Competencies in Teaching, Learning and Educational Leadership in the Digital Age ― Papers from Celda 2014

This book makes a contribution to a global conversation about the competencies, challenges, and changes being introduced as a result of digital technologies. This volume consists of four parts, with the first being elaborated from each of the featured panelists at CELDA (Cognition and Exploratory Learning in the Digital Age) 2014.

Part One is an introduction to the global conversation about competencies and challenges for 21st-century teachers and learners. Part Two discusses the changes in learning and instructional paradigms. Part Three is a discussion of assessments and analytics for teachers and decision makers. Lastly, Part Four analyzes the changing tools and learning environments teachers and learners must face.

Each of the four parts has six chapters. In addition, the book opens with a paper by the keynote speaker aimed at the broad considerations to take into account with regard to instructional design and learning in the digital age. The volume closes with a reflective piece on the progress towards systemic and sustainable improvements in educational systems in the early part of the 21st century.

Dirk Ifenthaler is affiliated with University of Mannheim in Germany and Curtin University in Australia. His previous roles include the Director, Centre for Research in Digital Learning at Deakin University, Manager of Applied Research and Learning Analytics at Open Universities Australia, Affiliate Research Scholar at the University of Oklahoma, USA, and Interim Department Chair and Professor for Educational Science at the University of Mannheim, Germany.Professor Ifenthaler was a 2012 Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence at the Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education, the University of Oklahoma, USA.

Demetrios G. Sampson has received a Diploma in Electrical Engineering from the Democritus University of Thrace, Greece in 1989 and a Ph.D. in Electronic Systems Engineering from the University of Essex, UK in 1995. He is a Professor of Digital Systems for Learning and Education at the Department of Digital Systems, University of Piraeus, Greece and a Research Fellow at the Information Technologies Institute (ITI), Centre of Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH).

Pedro Isaias is an associate professor at Universidade Aberta (Portuguese Open University) in Lisbon, Portugal, responsible for several courses and director of the master degree program in Electronic Commerce and Internet since its start in 2003. He is co-founder and president of IADIS – International Association for Development of the Information Society, a scientific non-profit association. He holds a PhD in Information Management from the New University of Lisbon.