Author: Andrew McWhirter
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1351790048
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 258
Book Description
Employing a unique generational approach, this book critically assesses social media in educational contexts across all educational levels: from primary and secondary schools to further and higher education, proposing a schema for social media literacy (SML). Using research obtained from fieldwork observations conducted in online teaching groups, surveys, and in-depth interviews with teachers and educators on the topic of social media and education, chapters interrogate the historical relationship between educator and learner, and use the frame of expert methodology to understand what educators themselves consider important about social media and education relative to their sectors. Bringing together current literature from education, learning and media technologies, along with longstanding debates around technological influence, chapters also draw on audience and communication studies, psychology and arts and humanities at a time when many different disciplines are trying to understand what social media means to our society. This interdisciplinary volume will be of great interest to academics, researchers and postgraduates in the fields of technology in education, media literacy, and critical digital media. Practitioners involved in the sociology of education will also find the book of use.
Teaching Crowds
Author: John Dron
Publisher: Athabasca University Press
ISBN: 1927356806
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 370
Book Description
Within the rapidly expanding field of educational technology, learners and educators must confront a seemingly overwhelming selection of tools designed to deliver and facilitate both online and blended learning. Many of these tools assume that learning is configured and delivered in closed contexts, through learning management systems (LMS). However, while traditional "classroom" learning is by no means obsolete, networked learning is in the ascendant. A foundational method in online and blended education, as well as the most common means of informal and self-directed learning, networked learning is rapidly becoming the dominant mode of teaching as well as learning. In Teaching Crowds, Dron and Anderson introduce a new model for understanding and exploiting the pedagogical potential of Web-based technologies, one that rests on connections — on networks and collectives — rather than on separations. Recognizing that online learning both demands and affords new models of teaching and learning, the authors show how learners can engage with social media platforms to create an unbounded field of emergent connections. These connections empower learners, allowing them to draw from one another’s expertise to formulate and fulfill their own educational goals. In an increasingly networked world, developing such skills will, they argue, better prepare students to become self-directed, lifelong learners.
Publisher: Athabasca University Press
ISBN: 1927356806
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 370
Book Description
Within the rapidly expanding field of educational technology, learners and educators must confront a seemingly overwhelming selection of tools designed to deliver and facilitate both online and blended learning. Many of these tools assume that learning is configured and delivered in closed contexts, through learning management systems (LMS). However, while traditional "classroom" learning is by no means obsolete, networked learning is in the ascendant. A foundational method in online and blended education, as well as the most common means of informal and self-directed learning, networked learning is rapidly becoming the dominant mode of teaching as well as learning. In Teaching Crowds, Dron and Anderson introduce a new model for understanding and exploiting the pedagogical potential of Web-based technologies, one that rests on connections — on networks and collectives — rather than on separations. Recognizing that online learning both demands and affords new models of teaching and learning, the authors show how learners can engage with social media platforms to create an unbounded field of emergent connections. These connections empower learners, allowing them to draw from one another’s expertise to formulate and fulfill their own educational goals. In an increasingly networked world, developing such skills will, they argue, better prepare students to become self-directed, lifelong learners.
Education and Social Media
Author: Christine Greenhow
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262034476
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 267
Book Description
How are widely popular social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram transforming how teachers teach, how kids learn, and the very foundations of education? What controversies surround the integration of social media in students' lives? The past decade has brought increased access to new media, and with this, new opportunities and challenges for education. In this book, leading scholars from education, law, communications, sociology, and cultural studies explore the digital transformation now taking place in a variety of educational contexts. The contributors examine such topics as social media usage in schools, online youth communities, and distance learning in developing countries; the disruption of existing educational models of how knowledge is created and shared; privacy; accreditation; and the tension between the new ease of sharing and copyright laws. Case studies examine teaching media in K-12 schools and at universities; tuition-free, open education powered by social media, as practiced by University of the People; new financial models for higher education; the benefits and challenges of MOOCS (Massive Open Online Courses); social media and teacher education; and the civic and individual advantages of teens' participatory play.
