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Technology

Traditionally, conceptions of technology especially in the educational arena conjure references to information and communications technology
And especially those that are electronic in nature, such as computers, and communications devices including telephones, radio and televisions.

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But technology means a lot more than that…

The business dictionary defines technology as…

“The purposeful application of information in the design, production, and utilization of goods and services, and in the organization of human activities”.

Notice in this definition of technology, reference to “systems, and methods of organization” and “arrangements and procedures”.
The point really is that technology is a lot more than machinery and hardware, and that much of it comes in the form of software.

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Education

The Wikipedia defines education as…
when knowledge, skills, and habits of a group of people are communicated from one generation to the next through teaching, training, research.
Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education).

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Comprises the acts of teaching and learning

Learning has much to do with memory and cognition
And teaching has a lot to do with the design of the learning experiences so that desirable learning can take place.
Neither one is sufficient on its own. Learning and teaching go hand in hand, and they are parts of the same educational transaction.
“…involves change in addition to being purposeful and specific to a subject matter domain”.

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Design

Design is concerned with applying knowledge and intuition to come up with artefacts that have not been invented or applied yet.
The act of designing begins with an in-depth knowledge of core principles as well as a very thorough understanding of the context.
Quite often a particular design is the outcome of the interactions between the design act and the issues and requirements of the context.
Seen in this manner, design is a “situated act” (Xerox Parc: Brown, Collins and Duguid).

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Design as a Science of the Artificial

The natural sciences = concerned with defining the nature of things (Chemistry, physics and biology etc. = natural sciences.
The sciences of the artificial = are concerned with defining how things ought to be (Design = sciences of the artificial).

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Talking about learning...

Learning is too complex a phenomenon to be the sole province of any one discipline, theoretical perspective, or research method

(Bell, 2004, Educational Psychologist, 39(4), 243-253).

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Learning is a formative shift in cognitive schema

Learning is not learning if a formative shift has not occurred.
And teaching is not teaching if one’s cognitive schema has not grown.
But teaching is not simply about talking at students about a body of subject matter knowledge.
If learners have not learned anything, then all a teacher may have done is ‘talked’ at them, or given them a “lecture”.

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Teaching is about causing these formative shifts

Teaching is about influencing one’s cognitive schema with new knowledge and realizations and/or new approaches to viewing reality.
It is about moving minds and mindsets.
Teaching is about motivating students to want to learn.
It is about placing “students in an environment where they want to learn and where they can naturally discover their true passions”.
Great teachers have always understood that their real role is not to teach subjects but to teach students.

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Teaching is not about “delivering” anything

The term “delivery” is inappropriate here.
Teaching is not about “delivering” anything to anyone in complex educational settings.
In such settings, the term delivery becomes an inadequate descriptor of what teaching is really about.

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Teaching is about the design of productive learning experiences and environments

As such there can be no generalizable model of teaching because it is a technological activity. (Dron, J., 2022). Technology, teaching, and the many distances of distance learning. Journal of Open, Flexible and Distance Learning, 26(2), [7–17.].

It is about getting the “mixture right” between how much of it is going to be one-on-one or group-based. And face-to-face, online, at a distance or in a combination of these modes.

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Modes of teaching and learning

Flexible learning: Educational practices with various dimensions of flexibility (time, place, pace, assessment, and duration etc.)
Distance learning: Where learners and teachers are not physically co-located. Refers to the gap between teachers and students.
Online learning: When the primary method of learning is carried out over the Internet or some form of network.
Blended learning: Where face-to-face learning is combined with the online learning.
Hybrid learning: A blending of online and face-to-face modes where some students are physically co-located while others are online.
Hyflex learning: A blending of hybrid or blended learning in arrangements that give learners the option of attending sessions in the classroom, participating online, or both.

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Choice of modes of teaching and learning

Decisions around these issues will need to be aligned with organizational orientation and its educational philosophy.
Organizations that purport to be distance education organizations, for instance, will very likely have the balance tipped in favour of more distance education provision.
Whereas conventional campus-based organizations will tip the balance in favour of more face-to-face educational offerings including the blending of various modes.

