Strategic Applications of Distance Learning Technologies, by Mahbubur Rahman Syed

Strategic Applications of Distance Learning Technologies, by Mahbubur Rahman Syed Strategic Applications of Distance Learning Technologies, by Mahbubur Rahman Syed (Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference, 2009, 354 pages, $180.00).

Rapid innovation in educational technology has produced tools that have changed the landscape of distance learning. These changes point to both challenges and opportunities for educators and the students they instruct.

From the ubiquitous web browser to more specialized tools (such as virtual learning environments like Blackboard, rich media virtual conferencing systems like Elluminate, all the way to immersive games and simulations) these new technologies both create and respond to the expectation, be it a blessing or a curse, or bit of both, that, like their connections to other media, students' connections to learning experiences be always on and everywhere at once.

Strategic Applications of Distance Learning Technologies, although hard to hold (the book is a large and unwieldy) and sometimes hard to read (its language tends to be quite technical and its chapters fall in no particular order), is a valuable book for two reasons. First, the discussions of projects one finds between its covers give an informative tour of the research being done by scholars working at the intersection of distance learning technology and pedagogy, and offer an overview of the possibilities for teaching these technologies represent. Second, in light of these possibilities, the book raises important questions about the responsibilities distance educators now have, and what best practices we should follow, as we and our students gain access to increasingly rich and interactive learning environments.

The book proceeds from the enabling assumption that web-based, digital technologies have come to influence, if not define, the parameters of distance learning and that they will continue to do so. In his introduction Syed writes, "the digital revolution, powered by the engines of information and communication technologies, has fundamentally changed the way people think, behave, communicate, work and earn their living." These changes do indeed run deep; as illustrated by the exponential growth of distance learning programs worldwide, the availability of online learning opportunities has already changed attitudes concerning when and where formal education may occur, and what a learner's relationship to the source(s) of formal education might be.

Taken together, the book's chapters convey a...