Outlooks and Opportunities in Blended and Distance Learning

In a contemporary media-rich society, distance education is becoming increasingly indistinguishable from mainstream traditional methods. Contemporary students, too, have greater need than ever before for education that caters to their specific needs and hectic schedules. Outlooks and Opportunities in Blended and Distance Learning investigates the impact of the digital age on various methods of distance education, such as e-learning, virtual learning, online learning, and m-learning. Researchers, educators, and students currently engaged in or looking to implement distance education principles in their own practices will find a seminal reference collection exploring new methods of offering flexibility, accessibility, and freedom to students with a variety of educational backgrounds, situations, and needs.

Belinda Tynan is the Pro Vice-Chancellor Learning, Teaching & Quality, University of Southern Queensland, Australia. She has extensive experience as both an administrator and researcher in the field of higher education. She has held numerous leadership positions nationally and internationally in Australia, New Zealand, Scotland and Singapore. A known leader in higher education, she has 60+ publications, considerable grant funding. She is a popular keynote speaker and invited guest at numerous events across the sector nationally and abroad. She has an in depth coverage of distance and online pedagogy including quality assurance, and a teaching career spanning multiple sectors and domain knowledge that points to her credibility amongst peers. Belinda has lead multiple innovation projects and has association with several international organisations such as ICDE and COL. She is a reviewer of research credibility in South Africa, invited ARC assessor and has undertaken successful supervision and thesis assessments at postgraduate levels. Her current role includes significant line management and operational control over several areas that constitute the production and quality of courses and programs across three campuses at the University of Southern Queensland, including responsibility for professional development of academic staff, student support, learning systems, learning resource development and rich media including video, graphics and photography. Belinda was previously Treasurer of HERDSA and ODLAA and is on the reviewing boards of several journals including A* BJET.

Dr. Julie Willems holds qualifications in nursing, the Humanities, and education, and was a distance learner for 20 years. She has worked across all Australian education sectors. Her research interests include the media and technology of formal and informal learning (including the social media of Web 2.0, mobile learning and virtual worlds), in addition to educational equity and access for the disadvantaged. Julie currently works as an e-learning designer/educational developer in the Department of Rural and Indigenous Health, Monash University, and is on the national Executive of the Open and Distance Learning Association of Australia (ODLAA). She is currently completing the i-Survive Project funded by the auDA Foundation of Australia.

Dr. Rosalind James is the Director of the DEHub: Innovation in distance education and is based at the University of New England, Australia. Dr. James has worked with the DEHub since before its inception, having assisted to write the grant for funding, and at UNE for many years, as a Research Fellow with DEHub and with Project 2012: Flexible and Online. Prior to the DEHub Dr. James was a course co-ordinator and lecturer in foundational pathway course in UNE’s Teaching and Learning Centre (TLC) and as an academic mentor for transitional students. Like many in the distance education field, Rosalind comes from a strong background established in other disciplines. She has been an archaeological consultant and a lecturer in Archaeology and Environmental Science, and has worked in diverse companies and government departments around the world as a senior manager and technical ICT consultant in the commercial information and communications technology arena. Her current research and publications interest is in implementation and integration of ICT in learning, in general, and Web 2.0 and social networking technologies, in particular; but also covers business use of technology and its implications for graduate attributes and professional development for academics teaching by distance. Other projects under Dr. James’ direction that have a direct focus on the mission of the DEHub are the ICDE’s Regulatory Frameworks for Distance Education in the Southwest Pacific/South East Asia region and a large collaborative project to develop EduONE, a community education portal offering open educational resources for lifelong learning.