Latest update: December 26, 2009 BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT Learners in a changing learning landscape: Reflections from a dialogue on new roles and expectations Editors: Jan Visser & Muriel Visser-Valfrey Publisher: Springer, Dordrecht, The Netherlands Series: Lifelong Learning Book Series Series Editors: David N. Aspin and Judith D. Chapman Published June 2008 Learners, teachers, researchers and policymakers who are willing to rethink their assumptions while entering into the dialogue proposed by the book   About this book: This book is about questions. Today's learners face constant change. Adaptive learner expertise is key to their survival on a learning journey that lasts a lifetime. This requires new thinking of all actors in the learning environment. The fundamental process through which this book was created is an extended in-depth dialogue among researchers, lifelong learners, educators, and thinkers. "Working on this book was a very special kind of experience," says John Bransford (University of Washington), a contributing author to the book and renowned researcher on how people learn. While participating in the dialogue "we were all helped to ‘walk our talk’ and use technology to improve everything we did… I'm convinced that the conversations will not end with this book. Through technology-based dialogue facilitated by the magic touch of the editors’ leadership, I'm sure that all of us—authors and readers of this volume—will continue to learn from one another. This is the way that collaborative science should work."   Intended audience: Researchers in the learning sciences; educators; educational policymakers; and students of instructional design, learning systems, learning-oriented communication, alternate views of teaching and learning, interaction between technology and learning/teaching, distance education/online learning (e-learning), adult learning, alternatives to school-based learning, non-formal and informal education, competencies for (online) learning and teaching, educational policy (particularly if not limited to the school context), and new directions and approaches in educational research.   Special features: Each of the 14 chapters is preceded by an abstract (click here to see an overview of all abstracts) and concludes with sections on 'Resources for further exploration' and 'Questions for comprehension and application.' These latter sections have been specifically developed having in mind the use of this book as a textbook for advanced courses at the graduate level.   J. W. Brown Publication Award: In October 2009, Learners in a Changing Learning Landscape was awarded a prestigious 2009 James W. Brown Publication Award as an "Outstanding Publication in the field of Educational Technology." The award ceremony took place on October 30, 2009, during the Annual Convention of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology, held in Louisville, Kentucky.   Reviews: The world is changing, learners are changing, and thus the learning processes must change as well. Will technology answer the challenges of these changes? Is the institution of the school capable of adapting to the changes? These are crucial questions that educators and scholars in the field of learning have no choice but to ask themselves, and there is no better source for reflection on such questions than this book. We all have a lot to learn so we can cope with the changing world, and this book is a very useful tool for that. Gavriel Salomon (Recipient of the Sylvia Scribner Award by the AERA Div. C, Recipient of the Israeli National Award for lifelong achievements in educational research)   In this book the authors confront and address the challenges of teaching, learning, adaptivity, and collaboration in the 21st century. In a most readable prose, they share the results of their sustained dialogic inquiry about the impact of new technologies. They integrate a wide range of studies and provide an interdisciplinary vision of the future that is both hopeful and informative. Vera John-Steiner (Author of Notebooks of the Mind and Creative Collaboration)   I can think of few books that so richly analyze the complex transformations that we are now experiencing in the learning and education environment. Learning has become a multi-faceted, interactive and often auto-didactic process, driven by profound changes to the culture of institutions as well as to their purpose. This book allows us to navigate these new and often uncharted terrains with essays that traverse the most basic elements of learning right through to the complex shifts being engendered by digital technologies. A magnificent and valuable book! Ron Burnett (President of the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design - author of How Images Think)   Is the technologized world of today and tomorrow a landscape where learners can thrive? The contributors to this probing volume both celebrate and question the future of learning in an unsettling era of digital environments and global interactions. David Perkins (Senior Professor, Harvard Graduate School of Education - author of Smart Schools and Outsmarting IQ)   Table of contents: 1. Let the dialogue begin: An introduction.- 2. Constructive interaction with change: Implications for learners and the environment in which they learn.- 3. The learning sciences, technology and designs for educational systems: Some thoughts about change.- 4. Learners in a changing learning landscape: Reflections from an instructional design perspective.- 5. The influence of epistemological beliefs on learners’ perceptions of online learning: Perspectives on three levels.- 6. Getting to know the feral learner.- 7. Postsecondary education in the changing learning and living landscapes.- 8. Online learning in context.- 9. New online learning technologies: New online learner competencies. Really?- 10. Reflections on seeking the ‘invisible’ online learner.- 11. Will games and emerging technologies influence the learning landscape?- 12. What makes good online instruction good? New opportunities and old barriers.- 13. Why basic principles of instruction must be present in the learning landscape, whatever form it takes, for learning to be effective, efficient and engaging.- 14. We question, we reflect, and we question again, therefore we are…: An analysis of the evolving dialogue around the central themes in this book.- About the authors.- Index.   Contributing authors: Chapters 1 and 2: Jan Visser; Ch 3: John Bransford, Mary Slowinski, Nancy Vye, & Susan Mosborg; Ch 4: Jeroen van Merriënboer & Slavi Stoyanov; Ch 5: Christina Rogoza; Ch 6: Mary Hall; Ch 7: Yusra Laila Visser; Ch 8: Diana Stirling; Ch 9: Ileana de la Teja & Tim Spannaus; Ch 10: Michael Beaudoin; Ch 11: Deb LaPointe; Ch 12: Michael Spector; Ch 13: David Merrill; Ch 14: Muriel Visser-Valfrey.   Read the abstracts:   Click here for an overview of abstracts of the various chapters.   Buy the book at Amazon:   To pre-order your copy of the book via amazon.com click on Learners in a Changing Learning Landscape: Reflections from a Dialogue on New Roles and Expectations (Lifelong Learning Book Series).   Check out the publisher's information:   Click here to access the Springer Web pages for this book.