Technologies, Teaching, and Learning in Higher Education

Education ◽  
2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason M. Lodge

Among all of the activity and commentary about the impact of technology on higher education, there is, unfortunately, not a high proportion of this work that could be described as rigorous or logically sound. There is a tendency for scholars and commentators to take either an overwhelmingly positive position or a skeptical position on the use of teaching technologies, either seeing them as a silver bullet to solve all educational problems, or as a direct route to a hellish, dystopian future. The focus of this bibliography is the subset of journals, books, and articles that are based on sound evidence, are well argued, and are therefore of high quality and high possible utility. As such, the emphasis is on what is known, rather than on conjectures about the utopian or dystopian versions of the future of higher education. The primary focus is on the role and impact of technologies on teaching and student learning. The bibliography is aimed at providing a high-level overview of teaching technologies in higher education from the perspective of sound, evidence-informed pedagogy. The entries in this bibliography also only include those from peer-reviewed outlets (with one key exception). As grey literature tends toward baseless claims and is based more on opinion and conjecture than sound evidence, it has been left out of this bibliography. Also left out are high-level, sensationalist publications written by former university presidents, consulting firms, or star economists and management professors (again with one exception). As these well-known publications tend to make gross generalizations based on little evidence about how teaching and learning actually work, they are of no real use and have therefore not been included. Looking across all the entries provided here, it is evident that many of the key issues that currently occupy those involved in the conceptualization, research, and implementation of technology in teaching in higher education have been of interest for some time. Many of the seminal articles and topics were published a decade or more ago. While there is probably a case for fresh, systematic reviews and possible reconceptualizations of the role technologies are playing in university teaching, the long-established theories still provide a solid basis for understanding current issues. There has, in fact, possibly been a tendency to ignore these theories in favor of the latest trend or tool. So while it may appear that many of the sources cited in this bibliography are out of date, that is far from the case. It is not the new, shiny technologies that should drive innovation in university teaching, but rather the rigorous and scholarly contributions that have stood the test of time. It is those contributions that make up much of the literature included here.

Author(s):  
Elizabeth Stacey ◽  
Philippa Gerbic

Blended learning is now part of the learning landscape in higher education, not just for campus-based courses but for courses designed for students studying at a distance as well as for communities of professional learning and practice. The impact of this concept in university teaching and learning can be seen in the appearance of practice focused texts for example, Littlejohn and Pegler (2007) and, more recently, Garrison and Vaughan (2008). Blended learning is now constantly positioned as one of the emerging trends in higher education (e. g. Allen, Seaman and Garrett, 2007; Graham, 2006; Garrison and Kanuka, 2004) and therefore is of particular strategic importance in the future of universities, their students and teachers as well as in the widening community of professional education and training. As an introduction to this book, this chapter will review the growing literature about blended learning and will discuss some of its key issues. The authors begin by introducing the concept of blended learning and its many meanings and attempt to clarify the definitional discussion. Issues in teaching and learning in both campus based and distance settings are then described followed by a discussion of the way blended learning provides a process for establishing communities of learning and practice, particularly for professional learning. Much of the literature about professional learning and learning communities has only just begun to identify aspects of blended learning practices as significant in their field, a gap this book is helping to fill.


2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 37-49
Author(s):  
Rodney Arambewela ◽  
Dilanthi Koralagama ◽  
Shyamali Kaluarachchi

The use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in Higher Education (HE) and the capabilities of the internet have added value to university teaching and learning. It has also tested the resolve of universities to maximise the benefits of technology integration amidst increasing class sizes, student expectations, cultural diversity and mobility of students. Understanding how students learn and devising appropriate student centred instruction and learning are considered essential to the successful implementation of ICT and allied technologies in teaching and learning. Supported by the findings of an empirical study conducted in an Australian university on student learning orientations and perceptions of course delivery, this article discusses the challenges faced by universities in the integration of technology in teaching for better learning outcomes. The study indicates that technology and learning contexts have a profound influence on student learning orientations of deep or surface learning and students seem to have mixed feelings about the impact of technology in teaching and learning.


Author(s):  
Debora DeZure

“Interdisciplinary Pedagogies in Higher Education” explores the increasing integration of goals for interdisciplinary learning in American higher education. The chapter begins with working definitions of interdisciplinary learning and the many factors that have led to its proliferation. It then reviews the elaboration of new methods to teach and to assess interdisciplinary learning, emerging models of interdisciplinary problem-solving, and practice-oriented resources and online tools to assist undergraduate, graduate, and professional students and their instructors with interdisciplinary problem-solving and communications in cross-disciplinary and interprofessional contexts. The chapter concludes with the impact of technology, for example, e-portfolios and other digital and technology-enabled tools, and evidence of an emerging body of scholarship of teaching and learning focused on interdisciplinary learning.


