THINKING ABOUT THE ROLE OF
LEARNING TECHNOLOGY IN THE
COURSE
… drawing on
Review of Undergraduate Experience
of Blended e-learning
Full report, Executive summary, 4
briefing papers at
http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/4884.
htm
JISC Effective practice & Learner
Experience studies:
• Learner Scoping Study (Sharpe,
Benfield, Lessner, De Cicco)
• Synthesis project (Sharpe et al)
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/elp_learneroutco
mes.html
… and work on digital literacy
LliDA at
http://www.academy.gcal.ac.uk/ll
ida/index.html
SLiDA at
https://wiki.brookes.ac.uk/display/slida/
Various technology use
studies
Landscape: social software
An ‘”underworld” of digital
communication among learners’
(LEX, Creanor et al 2006)
Google and Wikipedia preferred
information search & retrieval
tools
(LXP, Conole et al 2006)
“The concept of ‘time’ is
changing – both in terms of
expectation of information and
results on demand. There is
evidence of a fragmentation of
the learning timetable”
(LXP, Conole et al 2006)
©BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/
technology/3830527.stm
Immersed in technology
 “technologically adept
and had integrated ICT
into their lives (JISC
2007: 10)
 “student respondents
[are] immersed in
technology ownership
and use and impatient
with instructors who don’t
have adequate technical
skills” (Salaway et al
2007: 5)
©BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/
technology/3830527.stm
The SLiDA Project
How are institutions creating and enabling
opportunities that promote the development of
effective learning in a digital age?
Teaching studio in use, University of Edinburgh
Key findings from SLiDA
WHAT are institutions doing to support the
development of learners for a digital age?
1. Preparing students for their experience of
learning with technology
2. Enabling learners to use their own devices and
services
3. Reconfiguring campus spaces for social learning
4. Listening to learner voices
5. A strategic emphasis on course design for
blended learning
Digital literacies: Aspirations
E.g. JISC Call for Projects in Developing Digital
Literacies*
“A vision for digital literacies” including
 digitally literate graduates, who
“are skilled users of digital information, whether scholarly or
professional, public or personal. They move readily between
virtual and face to face environments, and across boundaries of
national and professional identity, when collaborating with
others.”
 digitally literate organisation(s) that
“treats the digital know-how of its members, staff and students
alike, as a critical resource to be routinely audited, progressed,
used in a range of multi-role teams, recognised and rewarded.”
* http://www.jisc.ac.uk/fundingopportunities/funding_calls/2011/04/grant411.aspx
Brookes digital & information
literacy*
“The functional access, skills and practices
necessary to become a confident, agile adopter of a
range of technologies for personal, academic and
professional use.”
“To be able to use appropriate technology to search
for high-quality information; critically to evaluate and
engage with the information obtained; reflect on and
record learning, and professional and personal
development; and engage productively in relevant
online communities.”
*Strategy for Enhancing the Student Experience
Question(s)
Can you deliver a course on innovation
without innovative (or at least up-to-date) use
of digital technologies?
If you do want to use up-to-date digital
technologies, then why and how?
What sorts of tools/technologies
are currently in the educational
landscape?
How are they being used?
Flexible engagement using VLE
MA in Educational
Research
 Content, learning
resources
MSc Nursing
Studies
 Fully online
distance learning
A reminder about assessment and
feedback
Formative use of CAA stands out as a rare
application of e-learning leading to measurable
impact on student performance (Sharpe et al
2006)
Extended, technology-enhanced
assignments
http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/groups/en-all
E.g. student
journals using
blogs
http://www.brookes.ac.uk/schools/education/arts/diaries/home.html!
http://core.mwbrookes.org.uk/
…. or e-portfolios to assemble and
present artifacts from extended tasks
Wikis for collaborative authoring
and presentation
Student research journals
(Geoverse)
Annotated bibliographies
Collaborative
student
projects
Twitter (and other social media)
Class twitter page to
gather resources
(Kate Varini, School
of Business)
Paper.li aggregates
twitter feeds and
presents them in
newspaper format
Mobile services
Mobile oxford
JISC-funded
project, led
by University
of Oxford,
with Brookes
partner
http://m.ox.ac.uk/desktop/
Task
In programme groups:
Write down a rationale for the use of technology in
the course
Identify one (or more) key examples of how
technology is/will be used in this way
References
British Library and JISC. (2008). "Information behaviour of the researcher of the future." Ciber report
[Online] Retrieved 8 July, 2008, from http://www.ucl.ac.uk/slais/research/ciber/downloads/.
Conole, G., De Laat, M., Dillon, T. and Darby, J. (2006, November 2006). "JISC LXP: Student
Experiences of Technologies Draft Final Report." November 2006.[Online] Retrieved 20 Nov, 2006,
from http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/lxp_project_final_report_nov_06.pdf.
Creanor, L., Trinder, K., Gowan, D. and Howells, C. (2006, August 2006). "LEX: The Learner
Experience of e-Learning Final Project Report August 2006." [Online] Retrieved 2 November, 2006,
from http://www.jisc.ac.uk/uploaded_documents/LEX%20Final%20Report_August06.pdf
JISC (2004). Effective Practice with e-Learning: A good practice guide in designing for e-Learning.
Bristol, JISC. Online at http://www.jisc.ac.uk/uploaded_documents/jisc%20effective%20practice3.pdf
JISC (2005). Innovative Practice with e-Learning. Bristol, JISC. Online at
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/uploaded_documents/publication_txt.pdf
JISC (2007). "Student Expectations Study: Key findings from online research and discussion
evenings held in June 2007 for the Joint Information Systems Committee." [Online] Retrieved 10
September, 2007, from http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/publications/studentexpectations.pdf
JISC. (2009). "Learner experiences of e-learning." [Online] Retrieved 9 April, 2009, from
https://mw.brookes.ac.uk/display/JISCle2/About.
Johnson, D., Johnson, R. and Smith, K. (2007). "The State of Cooperative Learning in Postsecondary
and Professional Settings." Educational Psychology Review 19(1): 15-29.
Johnson, D. W. and Johnson, R. T. (1999). Learning Together and Alone: Cooperative, Competitive
and Individualistic Learning (Fifth Edition). Needham Heights, Ma: Allyn and Bacon.
Salaway, G., Caruso, J. B. and Nelson, M. R. (2007). "The ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students
and Information Technology, 2007." [Online] Retrieved 9 October, 2007, from
http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ers0706/rs/ERS0706w.pdf
Sharpe, R, Benfield, G, Roberts, G and Francis, R (2006). "The undergraduate experience of blended
e-learning: a review of UK literature and practice undertaken for the Higher Education Academy."
Retrieved 3 October, 2006, from
http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/research/Sharpe_Benfield_Roberts_Francis.pdf