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262034476
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 267
Book Description
How are widely popular social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram transforming how teachers teach, how kids learn, and the very foundations of education? What controversies surround the integration of social media in students' lives? The past decade has brought increased access to new media, and with this, new opportunities and challenges for education. In this book, leading scholars from education, law, communications, sociology, and cultural studies explore the digital transformation now taking place in a variety of educational contexts. The contributors examine such topics as social media usage in schools, online youth communities, and distance learning in developing countries; the disruption of existing educational models of how knowledge is created and shared; privacy; accreditation; and the tension between the new ease of sharing and copyright laws. Case studies examine teaching media in K-12 schools and at universities; tuition-free, open education powered by social media, as practiced by University of the People; new financial models for higher education; the benefits and challenges of MOOCS (Massive Open Online Courses); social media and teacher education; and the civic and individual advantages of teens' participatory play.
Social Media in Higher Education
Author: Chris Rowell
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781783746729
Category : Education, Higher
Languages : en
Pages : 279
Book Description
"How does social media affect working life in Higher Education? How are universities harnessing its power to aid student learning? This innovative collection brings together academics and those working in professional services to examine these questions and more. The diverse and expert contributors analyse the many ways social media can be used to enhance teaching and learning, research, professional practice, leadership, networking and career development. The impact of social media is evaluated critically, with an eye both to the benefits and the problems of using these new forms of digital communication. This is the first volume to give such detailed attention to this area of high interest. Its innovative approach extends to its creation, with contributors found via their presence on Twitter. The short and impactful chapters are accessible while retaining an academic focus through their application of relevant learning theories and educational context. Social Media and Higher Education is essential reading for any professional working in higher education, including lecturers teaching education courses. It is also significant for researchers looking at more recent developments in the field and what it means to work in a modern higher education environment."--Publisher's website.
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781783746729
Category : Education, Higher
Languages : en
Pages : 279
Book Description
"How does social media affect working life in Higher Education? How are universities harnessing its power to aid student learning? This innovative collection brings together academics and those working in professional services to examine these questions and more. The diverse and expert contributors analyse the many ways social media can be used to enhance teaching and learning, research, professional practice, leadership, networking and career development. The impact of social media is evaluated critically, with an eye both to the benefits and the problems of using these new forms of digital communication. This is the first volume to give such detailed attention to this area of high interest. Its innovative approach extends to its creation, with contributors found via their presence on Twitter. The short and impactful chapters are accessible while retaining an academic focus through their application of relevant learning theories and educational context. Social Media and Higher Education is essential reading for any professional working in higher education, including lecturers teaching education courses. It is also significant for researchers looking at more recent developments in the field and what it means to work in a modern higher education environment."--Publisher's website.
E-Learning and Social Media
Author: Elinor L. Brown
Publisher: IAP
ISBN: 1681234300
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 393
Book Description
International Advances in Education: Global Initiatives for Equity and Social Justice is an international research monograph series of scholarly works that focuses primarily on empowering children, adolescents, and young adults from diverse educational, socio-cultural, linguistic, religious, racial, ethnic, and socio-economic settings to become non-exploited/non-exploitive contributing members of the global community. The series draws on the international community of investigators, academics, and community organizers that have contributed to the evidence base for developing sound educational policies, practices, and innovative programs to optimize the potential of all students. Each themed volume includes multi-disciplinary theory, research, and practice that provides an enriched understanding of the drivers of human potential via education to assist readers in exploring, adapting, and replicating innovative strategies that enable ALL students to realize their full potential. Among these strategies are the integration of digital technologies (DT) and information and communication technologies (ICT) into contemporary education platforms. However, technology must be more than just a tool to deliver content and stimulate engagement; it must become a means to broaden access to learning, advance equity, promote social justice, and encourage social inclusion. Especially reaching out to address the academic and social needs of rural, impoverished, marginalized, and displaced populations. Though the digital divide continues to hinder educational attainment for underprivileged populations, ICTs are providing