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Choice of technologies will vary…

The choice of individual technologies will vary…

depending upon the existing infrastructure in an educational context,
learners’ and teachers’ access to online and digital technologies as well as its purpose.

For instance, despite the existence of infrastructure to support online and digital communications in an educational context, print may still be the ideal means for the communication of large amounts of reading material.
And this may be so because of the portability of print and the flexibility it affords the learners in any context, developed or developing.

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How content is presented and mediated will differ

This is never a constant phenomenon, as the tools and technologies available to teachers will continue to be changing, both in the conventional classroom, and in the distance education and online world.
In this regard teachers will always have to be up skilling themselves in order to be effective and efficient, and making the most of the affordances of contemporary tools and technologies regardless of their educational context.

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The case for Open Educational Practices

There are three critical attributes to the concept of open educational practice:

1.1 Open access: Inclusive and equal access to educational opportunities without barriers such as entry qualifications and ability to pay. Value principle: All lives have equal value.

1.2 Open learning: Ability to study and learn at anytime, anywhere and at any pace as well as flexibility with learning activities. Value principle: Freedom and the flexibility to choose the mode, medium, time, place and pace of study.

1.3 Open scholarship: Releasing educational resources under an open license that permits no-cost access, use, adaptation and redistribution by others. Value principle: Education is a basic need that should be accessible to all, if we were to achieve education for all towards a path to real freedom, justice and equality.

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1.1 Open access

open access is deeply grounded in a socio-economic and political agenda which seeks education for all as the path to real freedom and justice.
For without education one cannot really be part of the mainstream conversation and therefore unable to compete equitably.
This means not just equal, but equitable access from a position of disadvantage to educational opportunities.
Without it, there can be no real freedom nor justice (not simply political freedom, but freedom to choose as one wishes to).

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Equality: Equal opportunity
Equity: Equality of opportunity

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1.2 Open learning

The concept of open access is best embodied in the development of opportunities for open, flexible and distance learning which enables learning at anytime, anywhere and at any pace, as well as anyhow.
The classic case is United Kingdom OU and many similar organizations.
This type of educational opportunity also involved making available educational resources at no, or a reduced cost to learners especially in resource poor and developing regions of the world.

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1.3 Open Scholarship

The idea of open scholarship encapsulates the release of all educational resources and initiatives openly and freely for use, reuse and adaptation.

While the case for open access and open learning seems to have been won—the case for Open Scholarship is not that clear.

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Underlying assumptions

The key points have to do with ethical and moral implications of open scholarship especially in relation to assuring quality of educational provision with integrity, and a duty of care of students as well as staff.
Education is a public good that needs to be accessible to all. The educational organization assumes a responsibility for providing the best, or at least a high quality educational experience to students who choose to join it.
In most cases this responsibility is articulated in a variety of ways including organizational mission and goals, strategic plans, and commitments to teaching and the provision of related academic as well as administrative support services.
Students and their parents will often make their choices to enroll and undertake to pay for these services based on these promises.

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The Promise of Flexible learning?

A useful approach to embedding flexibility is to see it in relation to how, and to what extent flexibility is being integrated in leveraging key dimensions of learning and teaching, and these are as follows:

Learning experience design - this is about the design and development of productive learning experiences so that each learner is able to make most of the learning opportunities they afford.
Learner-content engagement - this is about learners’ engagement and interaction with the subject matter in ways that suit individuals, their styles and approaches to studying and its time, place and pace.
Learner-teacher engagement - this is about choices learners have in relation to the mode and method of their engagement and interaction with their teachers and tutors.
Learner-learner engagement - this is about choices learners have in relation to the mode and method of their engagement and interaction with their peers in small and large groups, and in offline and online educational settings.
Learner engagement with the learning environment - this is about adaptable access, interaction and engagement with the learning environment (such as with mobile devices, Wi-Fi access and innovative use of study space).
Learner engagement with assessment activities - this is about choices learners have in relation to the fulfillment of their assessment requirements.
Learner engagement with feedback - this is about choices learners have in relation to access to feedback on their learning and assessment activities.
Learner engagement with the institution - this is about choices learners have in relation to their engagement with the services of the educational institution (especially in unbundled forms).

