Open and Inclusive Educational Practice in the Digital World

This book is about inclusivity and open education in the digital age. It reports the latest data on this topic from the 2021 Cognition and Exploratory Learning in the Digital Age (CELDA) conference. This annual conference focuses on challenges pertaining to the evolution of the learning process, the role of pedagogical approaches and the progress of technological innovation, in the context of the digital age. The material in this book represents the work of both researchers and practitioners in an effort to cover both technological and pedagogical issues in ground-breaking studies. The book covers a wide array of topics examining the deployment of learning technologies, proposing pedagogical approaches and practices to address digital transformation, presenting case studies of specific technologies and contexts and overall debating the contribution of learning technologies for the improvement of the learning process and the experience of students and for the development of key competences. It represents the best work reported during CELDA 2021,  comprising expanded peer reviewed chapters from best papers focusing on open education models, inclusive learning environments and adaptive as well as personalized learning support.

Dirk Ifenthaler is Professor and Chair of Learning, Design and Technology at University of Mannheim, Germany and UNESCO Deputy Chair of Data Science in Higher Education Learning and Teaching at Curtin University, Australia. His previous roles include Professor and Director, Centre for Research in Digital Learning at Deakin University, Australia, Manager of Applied Research and Learning Analytics at Open Universities, Australia, and Professor for Applied Teaching and Learning Research at the University of Potsdam, Germany. He was a 2012 Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence at the Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education, at the University of Oklahoma, USA. Dirk’s research focuses on the intersection of cognitive psychology, educational technology, data analytics, and organisational learning. His research outcomes include numerous co-authored books, book series, book chapters, journal articles, and international conference papers, as well as successful grant funding in Australia, Germany, and USA. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Technology, Knowledge and Learning, Senior Editor of Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, and Deputy Editor-in-Chief of International Journal of Learning Analytics and Artificial Intelligence for Education.

Pedro Isaías is an associate professor at the Information Systems & Technology Management School of The University of New South Wales (UNSW – Sydney), Australia. Previously he was an associate professor at The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. Before moving to Australia, he was also an associate professor at the Universidade Aberta (Portuguese Open University) in Lisbon, Portugal, where he was responsible for several courses and director of the master degree program in Management / MBA. Pedro was director of the master degree program in Electronic Commerce and Internet for 10 years. 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 (in the specialty of information and decision systems) from the New University of Lisbon. Author of several books, book chapters, papers and research reports, all in the information systems area, he has headed several conferences and workshops within the mentioned area. He has also been responsible for the scientific coordination of several EU funded research projects. He is also member of the editorial board of several journals and program committee member of several conferences and workshops. Currently he conducts research activity related to MIS in general, and more specifically Learning Technologies, Data Analytics, Business Intelligence, Digital Transformation, e-Business and WWW related areas.