One dystopian potential outcome would be that, despite the best efforts of many institutions of all kinds, we could see a devolution back to a distinctly two-tiered system like what existed in 19th Century Britain. In this negative projection one can envision a very small number of well-endowed institutions that cater to the wealthy, well-prepared class as well as a small number of carefully picked representatives from various groups. These students would receive a world-class education, while most students would be at risk of receiving a much lower quality education that is overly-reliant on poorly built computerized teaching systems or online learning courseware that does not provide the kind of encouragement and motivation that is required to help students through the many challenges encountered when learning. Following this path could well lead to a self-perpetuating system across generations where a small elite group benefits from a compounding level of social capital, while most students are left out, leading to a widening of social, political, cultural, and financial gulfs.

A Pedagogical Framework for Technology Integration in ESL Classrooms 191is that in an online reading environment designed with embedded compre-hension strategy supports, ELLs’ comprehension gains were significantly associated with their frequency of using coaching avatars that provided sup-port for effective use of reading comprehension strategies (Proctor et al., 2007). Ubiquitous technology environments can arouse student interest in us-ing the technologies (Huang, Huang, Huang, & Lin, 2012; Sandberg, Maris, & de Geus, 2011) and promote better learning outcomes in listening, speak-ing and vocabulary acquisition (Gromik, 2012; Liu & Chu, 2010; Sandberg et al., 2011). Sandberg et al. (2011) observed that when students took home a smartphone to learn English about zoo animals, they were motivated to use it in their spare time, which enabled them to outperform those who did not take the mobile applications home. Technologies designed to adapt to individual learners’ needs have also demonstrated positive effects in promoting learning (Lo, Wang, & Yeh, 2004; Chen & Chung, 2008; Hsu, Hwang, & Chang, 2010; Jia, Chen, Ding, & Ruan, 2012; Wible, Kuo, Chien, Liu, & Tsao, 2001). Lo et al. (2004) used a hypermedia-based English prepositions learning system2 to diagnose students’ errors and provide adaptive remedial instructions, which signifi-cantly improved students’ confidence and learning outcomes. Challenges. The degree of freedom that teachers should give students when students use technology for language learning deserves exploration. Experiments have shown that, when students were free to choose how and when to use CALL, their choices could lead to poor learning and wasted time (Sciarone & Meijer, 1993). Another challenge is that, although learning tools provide easy access to resources, learners may feel overwhelmed by large amounts of information and become passive receivers of knowledge (Schmid, 2008). Easy access to resources can encourage laziness and pas-sivity of learners when it comes to checking materials and exploring knowl-edge themselves.

Adult learners face numerous challenges that include changing definitions, overcoming circumstances, relearning, and motivation. Addressing these challenges in a timely and personal way is especially important in distance learning environments. This roundtable will discuss how WGU addresses these challenges and prepares educators in a manner independent of place and time.

Malaysia’s smart cities are some way behind as they are still new. That is not a bad thing as Malaysia has avoided the pitfalls of being an early adopter. Authorities can apply advanced technology and systems that already work.

infrastructure (the Internet is slower in Egypt)

I’m sure lots of you out there may have challenges to the above ideas and even better ones.

new solutions for societal challenges

Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenge

So far this has been minimally to moderately successful.

Up for a Challenge?