significant opportunities to deliver literacy and basic skills instruction to disadvantaged segments of the global population as well as engage, motivate, and customize learning to address local needs. Nonetheless, the availability of ICT is not a deterministic process. Other societal, cultural, political and contextual factors are of fundamental importance to acceptance and integration that enables people to benefit from technology. The relationship between educational access, instructional delivery, and ICT should be considered in more complex terms. In particular, digital technologies should be viewed as instructional tools that improve access to educational opportunities, strengthen cultural resources, promote social and economic equity, and provide students with the knowledge and competencies to prepare them for a future that cannot be predicted. Therefore, developing ICT and media capabilities that instill citizenship and stewardship in today’s students is crucial to gleaning the social and cultural advantages of a contemporary global society that encourages full and equal citizenship. Citizenship education refers to two understandings of citizenship: as belonging and as engagement. The first is focused on national identity and valorizes the values of justice and democracy, as well as language and culture as the roots bridging the personality of children to the community of solidarity and shared norms. The second understanding of citizenship complements the ‘roots’ with ‘roads’, with the choices made by the individual, with the capacity to form and develop the child’s personality into the actor and author of his/her educational, professional, and life projects. The adolescent prepares to become an active, committed, and engaged citizen with the intellectual capacity for critical thinking that leads to responsible actions. Digital citizenship expresses the transformations of both belonging to and engaging in the information society and contributes to the development of generation “Y” with the aspiration to innovate and experiment, to explore the possibilities of the new digital world, to question authorities and instances of knowledge and power. Education addresses digital citizenship by opening more avenues for the intersection of Internet, imagination, and exploration. Volume 10, E-learning & Social Media: Education and Citizenship for the Digital 21st Century, addresses the use of technology in: developing and expanding educational delivery systems to reach rural populations, providing access to equitable education opportunities for disadvantaged and marginalized populations, and encouraging student civic engagement. The volume evaluates e-learning programs (distributed through the Internet, via satellite and hosted on social media) that promote equitable education for disadvantaged populations; examines the challenges and benefits of social media on student self-identity, collaboration, and academic engagement; shares promising practices associated with technology in education and e-citizenship in the 21st century, and advances the discussion on blending global citizenship education and social media that raises student awareness, accountability and social justice involvement.
Publisher: IAP
ISBN: 1681234300
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 393
Book Description
International Advances in Education: Global Initiatives for Equity and Social Justice is an international research monograph series of scholarly works that focuses primarily on empowering children, adolescents, and young adults from diverse educational, socio-cultural, linguistic, religious, racial, ethnic, and socio-economic settings to become non-exploited/non-exploitive contributing members of the global community. The series draws on the international community of investigators, academics, and community organizers that have contributed to the evidence base for developing sound educational policies, practices, and innovative programs to optimize the potential of all students. Each themed volume includes multi-disciplinary theory, research, and practice that provides an enriched understanding of the drivers of human potential via education to assist readers in exploring, adapting, and replicating innovative strategies that enable ALL students to realize their full potential. Among these strategies are the integration of digital technologies (DT) and information and communication technologies (ICT) into contemporary education platforms. However, technology must be more than just a tool to deliver content and stimulate engagement; it must become a means to broaden access to learning, advance equity, promote social justice, and encourage social inclusion. Especially reaching out to address the academic and social needs of rural, impoverished, marginalized, and displaced populations. Though the digital divide continues to hinder educational attainment for underprivileged populations, ICTs are providing significant opportunities to deliver literacy and basic skills instruction to disadvantaged segments of the global population as well as engage, motivate, and customize learning to address local needs. Nonetheless, the availability of ICT is not a deterministic process. Other societal, cultural, political and contextual factors are of fundamental importance to acceptance and integration that enables people to benefit from technology. The relationship between educational access, instructional delivery, and ICT should be considered in more complex terms. In particular, digital technologies should be viewed as instructional tools that improve access to educational opportunities, strengthen cultural resources, promote social and economic equity, and provide students with the knowledge and competencies to prepare them for a future that cannot be predicted. Therefore, developing ICT and media capabilities that instill citizenship and stewardship in today’s students is crucial to gleaning the social and cultural advantages of a contemporary global society that encourages full and equal citizenship. Citizenship education refers to two understandings of