Editorial Overview

Abstract

Despite all of the advances in educational technologies, the effectiveness of those technologies depends largely on how it is used by teachers. It is well understood that a major impediment to using technology in the classroom is instructors who don’t – or won’t – learn to use these technologies. Yet how to train these teachers, and what they need to learn, is still very much an open question. It is also the focus of this issue of the Journal. One key to learning anything is practice. Our first paper describes a program in which pre-service teachers practice their classroom management skills using mixed-reality simulations. Results from the pilot study indicate that these risk-free micro-teaching experiences help to prepare future teachers, both personally and professionally. The next three papers focus on helping teachers to develop and manage online learning. The first of these provides interesting insights into how to teach instructional design to education students, using a problem-based learning approach. In the pilot study, students were paired with subject matter experts, who served as clients, to provide a realistic instructional design challenge. The following paper explores how to build communities of practice in online classes. It is useful in that it describes specific tools and how they are used to create these communities of practice. The next paper examines strategies for having students make online presentations. In particular, this paper focuses on the use of hashtags with asynchronous presentations and their impact on student audience involvement. The last two papers are applicable to both online and classroom learning. The first of these looks at the effectiveness of different Powerpoint slide designs. It finds that presentations that incorporate informative imagery increases audience engagement and prompts more reflective learning. Our final paper reports on a study of children’s ability to read from various mediums. With so much learning content moving online, the findings of this study are very important for teachers and instructional designers alike.