Solstice Conference 2016, Edge Hill University. Abstract Below:
E-Learning, Technology Enhanced Learning, Digital Learning, Digital Pedagogy – the names may have changed but how far have we actually come? In academia there has long been a vision of changing Higher Education for the better through the use of technology.
Bates (1997) identifies four ways in which technology were considered for use in education.
1. improvingthequalityoflearning;
2. improving access to education and training; 3. reducingthecostsofeducation;and
4. improving the cost‐effectiveness of education.
This session will explore whether we actually set out on the right path in the first place, to what extent we have been successful in using technology to achieve Bates’ four suggested improvements and what our vision for the future of our digital education landscape should be.
The last 10 years has seen the emergence of Web 2.0, social media platforms & not forgetting MOOC’s, so how has the education technology landscape changed & what does this mean for our academic practice? Using technology in the session to “crowd source” opinions we will seek to answer these questions and identify the progress made and the challenges that lie ahead.
Garrison, (2006) identifies two distinct decades of education technology, the first decade was about the technology (in many ways pushing aside pedagogy) and the second decade saw an emergence of technology aligning with pedagogy. As we enter the third decade, to what extent are we seeing pedagogy as the influencer of technology? For example, the emergence of the technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) framework (Koehler & Mishra, 2009) suggests that we are beginning to see technology as being equally important to subject knowledge & pedagogic knowledge.
Bates, A.W. (1997), “Restructuring the university for technological change”, paper presented at What Kind of University?, 18‐20 June, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, London.
Garrison, D. R. (2011). E-learning in the 21st century: A framework for research and practice. Taylor & Francis, Chicago
Koehler, M., & Mishra, P. (2009). What is technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK)?. Contemporary issues in technology and teacher education, 9(1), 60-70.
https://www.edgehill.ac.uk/solstice/files/2014/11/Simon-Thomson_Abstract_2016-1.pdf