citizenship: as belonging and as engagement. The first is focused on national identity and valorizes the values of justice and democracy, as well as language and culture as the roots bridging the personality of children to the community of solidarity and shared norms. The second understanding of citizenship complements the ‘roots’ with ‘roads’, with the choices made by the individual, with the capacity to form and develop the child’s personality into the actor and author of his/her educational, professional, and life projects. The adolescent prepares to become an active, committed, and engaged citizen with the intellectual capacity for critical thinking that leads to responsible actions. Digital citizenship expresses the transformations of both belonging to and engaging in the information society and contributes to the development of generation “Y” with the aspiration to innovate and experiment, to explore the possibilities of the new digital world, to question authorities and instances of knowledge and power. Education addresses digital citizenship by opening more avenues for the intersection of Internet, imagination, and exploration. Volume 10, E-learning & Social Media: Education and Citizenship for the Digital 21st Century, addresses the use of technology in: developing and expanding educational delivery systems to reach rural populations, providing access to equitable education opportunities for disadvantaged and marginalized populations, and encouraging student civic engagement. The volume evaluates e-learning programs (distributed through the Internet, via satellite and hosted on social media) that promote equitable education for disadvantaged populations; examines the challenges and benefits of social media on student self-identity, collaboration, and academic engagement; shares promising practices associated with technology in education and e-citizenship in the 21st century, and advances the discussion on blending global citizenship education and social media that raises student awareness, accountability and social justice involvement.
Handbook of Research on Information and Records Management in the Fourth Industrial Revolution
Author: Chigwada, Josiline Phiri
Publisher: IGI Global
ISBN: 1799877426
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 407
Book Description
Information and records management has been an important part of society for establishing procedures to effectively manage information. As technology has increased in society, this essential function has been impacted as well. With the onset of technological tools brought upon by the fourth industrial revolution, technologies such as artificial intelligence, the internet of things, big data, and more have changed the face of information and records management. These technologies and tools have paved new ways for security, efficiency in timely processes, new ways to create and process records, and other beneficial traits. Along with these advancements come new contemporary issues, leading to the need for research on how exactly information records management is functioning in modern times, the technologies brought on by the fourth industrial revolution, and both the benefits and challenges to this transition. The Handbook of Research on Information and Records Management in the Fourth Industrial Revolution showcases contemporary issues and demonstrates the value of information and records management in the fourth industrial revolution. The book provides a summary of the key activities undertaken by information and records managers as they seek to make records and information management more visible in the modern knowledge-driven society. The chapters highlight innovation, the use of information and communication technology in information and records management, best practices, challenges encountered, and how they are overcome. The target audience of this book will be composed of professionals, librarians, archivists, lecturers, and researchers working in the field of library and information science, along with practitioners, academicians, and students interested in information and records management in the 21st century.
Publisher: IGI Global
ISBN: 1799877426
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 407
Book Description
Information and records management has been an important part of society for establishing procedures to effectively manage information. As technology has increased in society, this essential function has been impacted as well. With the onset of technological tools brought upon by the fourth industrial revolution, technologies such as artificial intelligence, the internet of things, big data, and more have changed the face of information and records management. These technologies and tools have paved new ways for security, efficiency in timely processes, new ways to create and process records, and other beneficial traits. Along with these advancements come new contemporary issues, leading to the need for research on how exactly information records management is functioning in modern times, the technologies brought on by the fourth industrial revolution, and both the benefits and challenges to this transition. The Handbook of Research on Information and Records Management in the Fourth Industrial Revolution showcases contemporary issues and demonstrates the value of information and records management in the fourth industrial revolution. The book provides a summary of the key activities undertaken by information and records managers as they seek to make records and information management more visible in the modern knowledge-driven society. The chapters highlight innovation, the use of information and communication technology in information and records management, best practices, challenges encountered, and how they are overcome. The target audience of this book will be composed of professionals, librarians, archivists, lecturers, and researchers working in the field of library and information science, along with practitioners, academicians, and students interested in information and records management in the 21st century.
