Technology and Education Futures
| Module title | Technology and Education Futures |
|---|---|
| Module code | EFPM294 |
| Academic year | 2023/4 |
| Credits | 30 |
| Module staff | Dr Judith Kleine Staarman (Convenor) |
| Duration: Term | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duration: Weeks | 10 |
| Number students taking module (anticipated) | 80 |
|---|
Module description
In this module you will explore issues around digital technology in education practice and develop a critical understanding of the role of technology for your own education future.
You will interrogate key concepts such as play and gamification, immersion (AR/ VR) and personalisation (AI) and use these to critically consider the relationship between new technologies, pedagogy and educational practice. You will explore and experiment with practical ways in which new technologies might be used in teaching and learning. And you will reflect on debates around some of the key issues that have emerged in the networked age, such as mis/disinformation, ethical AI and automation, and how to bring these into educational practice.
Using a variety of digital tools, face-to-face seminars, hands-on and online activities, and drawing on a range of literature from educational technology, digital sociology and psychology, you will not only develop your critical understanding of issues around technology in education, you will also discuss, theorise and imagine, with other students, what probable, possible and preferable digital futures of education may look like.
Module aims - intentions of the module
Through exploration and discussion of theoretical, professional and practical applications of new technology in education, you will learn about the affordances and challenges of a variety of technologies for teaching and learning. You will be encouraged to reflect on and link back your ideas to your own practice and experiences.
Specifically the module will enable you to:
- develop a conceptual, critical and experiential understanding of the social and creative nature of learning with digital and networked technologies;
- identify possible affordances of digital tools for teaching and learning;
- identify and interpret educational theory and research and relate this to educational practice and educational futures with digital networked technologies;
- identify and interpret evidence and discuss this in the context of academic and professional reading work independently and with originality;
- develop a critical understanding of ethical issues involved in teaching and learning with new technologies
Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
ILO: Module-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 1. demonstrate a systematic understanding of theoretical perspectives and practical concerns in the area of educational technology;
- 2. demonstrate a critical understanding of the nature of learning processes around new technologies, with a specific focus on social and digital aspects of teaching and learning and around possible educational futures;
- 3. demonstrate an ability to critically reflect on the affordances of technological tools for teaching and learning;
ILO: Discipline-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 4. identify systematically and evaluate insightfully current research and advanced scholarship relevant to the field of educational technology;
- 5. explore critically the multiple lenses through which the role of educational technologies for education, teaching and learning can be interpreted and developed;
- 6. demonstrate the ability to identify and critically discuss current issues related to educational technologies and education;
ILO: Personal and key skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 7. Critically reflect on your experiences of educational practices and discuss the implications for future practice;
- 8. present and communicate ideas clearly, reflectively and critically, in oral, written and multimodal formats
- 9. demonstrate effective use of technology, including the use of electronic databases, word processing, multimedia, and other educational technologies
Syllabus plan
The precise structure of the module varies year by year, but in general, we will focus on a variety of pedagogic approaches underpinned by various technologies. We will engage with these approaches through a range of digital tools, hands-on workshops and seminars, as appropriate for the module.
It is envisaged that the syllabus will cover at least some of the following topics:
1. Technology in classrooms
2. Play-based learning and gamification
3. Computer support for collaborative learning
4. Adaptive technologies for learning (AI)
5. Teaching and learning with language generative AI (e.g. ChatGPT)
6. Immersive technologies for learning (VR/ AR)
7. Coding
8. Critical data literacies
9. Technology and creativity
10. Future pedagogies for digital education
This module is organised for both full and part-time students and the modes of delivery might differ for each of these groups.
Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 30 | 270 | 0 |
Details of learning activities and teaching methods
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | 30 | The teaching sessions will take on a variety of forms, including 30 hours of face to face and/or online seminars (1-3 hours) |
| Guided Independent Study | 120 | Engagement with specific online materials, videos, preparations for academic tutorials, preparing for seminar activities, responding to seminar, online activities and collaborative group tasks |
| Guided Independent Study | 100 | Preparation for assignments |
| Guided Independent Study | 50 | Set readings |
Formative assessment
| Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Written assignment | 500 words | 1-9 | Written tutor feedback |
Summative assessment (% of credit)
| Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 0 | 0 |
Details of summative assessment
| Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Educational resource and reflection | 50 | 2,500 words | 1-9 | Written summative feedback |
| Digital presentation | 50 | 2,500 words equivalent | 1-9 | Written summative feedback |
Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)
| Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Educational resource and reflection | Educational resource and reflection (2500 words) | 1-9 | 6 weeks |
| Digital Presentation | Digital presentation (2500 words equivalent) | 1-9 | 6 weeks |
Indicative learning resources - Basic reading
Aiello, P., D’elia, F., Di Tore, S. & Sibilio, M. (2012). A Constructivist Approach to Virtual Reality for Experiential Learning. E–Learning and Digital Media, 9(3). PP.317-324.
