The world of education is being radically altered with the change  being driven by technology, openness, and unprecedented access to knowledge. Older correspondence-style methods of instructional delivery are passé and ¿classroom adapted to the web¿ approaches to learning are often ineffective and do little to harness the transformational potential of technology. E-Learning scenarios, mobile technologies, communication and information access, and personal learning environments are becoming mainstream and, as a result, control of the learning process is shifting away from institutions and into the hands of learners. This volumes promotes a forward-thinking agenda for research and scholarship that highlights new ideas, deep insights, and novel approaches to ¿unconstrained¿ learning.

Identifies research-supported ways to harness the power of new technologies and ideas to improve distance learning

-1. Guiding principles of the next generation of learning at a distance.-2. The future of distance learning technology: It¿s not about the technology, and it¿s not about the distance.-3.An analysis of success and failures: Planning the foundation for the next generation of distance education.-4. Rethinking design and learning processes.-5. Needs assessment: Identifying teachers¿ expectations and perceptions of an online P-6 engineering professional development program.-6. Collaborative problem-solving in virtual environments: Effect of social interaction, social presence and sociability on critical thinking.-7. Using the community of inquiry framework to inform effective instructional design.-8. The design critique as a model for distributed learning.-9. Data, information, knowledge, wisdom: A revised model for agents-based knowledge management systems.-10. Higher education and post-industrial society: New ideas about teaching, learning, and technology.-11. CyGaMEs: A full-service instructional design model harnessing game-based technologies for learning and assessment.-12. Learning-communication interfaces model: Implications to virtual learning.-13. The influence of backchannel communication on cognitive load.-14. The next generation of research in distance and online learning: Unconstrained by comparisons to classroom instruction.-15. The effect of delivery method of instructional materials to meet learning goals and objectives in online and open learning environments.-16. Engaging learners in collaborative authentic learning activities.-17. Learning communities.