Inside Government – Embracing Technology Enhanced Learning Forum

Author:  Kevan Williams

On the 18th January, members of the TELT team attended the Inside Government – Embracing Technology Enhanced Learning Forum which presented delegates with a timely opportunity to explore the future of digital technology in higher education. A number of presentations from practitioners at the forefront of digital learning, focused on the potential of technology to transform student learning. A diverse range of university case studies were used to demonstrate best practice from leading technologists, resulting in an interesting discussion around the practical methods for embedding new approaches into curriculum design 

The New Media Consortium has identified six major challenges in its 2017 NMC Horizon report: Higher Education Edition, which are holding back digital technology in the higher education sector. The Teaching Excellence Framework lists the quality of digital resources as key assessment criteria for the learning environment, which raises the importance of evidence-based developments in this area. 

The main points for the TELT team to reflect upon are: 

1. There are no overwhelming shifts in the sector around digitally enabled learning, that are not already being investigated, evaluated or implemented 
2. There is a definite willingness to share TEL ideas and concepts despite the emerging competitiveness of the education sector  
3. In a recent JISC survey 50% of students feel they are not developing the most appropriate digital skills for their employment 
4. It is important to evaluate lots of technologies and it is equally as important to share experiences of technology enabled failures as it is to share successes 
5. Staff development must be at the heart of TEL 

Overall, a very interesting event with a great deal of topical and relevant information and the Innovating Pedagogy report recently published by the OU is certainly worth a read.