Cases on Smart Learning Environments

At a time when ICTs are proliferating various facets of society and human interactivity, optimizing the use of these tools and technologies not only enhances learning but also transforms learning experiences all together, resulting in an increase of effectiveness and quality of education around the globe. As such, teachers are being challenged to implement a wide range of tools, such as mobile learning and augmented reality, to create smarter learning environments inside and outside of the classroom. Cases on Smart Learning Environments explores the potential of SLE tools for enhanced learning outcomes as experienced by educators, learners, and administrators from various learning institutions around the world. This publication presents cases on the real-world implementation of SLEs in 11 countries that span the continents of Asia, Africa, Europe, and North and South America. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics such as learner engagement, teacher training, and intelligent agent technology, this book is ideally designed for academicians, instructors, instructional designers, librarians, educational stakeholders, and curriculum developers.

Abtar Darshan Singh is from Malaysia. She obtained her PhD in E-Learning in 2001 from University Malaya. She has 36 years of teaching experience at all levels of the education sector. In 2014, Abtar was offered to lead the school of E-Education at Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University, Dubai, UAE. She has published widely since 1996 in instructional design, multimedia, online learning, blended learning, learning objects, MOOCs and smart learning. Abtar's current research interests are learning design, smart learning environments, next-generation digital learning environments and design thinking. Abtar is a recipient of the Fulbright Scholarship and she has consulted widely under the umbrella of many international organizations such as the Commonwealth of Learning, UNESCO, and the World Bank. She is a recipient of teaching and learning and technology-enhanced learning awards such as the Blackboard Excellence e-Learning Award, Innovative Excellence in Teaching, Learning and Technology Award and awards in research done in learning objects, all from the USA. She also received awards from UNESCO and Commonwealth of learning for her impactful work in instructional design and technology.

Shriram Raghunathan works on Natural Language Processing, Instructional Design and Gaming. He completed his PhD in Computer Science and Engineering in 2008 and did his Masters in Instructional Design (online) from Open University of Malaysia. His significant achievements include setting up India’s first Centre of Excellence in Pervasive Computing in 2007 and completion of 4 funded projects (mobile Tamil interfaces, mobile keypad standardization and plagiarism checking) in Tamil Computing since 2004. Shriram has published widely in domains of cloud computing, natural language processing and instructional design and guided 4 Doctoral students for their PhD since 2014.

Edward Robeck has held a range of positions in education, giving him a unique and broad perspective. He has worked as a classroom teacher and as a university professor focusing on pre-service science teacher preparation, and teacher professional development. Dr. Robeck has taught classes in person and online for several institutions and for diverse student populations in settings on several continents. His experience in curriculum development is equally varied, including work in technology-based instruction, print, and visual media. His current projects include investigating the use of student-generated multi-media, especially in ways that promote civic engagement. In all these situations Dr. Robeck has worked to extend the horizons of education in ways that make learning more relevant and empowering.

Bibhya Sharma hails from Fiji and obtained his PhD in Applied Mathematics from the University of the South Pacific (USP). He started his career as a secondary school Mathematics teacher in 1994 and moved to tertiary teaching in 1997 as a tutor at USP. He has since taught at various capacities at USP and took up his current position as Associate Dean Learning and Teaching within the Faculty of Science, Technology and Environment in 2010 and moved up to the ranks of Associate Professor in Mathematics in 2012. He is a member of a number of professional mathematics societies and unions and has published more than 90 articles and book chapters in the fields of robotics, biologically inspired processes, mathematics education, and the TLPs of higher education. He is very passionate about research in motion planning and control of robots using the Lyapunov based Control Scheme and has made significant contributions to the research area. His current research is on concepts such as motion camouflage, landmarks, swarming, formation patters and tunneling which all are integrated to the problem of motion planning and control. He has also been active in looking into newer mechanical systems and model them for the biologically inspired concepts and activities. Bibhya also has noteworthy contributions in area of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education and new tools and technologies to enhance higher education in the Pacific region. He champions adaptive works and innovations in the areas of eLearning and mLearning for higher education. More information regarding his work and achievements can be found at http://scims.usp.ac.fj/~bibhyasharma/.