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Value Principles of Flexible Learning

Flexibility in learning is a value principle, much like diversity or equality in education and society more generally.
Flexibility in learning and teaching is relevant in any mode of study including campus-based face-to-face education.
But one size or approach to flexible learning does not, and will not fit all learners, teachers or disciplines.
There will be a need for different approaches to learning and teaching, with different levels of flexibility, structure and guidance for different cohorts and learning contexts, while the threshold value principles of all approaches remain the same.

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Key Considerations: If we were able to design educational institutions for such resilience from scratch, or reengineer existing ones….

What would institutions look like? What would be different about them?
For instance, how would key educational functions, including their various education services, be organized and managed?
How would role and responsibility in relation to teaching be reorganized?
How would academic staff be appointed to their positions, and under what terms and conditions? Is It Still Teaching When the Professor Is Dead? (Is It Still Teaching When the Professor Is Dead? | EdSurge News); The Pandemic Pushed Colleges to Record Lectures. The Practice May Be Here to Stay. | EdSurge News
How would academic staff have access to requisite professional development?
What kinds of policy frameworks will be required for such future-focused education systems and institutions?
Most importantly, what would be different about these considerations from the way they have always been (see Peters et al., 2020; UNESCO, 2020)?

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Teaching as a design science

Teaching is the product of multiple discourses.
It is about orchestrating productive pedagogies.
Requires knowledge about technology and education, as well as knowledge that lies at the intersections of these areas.
At the heart of synergies derived from technology, and education, is Learning Experience Design.

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Learning experience designs

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Implications for learning experience design

From self-study, to a didactic lecture, to group-based problem-based learning and role-play, some level of design is integral to any form of learning and teaching activity.
In the case of a lecture, for instance, along with defining the focus and scope of the lecture, a teacher needs to research and compile the subject matter content in a meaningful way.
And also consider issues such as sequence and timing of the lecture, the audience and the ambience of the venue in order to ensure achievement of the goals of the lecture and ensure maximum impact.

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Design is at the heart of teaching and learning

Learning and teaching is the result of good design.
This is a creative process. In the case of education the principles for designing will have been derived from:

Extensive study of human learning and cognition
The affordances of technology.
Knowledge of the learning and teaching context.
As well as best practices in teaching.

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Figure 1 seeks to capture these knowledge domains

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TPCK (Technological pedagogical content knowledge)

Popularized as technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK) by Mishra and Koehler (2006)
This is a concept that has its origins in Shulman’s (1986) notion of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and it comprises knowledge that lies at the intersections of these three variables.

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Level of design is commensurate with complexity

These include decisions that need to be made around

scoping and selection of the subject matter content.
its delivery mode and technologies that will be used,
the pedagogical principles that would drive the design of the learning and teaching experience including methods and strategies for the assessment of learning achievement and how feedback will be provided.

Decision making around all of these variables requires specialist knowledge about technology, pedagogy and the subject matter content (TPCK).

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Great teaching is when students have learned!

And this requires an in-depth understanding of…the subject matter, pedagogy, and the technology,

as well as knowledge that lies at the intersections of these variables.

This is technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK).
Seen in this manner, teaching is a design science …not unlike that which is required for the design of roads, bridges and buildings.
And teachers are choreographers and architects of this learning experience like directors of ensembles, or architects and engineers of roads, bridges and buildings.

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Great teaching is about grand designs!

This kind of teaching requires careful thought to…

what will be taught and learned (i.e., the subject matter),
how it will be taught and learned (i.e., its pedagogical approach),
and what tools and technologies (i.e., technology), will be used by the teachers and students
as well as how much time will be spent on teaching and learning.

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