Tag Archives: needs

needs analysis

Keeping the learner front and centre

Research collaboration between the University of Auckland, Waikato University, Canterbury University, Auckland University of Technology and Massey University (Ethics reference: FEDU036/20)

Whether we like it or not, universities are “going online” in response to COVID-19. Those of us working in the area of educational technologies might have been hoping for such a shift in contemporary higher education but no one anticipated such unprecedented change in such a short time. Organisations like EDUCAUSE emphasize the difference between carefully planned online learning experiences and courses offered online in response to a crisis or disaster (Hodges et al 2020). Students are facing multiple demands (many of which will persist) in the current context – e.g. access, financial, experience and orientation to learning online, motivation and diminished interaction with peers.
Emergent literature tends to be written from a teacher/lecturer point of view, focusing on how to make a rapid shift to online learning, and how to teach online. Missing from this literature is nuanced consideration of student perspectives. How teachers teach online, and how students experience and learn online can be poles apart (Forbes & Gedera, 2019), necessitating explicit attention to how students experience online teaching and learning. In particular, online students may engage in different ways (Brown et al, 2019).
As a team of educators interested in digital literacy and inclusive learning, we have embarked on a research project to learn from NZ university students’ perspectives and experiences of online learning during covid19. This project will fill the gap in current literature, emerging from US and the UK.

References

Brown, C., Davis, N., Eulatth-Vidal, W. (2019). Student engagement in flexible and distance learning in Aotearoa New Zealand. In A. Kamp (Ed). Education Studies in Aotearoa: Key disciplines and emerging directions. NZCER.
Forbes, D. L., & Gedera, D. S. P. (2019). From confounded to common ground: misunderstandings between tertiary teachers and students in online discussions. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 35(4), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.14742/ajet.3595
Hodges, C., Moore, S., Lockee, B., Trust, T & Bond, A. (2020) The Difference Between Emergency Remote Teaching and Online Learning. Educause Review https://tinyurl.com/rekxcrq

Lets be critical: Re-examining technology affordances and digital literacies for professional education

Leave a reply

A recent article by Smith, Kahlke and Judd (2020), reminds me of how almost a decade ago now, a colleague and I created an engaging learning design for a competency based programme: combining technology affordances, pedgagogy and digital literacy. We went the extra mile in planning and designing for the proper integration and use of technologies in the Pharmacy Practice programme, without making any assumptions about students’ digital literacy. Our approach (see Datt & Aspden, 2011) was based on the contributing elements of design for socio-constructivist learning environments: authenticity, motivation, scaffolding and skills development. We too focused on “two key questions: (1) what affordances are offered by a given technology that will support learners in developing their professional competencies, and (2) what broad range of knowledge and skills do learners require in order to effectively integrate a technology in their learning and practice?” (Smith et al., 2020, p.6)

Continue reading →

Generation “MySpace”

Social networking and its impact on students and education

This was my first overseas seminar since joining the University of Auckland as an academic in Technology Enhanced Learning. The seminar – focused on social networking – began with Dr. Dahle Suggett raising important issues around social networking and its impact on the social and emotional wellbeing of our youth. According to him, social networking begins a new era of cultural management where it becomes essential for educators and school administrators to plan the management of the social aspects of technologies. Many schools and universities end up blocking the access to tools such as ‘YouTube’ and ‘MySpace’. Is this the right approach? How do schools respond to students’ use of advanced technologies?

Keynote by danah boyd
Networked publics concept began with the inception of Usenet in 1979. Web 2.0 has provided more opportunity for networking in the public sphere with the use of modern social networking tools.