2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 2-4
Author(s):  
Geraldine E. Lefoe ◽  

Welcome to the third and final issue of Volume 8 of the Journal of University Teaching and Learning (JUTLP) in 2011. As the year draws to a close we are seeing some striking changes to the higher education sector internationally. In England budget cuts have seen the closure of the twenty-four Higher Education Academy subject centres at the same time as the establishment of student fees. In Australia the cap has been lifted across the board on the number of students that can be enrolled in universities with the resultant projected increased student numbers. The focus in Australia is on social inclusion yet in England the concern for the introduction of fees is just the opposite, these will be the very students who may now be excluded. The changes in both countries see new measures of accountability and more complex regulations put in place. Will this cause people to rethink the way we teach and the way students learn? For the Higher Education Academy in the UK, new directions see the hosting of a summit on learning and teaching with a focus on flexible learning, an indicator of new directions for many institutions. In Australia, we see a renewed opportunity to investigate such changes through the opening of the Office of Learning and Teaching (OLT) and its role of recognising the importance of learning and teaching through grants and awards schemes. We hope in 2012 we’ll hear more from our authors about the impact of these transformations, as well as those changes occurring in other countries around the world, on teaching practice in our universities.


2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-23
Author(s):  
Josie Arnold ◽  

Teaching and the student experience are interlocked. This paper takes a personal look at the pleasures and pressures of teaching in contemporary higher education. In doing so it adds to the definition of teachers’ work in higher education, surveys some of the creative and positive sides of University teaching and shines a light upon the impact of increased commercialisation and managerial approaches upon academic work. It focuses upon the teaching and learning activities that academics undertake in the service of the university, including the research that adds to and updates their own knowledge, and hence underpins their teaching, so as to enable and enrich the learning journeys of their students. This paper has been written as a personal narrative, as what I have come to call a ‘subjective academic narrative’. The ‘subjective’ refers to acknowledgement of the inevitability of the personal being an integral part of research; the ‘academic’ refers to the analytical and the intellectual ambience in which university research takes place; and the ‘narrative’ refers to the story, that is, the way in which we re-tell all of our research. Above all, this paper contributes to a sense of understanding some of the elements of teaching that are involved in student engagement.


Author(s):  
Rhona Sharpe ◽  
Frances Deepwell ◽  
Patsy Clarke

This paper evaluates the role of the faculty based student support coordinator (SSC) over the first two years of their roll out across all faculties in a UK university. The intention was that SSCs would provide a one-stop shop for students, handling enquiries on a broad range of issues, answering them where they can, offering support, and acting as a referral service. The benefits to students should be an accessible and responsive source of faculty based advice and information. One of the challenges of implementing this new system was expected to be ensuring that all those involved understand their roles and help students to make use of them appropriately. Data were collected as part of a wide-ranging evaluation, both from the SSCs themselves and staff they worked alongside via interview and attendance at meetings. Data were also collected from students via interviews and surveys. This paper uses these data to ask how the SSC role is working in practice, what are the realities and tensions of the role and what has been the impact to students? The evaluation was commissioned by the main university teaching and learning committee and its results have had a tangible impact. It clarified and protected the role of the SSCs and uncovered aspects of their role that had not been foreseen. The feedback from students showed an increasing awareness of the service offered by SSCs over time and a high level of satisfaction.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 50-69
Author(s):  
Victoria M. Cardullo ◽  
LeNessa Clark

Higher education institutions are exploring the impact of technology integration in educational settings since the release of marketed devices like the iPad and Chromebook. A university in the southern region of the United States launched a yearlong feasibility study to explore how mobile technologies support student learning, influence instruction, and identify how faculty and students perceive the usage of mobile devices for teaching and learning. The population consisted of freshman-level participants enrolled in a general education biology course. Student participants ranged from 17-21 years of age. All students were provided with an iPad to use during the year. Researchers used several data sources to collect bi-weekly observations on both faculty and students, a student survey, and post focus group interviews with students and faculty. Using the SAMR model paired with Bloom's taxonomies, findings described the various levels in which iPads were integrated into instruction by faculty and student participants. Research revealed student appreciation of iPad affordances and features of the device. The analysis also identified building infrastructure, technology support, and teacher training in technology integration as vital pieces to a successful schoolwide implementation.


Author(s):  
Elijah Isanda Omwenga ◽  
Peter M. F. Mbithi ◽  
John N. Muthama ◽  
John Mwarabu Chone

This paper presents a study on how University students, lecturers, administrators and managers perceive the impacts of the of COVID-19 crisis on various aspects of University teaching and learning in Africa, and particularly in Kenya. The sudden closure of campuses as a preventive measure to community transmission shifted face-to-face classes to virtual learning modes. With a sample of 1,236 University students and staff from 18 universities in Kenya and Nigeria, the study reveals that amid the worldwide lockdown and transition to online learning, expectation by 44% of the students were met. Students were mainly concerned about issues to do with internet connectivity, computing devices and electrical power. In addition, utilising e-Learning tools and platforms for effective student engagement posed limitations of accessibility and affordability for many students. The teaching staff on the other hand were mainly concerned with access to the teaching resources, conducting online teaching, capacity to handle the online mode of teaching, devices and eContent development. The pandemic has exposed the shortcomings of the current higher education system and the need for enhanced policy formulation and implementation on digital infrastructure to adapt to the rapidly changing education ecosystem of the world. In the post-pandemic situation, the use of eLearning and virtual education may become an integral part of the higher education system. Key factors influencing students’ satisfaction with the role of their University are also identified as internet access, quality of e-content and e-content development. Policymakers, stakeholders and higher education institutions in Africa may benefit from these findings while formulating policy recommendations and strategies to support University teaching and learning during this and any future pandemics. Universities need to plan the post-pandemic education and research strategies to ensure student learning outcomes and standards of educational quality.


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