Guest editorial

Citation

Kwan, R., White, B., Tse, S. and Eustace, K. (2009), "Guest editorial", Interactive Technology and Smart Education, Vol. 6 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/itse.2009.36306daa.001

Guest editorial

Article Type: Guest editorial From: Interactive Technology and Smart Education, Volume 6, Issue 4.

Even the most masterful lecturer would have trouble gauging the amount of learning that happens in a lecture hall. Lecturing has always been considered as a form of instructor-centered way of learning. Advances in ICT have no doubt forced educators to rethink the best way to help students learn. Systems and models are being tried everyday in virtually every part of the world. For those practitioners who welcome the technological advancements and apply these new tools in their learning and teaching, finding the best way to make use of these tools is a challenge in itself. These new tools are capable of more than complementing the shortcomings of the traditional face-to-face classroom teaching; they are breaking boundaries as well as pushing new frontiers in education. The best blend of all the available technologies with conventional teaching methods is a worthwhile topic for a special issue of Interactive Technology and Smart Education.

Blended learning can be described as a learning process that combines a variety of modes of delivery such as face-to-face teaching, distance learning and e-learning. Educational institutions worldwide are increasingly turning to blended learning by bringing new technologies into the classroom, using technologies to create learning opportunities outside the classroom, or combining distance learning and e-learning. This opens up new opportunities, for example, for distance learning and face-to-face institutions to share experiences and technologies.

This special isssue is an attempt to compile the best and the most recent research works by prominent practitioners in the field from all over the world. The most unorthodox approach was applied to the selection process of this special issue. We first of all picked the best papers submitted to a prominent international conference, namely ICT2008 and ICT2009. There must have been over 350 submissions in those two years. We then invited those authors to submit their most recent work to this journal.

We would like to congratulate all contributors to this book for their excellent work that made this special issue possible. Their work confirmed that blended learning can produce effective learning experiences and overcome the shortcomings of any single mode of learning and teaching. We would also like to express our gratitude to the Editor, Professor Philip Tsang, and to Lizzie Scott, the Publisher. We have a feeling that more wonderful contributions will be made by those who attend the upcoming ICT2010 in Singapore hosted by SIM University (Singapore), and ICT2011 in Hong Kong hosted by Caritas Institute of Higher Education (Hong Kong) and the Hong Kong Web Symposium Consortium.

Reviewers for this special issue

The Guest Editors are indebted to the army of reviewers for their insightful and constructive comments. These thoughtful reviewers were:

Reggie KwanCaritas Institute of Higher Education, Tseng Kwan O, Hong Kong

Bebo WhiteStanford University, Menlo Park, California, USA

Sandy TseHKWeb Symposium Consortium, Kwun Tong, Hong Kong

Ken EustaceCharles Sturt Univerisity, Wagga Wagga, Australia