Teaching and Learning in a Digital Age Sue Watling Festival of Teaching and Learning June 2014.

Teaching and Learning in a Digital Age

Sue WatlingFestival of Teaching and Learning

June 2014

Digital Education Plan

• The University will…– ‘……promote the wider and more creative

use of the VLE and other technologies for enhancing and enriching students’ education.’

– Promote OER– Develop digital literacies

HEA Flexible Pedagogieshttp://www.heacademy.ac.uk/projects/detail/Research/FP_prep_for_future_research

Teaching and Learning in a Digital Age(TELEDA)

• 30 credit Postgraduate short course • Emerged from Embedding OER Practice; HEA

Change Academy programme oer.lincoln.ac.uk

• Learning Blocks include online design, communication, collaboration, assessment, feedback and open education (OER/MOOC)

• Encourages critical reflection on practice • Assessment by eportfolio

…doing this course online is useful in enabling me to identify with the way students navigate information on blackboard

It has made me appreciate that if I was to use this as a tutor the issues students would face such as feeling unsure and not finding it as easy to talk.

I think adopting the role of student is a useful experience as it reminds me of the pressures involved in studentship and enables greater empathy to students and their experiences.

don’t

Being an online learner is disorientating. There is no tutor to check what you are doing ‘is right’ and no peers to learn from. This has made me realise that very explicit and direct, clear instructions are important…

There is no doubt that the transition from being an effective classroom practitioner to an effective online practitioner is complex and challenging.

It is so much harder for me to dedicate time to online learning than face-to-face learning…seems the first thing that gives in my diary when other things emerge.

Myths of e-elearning• cut costs• increase efficiency• do more for less• be intuitive• user friendly • enhance learning • transform education

Everyone…

• has a smart phone • uses track changes• manages their email• knows about html • optimises images• chats online• uses a webcam• works with wikis• blogs …or tweets…

Image from http://edutech4teachers.edublogs.org/files/2012/07/digital-footprint-1beuk2c.png

www.suewatling.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk

Image from http://babyurl.net/names/baby-domain-name/establishing-a-babys-digital-identity-by-registering-their-domain-name

CIBER research into the information behaviour of young peoplehttp://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/programmes/reppres/gg_final_keynote_11012008.pdf

...placed too much emphasis on text based, self-directed learning and didn’t recognise the important roles of self and peer assessment, interaction between students and probably most importantly, investing time in building solid foundations and helping students develop skills for online learning.

Blackboard is not the problem, there is nothing wrong with Blackboard, being an online tutor is just very different.....

After TELEDA 1…

• TELEDA 2: social media and e-resources,• PG Certificate in Digital Education,• Online non-accredited workshops; including:

– Introduction to social media, – Introduction to OER and MOOC,– Discussions and Reflections, – Working with Wikis.

• Offering mini student view of Blackboard.

Advantages

• Experiential learning• Critical reflection on practice• Research informed and engaged • Incorporates social impact of the internet • Communities of inquiry and shared practice • Introduces eportfolios• Promotes digital literacies

Disadvantages • Doesn’t reach everyone• Could

– Reinforce existing prejudices – Produce resistance – Create community of dislike for elearning in general

and Blackboard in particular

• Digital engagement not always recognised and rewarded

• Requires time and commitment

don’t

hampered by time constraints…. change is difficult and time consuming and, in a higher education environment governed by commodification and league tables, potentially risky. This needs to be addressed by institutions to ensure that staff have adequate time, resources and training to make the most of digital innovations and develop innovative practice.

Emerging ideas…• Myths of Digital Competence • Shift from e-learning to e-teaching• ABC - Activity Based Community• Text miss-communication • Invisible Others; pedagogy of

uncertainty?

Digital Literacies signposts

• SCONUL: Seven Pillars of information literacy through a digital lens http://www.sconul.ac.uk/publication/digital-literacy-lens

• JISC Developing Digital Literacies http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/infokits/digital-literacies/

•

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQHX-SjgQvQ&list=RDUOorZQLsmuA

Sue WatlingSenior Lecturer in Educational DevelopmentEducational Development and Enhancement Unit (EDEU)

[email protected] http://suewatling.blogs.lincoln.ac.uk