As the world moves steadily to become a knowledge-based economy, education and learning have never been more important. Technology is playing an increasingly crucial role in the delivery of education, which in turn is driving research into finding ever better technological solutions. Each wave of technological advance has opened new opportunities for teachers and students.
First the arrival of personal computers popularized computer aided learning, next the internet introduced eLearning; now the age of intelligent environments is bringing such pedagogical advances as smart classrooms, intelligent campuses, immersive reality, affective learning, mobile learning, intelligent learning clouds and personalised intelligent avatar-like tutors to revolutionize current learning practices, and to challenge the traditional notion of a university or school.
Intelligent Environments have been heralded as a technology to radically transform our society, and the nature of teaching and learning. There is an urgent need for a journal that acts as a focus for researchers and practitioners to pool knowledge together and to advance the science and art of teaching, learning, and pedagogical practice, making it more efficient, cost-effective, and fun.
To achieve the above outcomes, this Journal (TOFIEE) will focus on showcasing new technologies that can help to make a difference to teaching and learning experiences, by enriching the learning process and the teaching infrastructure. Central to our forum will be enriched physical and environments such as smart classrooms, virtual / mixed reality environments, intelligent learning clouds or mobile and augmented reality systems that can interact with students and teachers at a pedagogical level, so as to bring true innovations to education.
We will also include the systems that support the learning of practical skills, such as those typified by science and engineering laboratories that are critical to students following technology courses. The journal will also include consideration of the wider campus infrastructure which can also impact the cost and effectiveness of education. Examples include smart signage that can guide people around a campus or smart applications for timetabling or managing the environment of the teaching facilities.
Education is increasingly global and multicultural in nature and thus, the cultural dimension is a topic we would seek to include. This Journal will serve as a forum for researchers and practitioners to discuss the latest intelligent technologies that can support the development of new educational technologies and environments around the world.
Given the multi-disciplinary nature of the areas involved, the journal aims to promote participation from several different communities covering a variety of topics: pedagogical strategies, technical (infrastructure), social-cultural influences; interaction, inclusion, and socialization in intelligent educational environments and systems, etc.
The journal will aim to attract reports on research and development related to a number of areas, including:
- Smart classrooms
- Intelligent campus
- Virtual & Mixed Reality Learning Environments
- Digitally Enhanced Teaching Laboratories
- Technologically supported Pedagogy
- Affective Learning
- AI Tutoring Systems
- Learning clouds
- Mobile Learning
- Instructional design methods, models and Tools
- Smart global and multi-cultural learning environments
- Curriculum Development for Intelligent Education systems
- Evaluation of intelligent learning environments.