Albion P.R., Tondeur J. (2018) Information and Communication Technology and Education: Meaningful Change through Teacher Agency. In: Voogt J., Knezek G., Christensen R., Lai KW. (eds) Handbook of Information Technology in Primary and Secondary Education. Springer International Handbooks of Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53803-7_25-1
Burnett, C. & Merchant, G. (2018). New Media in the Classroom. SAGE Publications. Craft, A. (2011). Creativity and Educational Futures. Stoke on Trent: Trentham Books
DeFreitas, S. (2018). Are Games Effective Learning Tools? A Review of Educational Games. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 21(2), pp. 74-84.
Facer, K., Craft, A., Jewitt, C., Mauger, S., Sandford, R., Sharples, M. (2011). Building Agency in the Face of Uncertainty. Outcome of ESRC Seminar Series on Educational Futures http://richardsandford.net/edfutures/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Building-Agency-in-the-Face-of-Uncertainty-Thinking-Tool.pdf
Gee, J. P., & Hayes, E. R. (2011). Language and learning in the digital age. Routledge.https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/
Gillen, J. & Barton, D. (2010). Digital literacies. London Knowledge Lab, London. https://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/id/eprint/33471/1/DigitalLiteracies.pdf
Gilliard, C. (2017) Pedagogy and the logic of platforms. Educause Review, July/August 2017. http://er.educause.edu/articles/2017/7/pedagogy-and-the-logic-of-platforms
Granger, C. A., Morbey, M. L., Lotherington, H., Owston, R. D., & Wideman, H. H. (2002). Factors contributing to teachers' successful implementation of IT. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 18(4), 480-488.
Hillman, T., Bergviken Rensfeldt, A. & Ivarsson, J. (2020). Brave new platforms: a possible platform future for highly decentralised schooling. Learning, Media and Technology, 45(1), pp. 7-16. DOI: 10.1080/17439884.2020.1683748
Inayatullah, S. (2008). Mapping Educational Futures. In Bussey, M., Inayatullah, S., Milosevic, I. (eds). (2008). Alternative Educational Futures: pedagogies for emergent worlds. Rotterdam/Taipei: Sense Publishers
Kukulska-Hulme, A.; Bossu, C.; Coughlan, T.; Ferguson, R.; et al. (2021). Innovating Pedagogy 2021: Open University Innovation Report 9. The Open University, Milton Keynes.
Lanchester, J. (2017). You are the Product. London Review of Books, 30(16): 3-10.
Pangrazio, L. & Selwyn, N. (2019). ‘Personal data literacies’: a critical literacies approach to enhancing understandings of personal digital data, New media & society, 21(2). pp. 419-437, doi: 10.1177/1461444818799523.
Pegrum, M. (2019) Mobile lenses on Learning: Languages and Literacies on the move. Singapore, Springer.
Provost, F., & Fawcett, T. (2013). Data science and its relationship to big data and data-driven decision making. Big data, 1(1), 51-59.
Reimers, F. M., Schleicher, A. & Anash, G. A (2020). Schooling disrupted, schooling rethought. How the Covid-19 pandemic is changing education. OECD.
Selwyn, N. (2019). Should robots replace teachers? : AI and the future of education. Cambridge, Polity Press
Shaffer, D. W. (2007) How computer games help children to learn. New York: Palgrave/MacMillan
Sinclair, N., Haspekian, M., Robutti, O., Clark-Wilson, A. (2022). Revisiting Theories That Frame Research on Teaching Mathematics with Digital Technology. In: Clark-Wilson, A., Robutti, O., Sinclair, N. (eds) The Mathematics Teacher in the Digital Era. Mathematics Education in the Digital Era, vol 16. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05254-5_15
Slade, S. and Prinsloo, P. (2013) Learning Analytics: ethical issues and dilemmas. American Behavioral Scientist, 57(10): 1510-1529
Zawacki-Richter et al. (2019). Systematic review of research on artificial intelligence applications in higher education – where are the educators? Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education 16:39 https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-019-0171-0
| Credit value | 30 |
|---|---|
| Module ECTS | 15 |
| Module pre-requisites | None |
| Module co-requisites | None |
| NQF level (module) | 7 |
| Available as distance learning? | No |
| Origin date | 2018 |
| Last revision date | 24/04/2023 |