Social Media in the Classroom
Author: Hana S. Noor Al-Deen
Publisher: Peter Lang Incorporated, International Academic Publishers
ISBN: 9781433129049
Category : Educational technology
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
Social Media in the Classroom provides a comprehensive resource for teaching social media in advertising, public relations, and journalism at the undergraduate and graduate levels. With twelve chapters by contributors from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, this volume provides original scholarly work which encompasses a wide range of methodologies, theories, and sample assignments for implementing social media. This book is an excellent resource for preparing students to transform their personal skills in social media into professional skills for success in the job market.
Publisher: Peter Lang Incorporated, International Academic Publishers
ISBN: 9781433129049
Category : Educational technology
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
Social Media in the Classroom provides a comprehensive resource for teaching social media in advertising, public relations, and journalism at the undergraduate and graduate levels. With twelve chapters by contributors from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, this volume provides original scholarly work which encompasses a wide range of methodologies, theories, and sample assignments for implementing social media. This book is an excellent resource for preparing students to transform their personal skills in social media into professional skills for success in the job market.
Social Media Tools and Platforms in Learning Environments
Author: Bebo White
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3642203914
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 438
Book Description
Online social media have transformed the face of human interaction in the 21st century. Wikis, blogs, online groups and forums, podcasts, virtual worlds, and social tagging are but a few of the applications enabling innovative behaviors that support acquisition, access, manipulation, retrieval, and visualization of information. It is, therefore, no surprise that educational practitioners and theorists have begun to explore how social media can be harnessed to describe and implement new paradigms for communication, learning, and education. The editors’ goal in publishing this book was to identify original research on the application of online social media and related technologies in education as well as emerging applications in Web technologies that could provide and shape future educational platforms. The selected contributions deal with questions such as how social media can truly enrich and enhance learning and teaching experiences in ways not otherwise possible; how learning can be integrated in a distributed and ubiquitous social computing environment; or what theories, paradigms, and models are applicable for the support of social computing in education. Researchers in education or educational software will find interesting and sometimes provocative chapters on paradigms and methodologies, virtual and mobile learning spaces, and assessment and social factors. Practitioners in these fields will benefit from an additional section devoted to case studies and first experience reports.
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3642203914
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 438
Book Description
Online social media have transformed the face of human interaction in the 21st century. Wikis, blogs, online groups and forums, podcasts, virtual worlds, and social tagging are but a few of the applications enabling innovative behaviors that support acquisition, access, manipulation, retrieval, and visualization of information. It is, therefore, no surprise that educational practitioners and theorists have begun to explore how social media can be harnessed to describe and implement new paradigms for communication, learning, and education. The editors’ goal in publishing this book was to identify original research on the application of online social media and related technologies in education as well as emerging applications in Web technologies that could provide and shape future educational platforms. The selected contributions deal with questions such as how social media can truly enrich and enhance learning and teaching experiences in ways not otherwise possible; how learning can be integrated in a distributed and ubiquitous social computing environment; or what theories, paradigms, and models are applicable for the support of social computing in education. Researchers in education or educational software will find interesting and sometimes provocative chapters on paradigms and methodologies, virtual and mobile learning spaces, and assessment and social factors. Practitioners in these fields will benefit from an additional section devoted to case studies and first experience reports.
Teaching Machines
Author: Audrey Watters
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 026254606X
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 325
Book Description
How ed tech was born: Twentieth-century teaching machines--from Sidney Pressey's mechanized test-giver to B. F. Skinner's behaviorist bell-ringing box. Contrary to popular belief, ed tech did not begin with videos on the internet. The idea of technology that would allow students to "go at their own pace" did not originate in Silicon Valley. In Teaching Machines, education writer Audrey Watters offers a lively history of predigital educational technology, from Sidney Pressey's mechanized positive-reinforcement provider to B. F. Skinner's behaviorist bell-ringing box. Watters shows that these machines and the pedagogy that accompanied them sprang from ideas--bite-sized content, individualized instruction--that had legs and were later picked up by textbook publishers and early advocates for computerized learning. Watters pays particular attention to the role of the media--newspapers, magazines, television, and film--in shaping people's perceptions of teaching machines as well as the psychological theories underpinning them. She considers these machines in the context of education reform, the political reverberations of Sputnik, and the rise of the testing and textbook industries. She chronicles Skinner's attempts to bring his teaching machines to market, culminating in the famous behaviorist's efforts to launch Didak 101, the "pre-verbal" machine that taught spelling. (Alternate names proposed by Skinner include "Autodidak," "Instructomat," and "Autostructor.") Telling these somewhat cautionary tales, Watters challenges what she calls "the teleology of ed tech"--the idea that not only is computerized education inevitable, but technological progress is the sole driver of events.
