Course Textbooks and Learning Resources
EDUC 456/656: eLearning
You will be happy to discover that you do not necessarily need to purchase any textbooks for use in this course, because your course instructor has selected many engaging resources that are available freely online. For example, the following book is available free to UD students who can read it online or freely download it either as a PDF or an EPUB:
Piņa, Anthony A., Lowell, Victoria L., and Harris, Bruce R. (2017). Leading and Managing e-Learning: What the e-learning Leader Needs to Know. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. Available to UD users from https://link-springer-com.udel.idm.oclc.org/book/10.1007%2F978-3-319-61780-0.
An excellent book that UD students can read freely online is as follows:
Darby, Flower and Lang, James M. (2019). Small Teaching Online: Applying Learning Science in Online Classes. San Francisco: Jossey Bass. Available to UD users from https://delcat.on.worldcat.org/oclc/1104058289.
The next three books listed below, however, are not available for free. After the course begins, you can decide whether to purchase one of them, depending on the focus of your interests and the platform you are considering for your eLearning network:
Harasim, Linda. (2017). Learning Theory and Online Technologies. 2nd edition. New York: Routledge. Available for purchase from https://www.amazon.com/Learning-Theory-Online-Technologies-Harasim/dp/113886000X/.
Clark, R. C. and Mayer, R. E. (2023). eLearning and the Science of Instruction. 5th edition. San Francisco: Pfeiffer. Available for purchase from https://www.amazon.com/Learning-Science-Instruction-Guidelines-Multimedia-dp-1394177372/dp/1394177372/.
Patrick, S. What Works in K-12 Online Learning. (2007). Washington, DC: International Society for Technology in Education. Available for purchase from http://www.amazon.com/What-Works-K-12-Online-Learning/dp/1564842363/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1280175001&sr=1-1.
In addition to the textbooks listed above, there are excellent research articles you can read about online learning. Some suggestions are listed as follows:
Means, B., Toyama, Y., and Murphy, R. (2010). Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning: A Meta-Analysis and Review of Online Learning Studies. U.S. Department of Education: Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development. Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/tech/evidence-based-practices/finalreport.pdf.
Bacow, L., Bowen, W. and Guthrie, K. (2012). Barriers to Adoption of Online Learning Systems in U.S. Higher Education. Ithaka S&R Report. Retrieved from http://www.sr.ithaka.org/research-publications/barriers-adoption-online-learning-systems-us-higher-education.
Allen, E. and Seaman, J. (2012). Conflicted: Faculty and Online Education, 2012. Babson Survey Research Group. Retrieved from http://www.insidehighered.com/sites/default/server_files/files/IHE-BSRG-Conflict.pdf.
Crews, T. B., Sheth, S. N., and Horne, T. M. (2014) Understanding the Learning Personalities of Successful Online Students. Educause Review. Jan/Feb 2014. Retrieved from http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/understanding-learning-personalities-successful-online-students.
The Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) publishes a series of books and journals featuring articles by pre-eminent scholars in the field of educational technology. The list begins with a series of research handbooks that the AECT publishes every few years in order to update working professionals about ed tech research findings. The entire knowledge base is available online to AECT members. The most cost-effective way to access the knowledge base is to become an AECT member. AECT membership costs $125 per year for students or $250 per year for working professionals. Once you are logged on as an AECT member, you can follow this link to access the knowledge base. In addition, authenticated UD students can freely access items below that have Authenticated UD links due to UD having licenses that make this material available online to authenticated UD students.
- Bishop, M. J., Boling, E., Elen, J., & Svihla, V. (Eds.). (2020). Handbook of research in educational communications and technology : learning design (Vol. 5). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36119-8. Authenticated UD link: https://link-springer-com.udel.idm.oclc.org/book/10.1007%2F978-3-030-36119-8
- Spector, J. M., Merrill, M. D., Elen, J., & Bishop, M. J. (2014). Handbook of research on educational communications and technology (Vol. 4). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-3185-5. Authenticated UD link: https://link-springer-com.udel.idm.oclc.org/book/10.1007%2F978-1-4614-3185-5
- Spector, J. M., Merrill, M. D., Van Merrienboer, J. J., & Driscoll, M. P. (2008). Handbook of research on educational communications and technology (Vol. 3). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
- Jonassen, D. H. (Ed). (2004). Handbook of research on educational communications and technology (Vol. 2). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
- Jonassen, D. H. (Ed). (1996). Handbook of research for educational communications and technology (Vol. 1). New York: Macmillan Library Reference USA.
Beyond books, all UD students, faculty and staff have access to LinkedIn Learning, as described at the following link:
Computers
To complete the hands-on computer assignments, each student will need access to a multimedia computer (Windows PC or Macintosh) that is connected to the Internet via the latest version of either Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Microsoft Edge.
Computer Accounts
Every University of Delaware student automatically receives an e-mail account. You should visit www.udel.edu/network to manage your password, username, and quotas.
Computer Sites
All students registered in this class have the option of using the multimedia PCs and Macs in the campus computing sites. Use sites.udel.edu/askit/support/ to link to the general access site schedule. Please note that the use of the campus computing sites is totally optional in this course. If you have your own computer and Internet connection, you may never need to use the campus computing sites.
E-mail Addresses
Every student in this class must have an e-mail address on the Internet and read e-mail regularly. If you're enrolled in a University of Delaware course, and you do not have an e-mail account yet, go to the help center and follow the e-mail link for detailed instructions on how to activate your e-mail account. During the course, when your instructor sends e-mail to the class, the messages will go to your UD mail address. If you do not read your UD mail regularly, you should go to www.udel.edu/network and follow the instructions to forward your e-mail to your preferred e-mail address.
