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What are the key questions that educators should ask when assessing new edtech? One of the great myths the edtech industry tries to sell us is that it invented personalised learning. Edtech companies trumpet the promise of using computers to teach, with students able to move at their own pace through the material in an individualised way, seeing exactly the content that they need to learn at precisely the right level for them, at just the moment they need to see it. The problem is, it’s not new – and it’s not really personalised.
As universities rush to get all their courses online quickly, there’s a high probability of error but also a lot you can do to succeed. Problems may occur due to overtaxed technological infrastructure, your students’ disorientation and fear, and your own learning curve. On the positive side, you learn for a living, so you are good at it! Being open to the current crisis-driven educational opportunity is a call to action. The reputation and integrity of your institution—and you!—depends upon your offering engaging online classes. (No pressure.) Below are a few tips to get you started.
It seems that the onset of a new decade is enough to get a lot of folk involved with ed tech questioning its position in the grand scheme of things. There seems to be a whiff of gloom and despondency in the air? I give you the amazing ‘The 100 Worst Ed-Tech Debacles of the Decade‘ piece from Audrey Watters of Hack Education, and Dean Shareski’s ‘I Don’t Think I’m an EdTech Guy Anymore‘ thoughtful reflection as starters for 10.
With video in learning one can feel as though one is learning, as the medium holds your attention but as you are hurtled forward, that knowledge disappears off the back. It’s like a shooting star; looks and feels great but the reality is that it burns up as it enters the atmosphere and rarely ever lands.
The technological imperative is writ large across university campuses – helping to create spaces and places for our students to flourish, as we flip, blend and merge our pedagogies to engage the generation “Z “ students – the first ones to arrive in HE with internet access from an early age. The big data affordances of learner analytics with algorithms to monitor, log, and prompt us to intervene has the potential to automate our progression worries and responses. The drivers for change are evident. The current polarisation of the UK “politick” is reflected in policy for higher education in the UK. The needs of employers are paramount, and education for “public good” has been swept away in pressures to have digital savvy and knowledgeable graduates.
Bob Dylan was right. Times, they are a’changin.’
Admit that the waters around you have grown and accept it that soon you’ll be drenched to the done.
Almost two decades into the 21st century, the waters around us have grown—literally and figuratively. And as with climate change, there are many (who hold great power) denying it happens or denying that we’re the cause of it happening, and thus denying that there’s anything we can or should do about it.
And thus in an age-old traditional, decrying and denying change—and in the process losing their ability to do anything about it.
Can We Stop Calling It Online Learning Now?
Technology is enabling more dynamic teaching and learning—both inside and outside of class.
Via Becky Roehrs
Once again all the #altc keynotes knocked it “out of the park”. Three very different perspectives, approaches and presentations yet all three complemented each other beautifully. From Bon Stewart’s opening around the need to challenge the new norm(al) of ed tech and re-balance the bell curve tradition with more of Haraway’s Cyborg manifesto, to Sian Bayne’s thought provoking take on the need for anonymous spaces to fight back against data capitalism, to Peter Goodyear’s closing talk around the need to re focus the way we think about and enact the design of learning spaces, I got what you want from any conference – insight, challenges, and a fair bit of chin stroking “hmm”.
The book examines the underlying principles that guide effective teaching in an age when all of us, and in particular the students we are teaching, are using technology. A framework for making decisions about your teaching is provided, while understanding that every subject is different, and every instructor has something unique and special to bring to their teaching.The book enables teachers and instructors to help students develop the knowledge and skills they will need in a digital age: not so much the IT skills, but the thinking and attitudes to learning that will bring them success.
Via Nik Peachey
John Hattie’s meta-study, Visible Learning (2009), changed the way we think about what works in the classroom. His analysis of 50,000 educational studies involving more than 80 million students gave us vital information about the relative effectiveness of different teaching practices on student achievement. However, all of these great practices were so numerous and time-consuming that successfully implementing visible learning was often overwhelming for teachers—but can today’s technology mitigate those time concerns?
Apps, programs and devices change over time. But some ideas for teaching with technology last through the changes.
Putting Technology At The Center Of Learning Is your school still in the dark ages of #edtech? Does your school teach students with edtech only through an ICT subject, or does your school have a dedicated edtech agenda, with a strong focus on integration into the curriculum in general? As an English teacher, I can only dream of the latter, because in all of the schools around the world that I have worked in (Australia, Spain, UK), edtech takes a back seat every time. To say this is rather frustrating is an understatement, especially when most of those schools have cited the need to create independent learners as a means to achieve desirable results.
