Re-Evaluating Digital Technology to Enhance Learning

Chapter 1

Project Overview

The use of digital technology in education has been actively promoted for a number of years throughout the EU and generally teachers and educational management have responded positively to the introduction and use of digital technology in the classroom. Many vocational schools strive towards digital maturity as outlined in the eSchools programme and the partners in this project are all actively using digital technology in their vocational education and are all well advanced towards digital maturity. However we have now reached a point where we need to examine the effectiveness of this use, not only a self evaluation of our digital maturity but also of our response to the learning needs of students. Each teacher has to question why they have decided to use digital technology in a particular lesson? How does it add to the student learning? Do different students respond differently to the digital technology used and which students benefit most? Can some students be disadvantaged in their learning through the use or overuse of digital technology?

It would seem that in many cases digital technology has been used to substitute for existing teaching tools. Students often use tablets or laptop computers as a substitute for books. Teachers use digital projectors and digital presentations as a substitute for the traditional blackboard. The Internet is being used to replace the students trip to the library. While there is nothing wrong with this as such it demotes digital technology’s role in education to one of substitution for existing technology.

As educationalists we should be asking if we can we get more from digital technology? How can we employ digital technology in a more productive way to enhance vocational learning. In fact how can we harness the full potential of digital technology so that our students gain the maximum vocational educational benefit from its use?

In many instances the things we know about how students learn, their attention span, different types of learning and other educational theories have not been employed in deciding how, when and why we should use digital technology. The purpose of this Erasmus+ project was to address these questions at a practical level in the following way:

By conducting a critical examination of how digital technology is currently being used in vocational education.

By identifying digital resources currently available that may be used to enhance student learning. This will include the identification and evaluation of online educational resources as well as a more general evaluation of the Internet as a learning resource. Areas such as independent e-Learning, digital technology in classroom gamification and the use of Alternate reality software will also be considered.