Harmonizing Global Education：From Genghis Khan to Facebook

Baggaley (educational technology, Centre for Distance Education, Athabasca U., Canada) traces the development of technology-based education and communication, for scholars and practitioners of distance education. He describes evidence of global communication from as far back as 1000 B.C., the twenty-first century context of open and mega-universities, traditional and new media, and mobile learning, then discusses the waxing and waning of communication approaches during the fin de siecle context, the 1970s to the 1990s, and the Luddite revolt of 1811-12; analytic studies of communication technique; teaching practices via synchronous and asynchronous methods and evaluation guidelines and instruments; quality issues such as plagiarism, software programming and packaging techniques that reduce accessibility, and the personal security risks of social media; and multimedia techniques to enhance online interactivity, similar to those methods musicians have used to describe the visual properties of sound and visual artists who have seen the world in musical terms. Annotation c2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Jon Baggaley is Professor of Educational Technology at the Centre for Distance Education, Athabasca University, Canada.