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 026254606X
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 325
Book Description
How ed tech was born: Twentieth-century teaching machines--from Sidney Pressey's mechanized test-giver to B. F. Skinner's behaviorist bell-ringing box. Contrary to popular belief, ed tech did not begin with videos on the internet. The idea of technology that would allow students to "go at their own pace" did not originate in Silicon Valley. In Teaching Machines, education writer Audrey Watters offers a lively history of predigital educational technology, from Sidney Pressey's mechanized positive-reinforcement provider to B. F. Skinner's behaviorist bell-ringing box. Watters shows that these machines and the pedagogy that accompanied them sprang from ideas--bite-sized content, individualized instruction--that had legs and were later picked up by textbook publishers and early advocates for computerized learning. Watters pays particular attention to the role of the media--newspapers, magazines, television, and film--in shaping people's perceptions of teaching machines as well as the psychological theories underpinning them. She considers these machines in the context of education reform, the political reverberations of Sputnik, and the rise of the testing and textbook industries. She chronicles Skinner's attempts to bring his teaching machines to market, culminating in the famous behaviorist's efforts to launch Didak 101, the "pre-verbal" machine that taught spelling. (Alternate names proposed by Skinner include "Autodidak," "Instructomat," and "Autostructor.") Telling these somewhat cautionary tales, Watters challenges what she calls "the teleology of ed tech"--the idea that not only is computerized education inevitable, but technological progress is the sole driver of events.
Learning, Teaching, and Social Media
Author: Andrew McWhirter
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1351790048
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 258
Book Description
Employing a unique generational approach, this book critically assesses social media in educational contexts across all educational levels: from primary and secondary schools to further and higher education, proposing a schema for social media literacy (SML). Using research obtained from fieldwork observations conducted in online teaching groups, surveys, and in-depth interviews with teachers and educators on the topic of social media and education, chapters interrogate the historical relationship between educator and learner, and use the frame of expert methodology to understand what educators themselves consider important about social media and education relative to their sectors. Bringing together current literature from education, learning and media technologies, along with longstanding debates around technological influence, chapters also draw on audience and communication studies, psychology and arts and humanities at a time when many different disciplines are trying to understand what social media means to our society. This interdisciplinary volume will be of great interest to academics, researchers and postgraduates in the fields of technology in education, media literacy, and critical digital media. Practitioners involved in the sociology of education will also find the book of use.
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1351790048
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 258
Book Description
Employing a unique generational approach, this book critically assesses social media in educational contexts across all educational levels: from primary and secondary schools to further and higher education, proposing a schema for social media literacy (SML). Using research obtained from fieldwork observations conducted in online teaching groups, surveys, and in-depth interviews with teachers and educators on the topic of social media and education, chapters interrogate the historical relationship between educator and learner, and use the frame of expert methodology to understand what educators themselves consider important about social media and education relative to their sectors. Bringing together current literature from education, learning and media technologies, along with longstanding debates around technological influence, chapters also draw on audience and communication studies, psychology and arts and humanities at a time when many different disciplines are trying to understand what social media means to our society. This interdisciplinary volume will be of great interest to academics, researchers and postgraduates in the fields of technology in education, media literacy, and critical digital media. Practitioners involved in the sociology of education will also find the book of use.
Teaching in a Digital Age
Author: A. W Bates
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780995269231
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780995269231
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :
Book Description