.

Reviewed by Diane Wilcox, Professor, James Madison University on 6/20/17

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

Education for a Digital World is comprehensive in its coverage of educational technology. The edited book format provides the breadth and depth of coverage one would expect in a book on this topic. The book would be useful for either undergraduate or graduate courses that address how to use technology effectively in education. It differs from other educational technology textbooks in that it does not focus on how to use specific technology tools to create educational materials, but instead deals with larger philosophical issues of technology use in education and the theory, design principles, and processes one would consider when implementing educational technology. The book is divided into 5 major sections that cover: the impact of technology on education, how to design and develop online instruction, issues and standards related to implementing technology, e-learning, and ways to engage and communicate with online learners. The features that made the book particularly useful were the learning outcomes at the beginning of each chapter, the glossaries, the lists of references, the links to websites, tips, appendices, and case studies. Because the book was published in 2008, it does not cover some of more current educational technology topics, such as microlearning and virtual reality. It would be nice to see the book updated to include these topics.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

The book’s content appears accurate, error-free and unbiased. There is still little empirical evidence for the existence of learning styles, so it would be important to note this in the chapters that mention this topic. The chapter on instructional design could be improved by including information on the history of ISD and information on more recent instructional design models. The chapter on assessment and evaluation could be improved by addressing how to align assessment methods with instructional methods, rather than how to use specific software to create a quiz.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

Given the publication date of 2008, Educational for a Digital World is remarkably current. There are a few chapters where the focus on specific technologies (such as the chapter on Assessment and Evaluation and the one on Social Media) makes them less useful, as they are somewhat dated. Overall, the book addresses issues related to conceptualizing, planning, and implementing educational technology, rather than how to use specific instructional software to create educational materials. Consequently, the book has maintained currency despite the 2008 publication date. This book would be very useful as an instructional text when paired with software-specific instruction (how to use current software applications to create technology-based instruction).

Clarity rating: 5

Educational for a Digital World is clearly written, easy to read, contains accessible prose, and provides glossaries of terms to address technical terms that may be unfamiliar to the reader. Many of the chapters effectively use graphic images to explain the text, while others do not use visual images at all. It would be nice to see more consistency in the use of visuals throughout the book as research indicates that visual images, when used effectively, may impact learning and retention.

Consistency rating: 5

The book is consistent in framework and terminology, even though it is an edited book with chapters written by different authors. The book is easy to read and use as each chapter contains the same sections and formatting.

Modularity rating: 5

Educational for a Digital World is a collection of self-contained chapters that cover independent topics. As the chapter topics are unrelated to each other, the book design is naturally more modular. This means that readers do not need to follow a linear process when navigating the text, and that they can read the chapters in any order. Within each chapter, the content is organized into predictable segments (learning outcomes, introduction, chapter content, references, student questions, appendices, and glossaries) that have been subdivided with headings and subheadings. The organization of the chapters into articulated smaller segments makes the chapter content easy to scan, navigate, and read.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

Education for a Digital World was well structured and easy to use. The book opened with a table of contents where the chapters were arranged into 5 logically organized sections. Immediately following the table of contents, abstracts were provided for each chapter. Following the abstracts, the chapters were arranged into 5 logically organized sections that made the book easy to read.

Interface rating: 4

Overall, the book’s interface was easy to use. The only feature that presented any difficulty was the 2-column format of the book. In trying to read the PDF on a MacBook Air, it was necessary to scroll both up and down to read a single page. This was inconvenient, as impeded the flow of reading. It would have been easier to read and navigate the PDF on a small computer screen if the pages were a single column, rather than a 2-column format.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

There did not appear to be grammatical errors in the book.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

Educational for a Digital World is culturally relevant and would be useful in planning educational technology interventions for a range of learners from a variety of backgrounds. There were no culturally insensitive references (or images) apparent in the book. The content of the book would be useful to an audience interested in planning and using educational technology interventions on a global scale (as in a multinational company), or to an audience interested in designing educational technology interventions for a variety of learners in a multicultural setting.

Comments

Educational for a Digital World would make a good companion text in a course where students must understand larger technology implementation issues while also learning how to use current software applications to create technology-based instruction. The sections on Preparing Online Courses, Implementing Technology, and E-Learning in Action would be especially useful in a technology course where students are required to design and develop technology-based educational interventions.

Reviewed by Seth Leibowitz, Instructor, Virginia Commonwealth University on 4/11/17

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

Education for a Digital World while not covering every issue associated with on-line education explores a wide range of issues and practical considerations for educators. The textbook presents a balance of practical issues to consider (i.e,course management software and various applications), legal issues (i.e, copyright) and big picture / theoretical issues. (i.e., teaching to different learning styles and ethical considerations in providing consistent, educational opportunities across cultures and geographic regions).