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This guest blog has been kindly contributed by Professor Neil Morris, Chair in Educational Technology, School of Education, University of Leeds. He can be found at @NeilMorrisLeeds The Unbundled University research project, funded by the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC grant number ES/P002102/1) and the National Research Foundation in South Africa (NRF grant number 105395), explored a range of issues in relation to the expansion of online education in universities in the UK and South Africa, including partnerships with private companies and the disaggregation of learning and teaching materials for delivery online (‘unbundling’). Data were collected from interviews with senior leaders, academics, students and private companies in both countries. The data are being written up for publication in academic journals, but given the rapid shift to focus on online education as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, it is evident that some of the headlines from the research need to be put in the public domain rapidly.
"This report profiles key trends and emerging technologies and practices shaping the future of teaching and learning and envisions a number of scenarios and implications for that future. It is based on the perspectives and expertise of a global panel of leaders from across the higher education landscape."
Via EDTECH@UTRGV
This piece was written for The White House Symposium on the Future of Education R&D and Digital Learning, which took place on Oct. 5. It was originally published on Bror Saxberg’s blog and is reprinted with permission. Technology is changing the way almost all industries work beyond recognition. It’s also changing the nature of what skills humans need to succeed. This has profound implications for our education and training systems—we will need to be much more systematic and efficient to help many more learners succeed in the long haul.
On a recent OnEducation Podcast episode (embedded at the bottom of this post), the hosts Mike and Glen got into a debate about what exactly is the “right” model of support when it comes to technology integration in schools? As they called out my name in particular, I felt it best to write this post in response. Make no bones about it…Technology is a gift with a tail. It’s predicted that schools will spend $19 Billion dollars on technology in schools. This can range from a variety of devices, apps, software and various “STEM” tools but not necessarily servers, wires, and all that stuff in the closet. Despite this large amount of money invested in technology, the amount of money to support and integrate these tools dwarfs the amount spent on the hardware and software. I’d also wager that a majority of that “support” money is primarily for personnel needed to repair and keep the technology running, not to integrate it into learning.
The session reports on two studies based around Jisc’s investigation into the Next Generation of Digital Learning Environments. The first study asked questions about the technology in use, and emergent technologies that impact on learning and teaching. This involved framing the question as a “what if” and a “what would” around next generation digital learning technologies. This methodology relied on passive recruitment, with participants contributing a range of submissions from as short as a tweet to extensive papers.
The second report is based on data elicited from interviews with teaching staff about their practice. The methodology was to recruit teaching staff and use the same set of questions to interview each. Example questions include Tell me about the teaching you do. Where do you teach? How do you learn about teaching? Who do you talk to/communicate with about teaching? What is the balance of teaching with the rest of the work you do? What do you wish you could do around teaching? What are you not getting to do that you would like to be able to do?
The series looks at the impact of digital technologies on classroom practice and the kinds of skills teachers need to ensure that they help their students to take advantage of the opportunities that increasing classroom access to the Internet can offer.
Via Nik Peachey
There was a thought provoking article about educational technology in a recent edition of The Economist called ‘Together, technology and teachers can revamp schools’.
The article suggested that up until recently the relationship between technology and education has been tenuous. And that technological advancements, programmes and innovations, which seemed at first to be an exciting leap forward, often became a disappointment in practice. This has mainly been because of professionals’ reservation about using it and lack of necessary skills, as well as scepticism about its benefits.
It’s tempting to say that no matter how much technology pushes on education, every teacher will always need to know iconic teacher practices like assessment, curriculum design, classroom management, and cognitive coaching.
This may end up being true–how education changes in the next 20 years is a choice rather than the inevitable tidal wave of social and technological change it’s easy to sit back and wait for. Think of the very limited change in education since 2000 compared to the automotive industry, computer industry, retail consumer industry, etc. Huge leaps forward are not a foregone conclusion.
ICTpost Education Bureau What we are seeing in 2016 and 2017 is a transition to an educational system no longer dominated by traditional education and one or two alternative models. Educational
“Moodle Man!” came the cry from behind me. I cringed. I’d made the fatal mistake of walking through the campus helpdesk area during lunchtime on assignment hand-in day. I turned, clutching my meal deal, to see a student, and one of my regular customers, come barrelling towards me, laptop in hand. “How do I submit my assignment again?” she asked. “I really need a Jill Watson,” I said, abandoning my sandwich behind the desk. “Who’s Jill Watson?” came the reply. “Never mind, let’s have a look at your assignment”.
Experts weigh in on the challenges of student success and the need for innovation in higher ed.
For the second year in a row, the widely recognized and revered annual report from New Media Horizons and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative cites the Flippe
Via EDTECH@UTRGV
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