EBOOK: Challenging e-Learning in the University

Book excerpt: "Informed by an intimate knowledge of a social literacies perspective, this book is full of profound insights and unexpected connections. Its scholarly, clear-eyed analysis of the role of new media in higher education sets the agenda for e-learning research in the twenty-first century" Ilana Snyder, Monash University "This book offers a radical rethinking of e-learning … The authors challenge teachers, course developers, and policy makers to see e-learning environments as textual practices, rooted deeply in the social and intellectual life of academic disciplines. This approach holds great promise for moving e-learning past its focus on technology and 'the learner' toward vital engagement with fields of inquiry through texts." Professor David Russell, Iowa State University Challenging e-learning in the University takes a new approach to the growing field of e-learning in higher education. In it, the authors argue that in order to develop e-learning in the university we need to understand the texts and practices that are involved in learning and teaching using online and web-based technologies. The book develops an approach which draws together social and cultural approaches to literacies, learning and technologies, illustrating these in practice through the exploration of case studies. It is key reading for educational developers who are concerned with the promises offered, but rarely delivered, with each new iteration of learning with technologies. It will also be of interest to literacies researchers and to HE policy makers and managers who wish to understand the contexts of e-learning.