Content Accuracy rating: 5

Material is accurate with relevant sources cited.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 3

Education for a Digital World was published in 2008. Due to incredible growth of learning technologies since 2008, some educators might consider using a textbook published more recently. Surprisingly, most of the chapters provided helpful insight to delivering effective on-line education. In almost all of the chapters, authors discuss ways educators can use hardware and software still available and widely in use. Most relevant were the chapters covering practical issues like planning and assessment as these techniques are essential for any learning environment. Chapter 27, covering social media for adult online learners and educators was less relevant as the popularity and current practical uses of sites such as twitter and facebook present challenges and opportunities for educators that did not emerge at the time this chapter was written. To keep the textl relevant, it is recommended authors update and add chapters to cover technologies such as the flipped classroom and virtual reality.

Clarity rating: 5

Concepts are expressed clearly through the textbook.

Consistency rating: 4

Each chapter is written by a different author. As a result, writing styles, prospective, content, and structure vary from chapter to chapter. Given the diversity of issues covered, length, and detail provided in each chapter most readers will gravitate towards specific chapters relevant for individual learning or teaching goals. The textbook opens with helpful summaries of each chapter. Each chapter begins by presenting learning outcomes and a chapter summary and concludes with glossary of terms and references.

Modularity rating: 4

Education for Digital World is a comprehensive resource for a department providing resources to future educators or educators, new to on-line instruction and digital course management. Each chapter is written for a particular audience and presents opportunities for focused discussion, research, and class projects. Instructors teaching semester based courses to future educators will likely focus on key chapters as opposed to the entire textbook. For example, educators wanting to explore how to use various software applications in their classrooms are likely focus on chapter 22 and 23, computer based resources for learning and on-line games. Administrators wanting to explore how to implement on-line learning in a school or school system are likely to focus on chapters 17 and 18, E-Learning Standards and Leadership and E-learning Change Processes for Implementing Educational Technologies

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The textbook is organized into five major parts, with each part containing four to five relevant chapters focusing on the broader themes. The five major parts, Impact of instructional technologies, preparing on-line courses, implementing technologies, e-learning in action, and engagement and communication take the reader through the process of creating on-line instruction and leaves the reader with many relevant examples and issues to consider

Interface rating: 4

Learners navigate through the textbook using acrobat reader. The bookmarks feature in acrobat reader is essential to navigating through the text and the content of each chapter. Each chapter opens with an animated graphic to inform the reader of the chapter’s main focus. The glossary of terms is helpful to review prior to reading each chapter.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

Textbook is free from incorrect spelling, punctuation, run on sentences, ect.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

On-line learning technologies have changed and broadened the fundamental barrier and norms of communication across cultures and societies, in particular between instructors and students and within student groups. Each chapter’s authors does an outstanding job of forecasting these changes and guiding educators to change their fundamental roles from leaders of the educational process to facilitators. Chapter 19, Building Communities of Effective Practice, is focused on the impact of technology on team based learning and points out how effective practices positively motivates and holds accountable all learners to have a stake in the process. Other chapters present helpful advice on making on-line learning accessible to learners with disabilities and learners possessing a wide range of learning styles.

Reviewed by Carrie Lewis Miller, Instructional Designer and Adjunct Faculty, Minnesota State University, Mankato on 2/8/17

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

This book is very comprehensive, touching on all of the major aspects of eLearning through the lens of instructional design. The chapters are laid out and grouped in a logical manner that provide a good sense of digital tools and teaching. This book also provides a unique perspective on this topic by brining in global perspectives.

Content Accuracy rating: 3

This text appears to be accurate and error-free. The basics of instructional design and eLearning design are well-represented. I do think some of the chapters focus too much on specific outdated technologies (NetSupport and WebQuery in Chapter 14, Multiply in Chapter 27). Many of the screen shots show images of Office 2003 products - I think when advising about technology it would be good to have more recent examples. The assessment and evaluation chapter, in my opinion, focuses too narrowly on specific strategies and not enough on what assessment and evaluation are, considering they are very distinct practices in instructional design. There are out of date references to instructional design standards (ASTD is now ATD).

Relevance/Longevity rating: 3

When referring to any technology, it is very easy to get out of date quickly. But this text identifies recent trends and issues that are currently relevant in the field like game-based learning and teaching with social media. Some of the specific tools are out of date though as are some of the images (myspace!). Particularly in regards to social media and current technology tools, I feel that it is important to be as up-to-date as possible. I do think this book is written is such a way that updates and substitutions would be fairly easy to make.

Clarity rating: 5

This text is written very well by a variety of contributors. Examples, tips, and case studies are included in many of the chapters. Key concepts are explained and usually illustrated by examples, diagrams, etc.

Consistency rating: 4

This text is very consistent in layout and content. Terms are consistently used and each chapter has a general outline that it seems to follow. I like the tips and guidelines section of Chapter 6 and would like to see that framework extended to other chapters.

Modularity rating: 5

This text is easily divisible into sections and chapters based on how it was set up. There are multiple chapters that could be pulled out and used independently of the text as a whole. Each chapter is also easily divisible and the headings and sections make them easy to read.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

All topics in this text are presented in a logical, straightforward manner. The organization makes it easy to find topics and chapters.

