I sure find myself as a teacher and as
individual to be in a digital age. Facebook, LinkedIn, Youtube and other
IT-tools are a common in my private life, while learning management systems and
communication tools as Canvas and Zoom are common in the part of my life as a
teacher. However, I’m more a visitor than a resident, using the concepts discussed
in the videos by David White.
As a teacher and educator, I’m interesting
of the process of learning, which in a simplified way can be expressed as
change in mindset or behavior. I believe that many in their role as educators
still focus more on teaching, i.e. being an educator, than focusing on how students
learn (and what principles, methods and tools promoting that). Hence, in this
digital era, I’m curious how digital literacy can support learning.
Therefore,
I’ve enrolled in a course in Open Network Learning (ONL 201), to get the possibility
to apply and reflect upon different aspects of “digital possibilities” in an online
course. Even if the course recently started, and one
out of five topics been discussed, I already see new ways of promote learning
by means of the digital possibilities.
For example, using webinars as a way of
managing courses with students on distance (i.e. students abroad doing their
master theses). Another example is making seminars more interactive via a digital
padlet, used in the introduction lecture (topic 2) by Alastair Creelman and
Kiruthika Raupathi, making the participants to reflect and indirectly create the
design for coming seminars.
However, in parallel to the experiences
mentioned above, I also have a feeling that the digital era/trend is driven by “digital
enthusiasts”, i.e. that focus somewhat more on being digital than how digital
tools support learning. Here a comparison can be made with teaching versus
learning. For example, in one of the webinars several different tools were used,
which to some extent created confusion among the participants. Internal
discussions between the educators were to some part not focused on the
participants’ learning, and simultaneously chatting while having the lecture,
was from my perspective decreasing learning capabilities. Hence, the webinar,
from my perspective, was rather an expression for promoting different IT-tools,
but with no or little connection to learning.
This course is one step of my journey to
more in-depth explore the digital world as an educator. It will be interesting
to know more, and get more experiences during the course, concerning digital tools
and possibilities. However, for me, the core in all type of education is learning, and it will be interesting to learn more
about learning-aspects in the digital era.
Hi! What you raise about the distinction between "being digital" (digital enthusiasts) and "supporting learning using digital tools" is really important, I think. Digital tools will not, in and of themselves, support learning without (concurrently) paying at least as much attention to pedagogical methods as in "regular" teaching/lectures/seminars, etc. It is important not to view digital tools as a magic cure for everything in education. If used correctly, I believe digital tools can indeed catalyze, fortify and amplify a learning experience. However, this will not happen in absence of a combined focus on facilitating the learning processes. "Digitalness" does not circumvent this step, in all likelihood. Thanks for raising this issue.
SvaraRaderaHi! Nice read. Additionally to Ingrid's comment, I agree that digital tools should not be regarded as superior to all previously employed techniques just because they are shiny. The judgement what tool works best can only be done when different tools have been tested and fully understood by the educators themselves.
SvaraRaderaThanks for insightful comments, I agree with you both :-)
SvaraRaderaDear Fredrik, Welcome to the blogosphere, I know you have put effort on this and it is so nice to see you here! Thank you for a thought provoking and inspiring first post. I really appreciate your analysis of what a webinar could mean in terms of many ways of communicating (talking via video and typing via chat for instance). I think that you, by this example, highlight a common aspect of ICT tools for teaching and learning: many things can be done in several ways (such as communicating via chat or by video or both, and also for different purposes sometimes). Somehow I often end up in the old saying "less is more". It goes for designing websites but also in the design of a course or activities during a course. I think you are on to something when you say that the technological development are driven by enthusiasts. New shiny technology (as Unknown puts it in one of the comments above) drives us to focus on the new possibilities, the features, the gadgets and stimulates our curiosity. As you say, here comes the important part of being a teacher; to critically ask if and how this particular tool would be fruitful when supporting the students on their way to reach a learning goal. Perhaps another tool would suit better, or the chosen one is the best one. However, I also think that the way you are using it should also be taken into consideration (your example of questioning many communication channels/activities at the same time could be one example). Just because a digital solution supports many activities, it does not mean that you should use them all. Less is more sometimes... And I think that being in the position to design, scale and shape how we go about using them is part of the job of being a(n online) teacher. As I interpret your analysis in your first blog post, I see the heart of TPACK (https://educationaltechnology.net/technological-pedagogical-content-knowledge-tpack-framework/) in your way of reasoning. I am looking forward to read your upcoming posts in this course. Best wishes, Karin
SvaraRadera