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Blogpost after course meeting 2

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Learning Environments

Physical learning environment (PLE)

Based on my previous assignment and two presentations in the second meeting, type and availability of physical resources in a classroom can improve the learning process. Modern facilities such as projectors, monitors and good ventilation, even furniture stuff such as comfortable chairs, window with a good view and curtains play a role, although a teacher usually does not have control on these resources. Space in a classroom is also associated with  teaching and learning, and it can help teachers to establish relations and control the activities in the room (Kress et al., 2005). The ways a teacher can manage verbal interaction among students might be influenced by arranging furniture in a classroom (Jewitt, 2008).

However, as we are living in a digital age and digital facilities are growing very fast, academics should prepare themselves for using digital tools to convert PLEs into either blended learning or digital learning environments. As mentioned in (Bates, 2015), modifying teaching and learning for the digital age needs a comprehensive and effective learning environment as a significant factor.

Digital learning environment (DLE)

In the meeting two, we had a chance to get more familiar with a new, digital and user-friendly tool, called Zoom. This tool can be used for distance learning, blended courses and arranging e-meetings.  I didn’t have that much experience in working with Zoom, only once I was invited to participate in a course related to my PhD project. By the meeting 2, I understood the capacity of Zoom further and deeper, and it gives us this possibility to establish and teach a course in a totally digital learning environment. Zoom allows us to form a flexible LE with the aid of screen sharing, virtual whiteboards and the transmission of speech and images to participants. Furthermore, the meeting can be divided into smaller groups for discussion using “break out rooms”, be recorded and interact by means of chat functions is also available.

In my last assignment, I explained two different PLEs (computer lab and project supervision meetings) for teaching LCA course, my selected course to work on in AUPU2. Now I think the project supervision meetings can be run in Zoom as online meetings, and I hope to improve my skill in using this tool and explore other digital resources and methods in a pedagogical context during the AUPU2.

In the meeting 2, we had some discussion groups regarding the DLEs, one point discussed in the meeting which I totally agree with was “Using digital learning tools does not automatically mean that we optimize learning”. Therefore, if we are interested in using digital tools, we need to design course and learning process accordingly as it could be very different with teaching the same course in a PLE. According to what I learnt from course AUPU 1, teaching and learning processes should be led in a constructive alignment system where it is focusing on what and how students are to learn and to what level, rather than on what topics the teacher is to present (Biggs and Tang, 2011). Hence, in a DLE, teacher also needs to create a constructive alignment system for the course based on the intended learning outcomes, teaching/learning activities and assessment tasks.

References

Bates, A. W. (2015). Teaching in a Digital Age. Appendix 1: Building an effective learning environment.

Biggs, J.B. & Tang, C. (2011). Teaching for Quality Learning at University. (4th Ed.). Maidenhead: McGraw Hill Education & Open University Press.

Kress, G., et al. (2005) English in urban classrooms: A multimodal perspective on teaching and learning. London: RoutledgeFalmer.

Jewitt, C. (2008) Multimodality and literacy in school classrooms. Review of Research in Education 32: 241–267.

AUPU2-Tasks

Blogpost after course meeting 1

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In meeting 1, we learnt how to create a blog and post and manage our materials into that. The blog can be developed as e-portfolio where our research activities and teaching courses can be placed and reveal our professional skills to researchers, teachers and students as well as potential employers. I am keen to build my own blog during this AUPU2 course as this can be as a preliminary step towards improving my digital competence for my future career in academia.

To continue this assignment, I would like to discuss this question: What is digital competence?

There is a published reference where this question is deeply discussed (Ilomäki et al., 2011). Based on this article, digital competence is “the most recent concept describing technology-related skills”. In addition to digital skills, digital competence comprises social and emotional aspects for using and understanding digital tool. For sure, the use of computer and internet play key roles in this regards, but what I am interested to know is how to utilize digital tools to involve students. For describing the skills and competence of using digital technologies, different terms have been utilized e.g. 21st  century skills and information technology skills. For us, living in 21st century, especially when involved in learning and teaching environment, this competence is vital, inevitable and demands attention and improvement as well. No doubt that courses like AUPU2 provide me with the opportunity of working further in this area.

Blended learning is another method that can be used to improve learning environment. As described in Mozelius and Hettiarachchi (2011), blended learning is the convergence of online distance and traditional face-to-face courses. For example, before I join KAU, I was responsible for teaching in couple of courses for two years where I normally had it as face-to-face education; however, I had a chance to teach a course by skype for distance students as well. The blended learning and use it in education environments gets growing attention in this century. In the above article (Mozelius and Hettiarachchi, 2011), 10 critical aspects for the design and implementation of blended learning in higher education have been investigated. Among these critical factors, Technology is indeed the fundamental ingredient for developing blended learning in higher education and Economy and being cost-efficient is very important aspect to investigate. However, I think for converting a face-to-face course or a full online course into a blended learning system or designing a blended learning education, in initial plantings, all ten categories mentioned in the article are required to be considered.

As a conclusion, I believe that the digital competence and blended learning are tools improves environmental learning while helping teachers to develop their pedagogical skills and ability to design and develop new courses. During the AUPU2 course, I would like to extend my pedagogical use of digital tools for my teaching courses to create an interesting learning environment for the students.

 References

Ilomäki, L., Kantosalo, A. & Lakkala, M. (2011). What is digital competence? Brüssel: European Schoolnet. Zugriff am 20.06.2015 unter https://tuhat.halvi.helsinki.fi/portal/files/ 48681684/Ilom_ki_etal_2011_What_is_digital_competence.pdf.

Mozelius, P. & Hettiarachchi, E. (2017). Critical Factors for Implementing Blended Learning in Higher Education. International Journal of Information and Communication Technologies in Education, 6(2), 37- 51. https://dx.doi.org/10.1515/ijicte-2017-0010.