The Theory and Practice of Online Learning

by Terry Anderson (Editor)

Neither an academic tome nor a prescriptive ’how to’ guide, "The Theory and Practice of Online Learning" is an illuminating collection of essays by practitioners and scholars active in the complex field of distance education.Distance education has evolved significantly in its 150 years of existence. For most of this time, it was an individual pursuit defined by infrequent postal communication. But recently, three more developmental generations have emerged, supported by television and radio, teleconferencing, and computer conferencing. The early 21st century has produced a fifth generation, based on autonomous agents and intelligent, database-assisted learning, that has been referred to as Web 2.0.

The second edition of "The Theory and Practice of Online Learning" features updates in each chapter, plus four new chapters on current distance education issues such as connectivism and social software innovations

Genres: Education

458 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2008

Reviews

[Adrian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clear, effective theory and advice. Read selected chapters for a master's research project and they are each to the point, focused and full of applicable advice as well as resources.

[Anastasia Tuple · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nowadays (in 2022, post COVID-19 era) this book reads old and dated.

[Stan Skrabut · Rating 5 out of 5]

During the fall term, I taught a graduate course called Introduction to Online Teaching. For this course, I had the graduate students read and discuss two books,  The Theory and Practice of Online Learning edited by Terry Anderson and  Emerging Technologies in Distance Education edited by George Veletsianos. The threaded discussions for the course were some of the most engaging I had been a part of, and I believe it was primarily due to these two books. The learners in the course had an opportunity to explore the topic of teaching online in great depth. In this post, I will talk about The Theory and Practice of Online Learning book. Read more

[Brittnee · Rating 3 out of 5]

A must read for online instructors or future online instructors.