One of the most significant developments in contemporary education is
the view that knowing and understanding are anchored in cultural
practices within communities. This shift coincides with technological
advancements that have reoriented end-user computer interaction from
individual work to communication, participation and collaboration.
However, while daily interactions are increasingly engulfed in mobile
and networked Information and Communication Technologies (ICT),
in-school learning interactions are, in comparison, technologically
impoverished, creating the phenomenon known as the school-society
digital disconnect. This volume argues that the theoretical and
practical tools of scientists in both the social and educational
sciences must be brought together in order to examine what types of
interaction, knowledge construction, social organization and power
structures: (a) occur spontaneously in technology-enhanced learning
(TEL) communities or (b) can be created by design of TEL. This volume
seeks to equip scholars and researchers within the fields of education,
educational psychology, science communication, social welfare,
information sciences, and instructional design, as well as practitioners
and policy-makers, with empirical and theoretical insights, and
evidence-based support for decisions providing learners and citizens
with 21st century skills and knowledge, and supporting
well-being in today's information-based networked society.