Interface rating: 5

The text has no interface issues and displays correctly. There is nothing in the text that would confuse or distract the reader.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

No grammatical errors were evident.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

The intent of this text is to give an overview of instructional technologies globally. As such, the content of the chapters and the examples used are very culturally relevant. I cannot speak to how current all of the examples are, however.

Comments

This is a great text overall. It flows well and is logically organized and comprehensive. I think if some of the technologies and images were updated, it would be an extremely useful text for any eLearning class.

Reviewed by Dev Bose, Assistant Professor, University of Arizona on 2/8/17

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The book covers a wide array of topics relating to online education. The first part provides a broad background of readings related to instructional technologies. Some of the sections in the second part, which covers preparation of online courses, could likely fit in the previous section, but do fit well in this area as well. The next two parts of the books, implementation and action, are also closely related, but differ in that part three focuses on theoretical constructions of online education (with an eye towards praxis) while part four delves into more applied aspects. The final section bookends the readings from part one while at the same time providing researchers with helpful topics to explore. For example, online collaboration and social media use are explained at length in two chapters here.

While there was no overall index or glossary in the book, the chapter abstracts appearing before the introductions will help readers to select from areas that will be most useful for their needs. Each chapter includes a glossary of terms.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

Topics are accurately covered throughout the textbook. For example, the chapter on accessibility and universal design explores the history of Section 508 before delving into the various aspects of UDL needed to ensure that a course meets the needs of various learners. The chapter on general principles of instructional design covers the need for instructors to align objectives with learning activities. Case studies, such as the chapter on linking students between Canada and Ghana, explore how researchers conducted studies and presented data according to the methods utilized, bearing in mind that such studies were accurate in context while exploring possibilities for replication.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

Online education is a difficult topic to write about in terms of relevance and longevity, since the technology changes on an almost daily basis. The key to conducting research in this area is exploring how technology changes to fit the needs of learners, instructors, and policymakers. In that sense, this book does a great job with making sure that researchers can utilize the material presented in this book for an extended period of time. For example, we know already know that social media is here to stay. So rather than focusing on specific applications as they pertain simply to 2017, the chapter on social media instead explores the impact of social media on adult language learners before delving into best practice and theories of online pedagogy. Most readers should find the content in this book relatively easy to implement in their own work.

Clarity rating: 5

The text is written in clear, accessible language. It is apparent that the editorial team worked closely with the contributors, and with one another, to make sure that readers would get a book that is easy to follow. Each chapter effectively makes use of jargon in a way that introduces readers to key concepts while at the same time maintains attention. Whenever needed, graphics are used to enhance the textual interface. For example, the chapter on social media goes so far as to break down Bloom’s original taxonomy with Anderson’s revised taxonomy by including a handy chart of reliable verbs for ease of reading.

Consistency rating: 5

Each chapter begins with a graphic that shows the overview of the topic. References are hyperlinked, and upon checking several links, these worked and provided useful information beyond the scope of the chapters. Glossed terms appearing at the end of every chapter allowed me to recall content without having to read through multiple times. Each chapter starts with a section on Learning Outcomes, which allows readers to hone in on the information they need to understand the content.

Modularity rating: 5

My favorite part of “picking up” this book was that each chapter was hyperlinked from the table of contents! It would have been even more helpful, though, if a link to the Table of Contents (and perhaps to the beginning of each major section) appeared at the start and end of each chapter, allowing for greater accessibility. Nevertheless, I always found myself being able to easily skim each chapter for information, which was due to the existence of headings and subheadings. At no point did I find the text to be overly self-referential; contributors in this book were carefully selected to provide information that would be useful for readers interested in the topic of online education. For example, the chapter on emerging technologies begins with a solidly-written history of the Internet and cites appropriate sources, including Ross Mayfield and Tim O’Reilly, keeping discussion as on-point and objective as possible.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

As a typical anthology, it makes sense that the book is organized the way it is. The book starts and ends on theoretical concepts related to online education. Case studies, instructional design models, and topics specific to individual contexts constitute the middle three sections of the book. For example, the chapter on e-learning standards studies how learning objectives vary across specific circumstances, such as the Aviation Industry CBT Committee (AICC),Sharable Courseware Object Reference Model (SCORM), and the IMS Global Learning Consortium (IMS).

Interface rating: 5

Each chapter starts with a section on Learning Outcomes, which allows readers to hone in on the information they need to understand the content. Therefore, it is relatively easy to read through more than a few chapters in one sitting. After having checked each chapter from the linkable table of contents, I didn’t find any errors related to navigation problems. Blank pages at the end of every chapter made it easy to view content from this book on the sidebar of a PDF reader.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

After spending roughly 6 hours reading this book, I didn’t locate any grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

This book explored the topic of online education from a variety of perspectives. It was nice to see such a well-rounded text on studies related to a topic that I am particularly interested in reading about in my own work.

Comments

As someone who is always looking for up to date texts on online education, both for conducting academic researching as well as for applying that research towards pedagogy and curriculum, I can say that this textbook was a pleasant find. It was great to see that online education has so many places to go in terms of extending what we already know to be true in face to face education in a variety of arenas, including how the Internet works, to the role of adult language learners, to the usefulness of building communities of practice.