10.1.7 Applying new technologies: digital and online learning /e-learning

Applying new technologies: digital and online learning /e-learning

Any short section on this topic is incomplete and out of date by the time it is written.

Digital and online learning or e-learning solutions focus on pedagogy and technology. E-learning is not about replacing learning in the classroom by learning behind the computer. Comparative research shows that adults do most learning on the job, with some 20% of learning gained from others around us, while only 10% happens through formal training. E-learning is therefore often part of blended solutions.

Digital and online learning has developed strongly outside the education sector, for instance in health care, finance and ICT, as it provides much more flexibility in determining when and where learning (training) can take place. Employers have tried to reduce the number of days for training out of work, and to increase the use of e-learning solutions. Performance support solutions are currently gaining importance as they try to address instant learning when it is needed, and can therefore be integrated with normal work activities.

The education sector is lagging behind these developments. Continuing VET is more directly affected than initial VET, through the widened access to relevant and quality skills development solutions, for example MOOCs and online platforms. In initial VET, including higher-VET, e-learning primarily affects the provision and pedagogy, supporting a shift from teaching to learning, better combining different learning environments and offering new opportunities for individualised and collective learning.

In Europe, a majority of teachers engage in ICT-related personal learning. Digital and online learning is also happening in all Partner Countries, and there are examples of individual teachers who have not waited for national initiatives, but have started to innovate themselves, using and developing digital tools. There are many tools, apps and programmes available to support digital and online learning, including open source solutions. With the support of these tools, it becomes easier to develop your own e-learning. Often there are a few champions who drive the digital agenda, and they are not necessarily only young teachers. These people are still faced with a lack of understanding from colleagues, but inevitably all will have to become more digitally literate.

New tools for digital and online learning are added every day, and it is not easy to judge which are the most appropriate. Often, a new technology or app is welcomed with great excitement, soon followed by disappointment before we realise how we can really use them. The hype cycle (below) is useful to make us aware of the limits of new technologies and their possible applications.

Source: https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/digcompedu 

As educators face rapidly changing demands, they require a broader and more sophisticated set of competences than before. The omnipresence of digital devices, and the duty to help students become digitally competent, require educators to develop their own digital competence. On an international and national level, a number of frameworks, self-assessment tools and training programmes have been developed to describe the facets of digital competence for educators, and to help them assess their competence, identify their training needs and offer targeted training. The European Commission’s Framework for the Digital Competence of Educators (DigCompEdu) is directed towards educators at all levels, from early childhood to higher and adult education, including general and vocational education and training, special needs education, and non-formal learning contexts. The focus is not on technical skills. Rather, the framework aims to detail how digital technologies can be used to enhance and improve education and training.

DigCompEdu details 22 competences organised in six areas. Area 1 is professional engagement, and covers the use of digital technologies for communication, collaboration and professional development. Area 2 defines the abilities for finding, creating and sharing digital resources. Area 3 describes how to manage and arrange the use of digital technologies in teaching and learning. Area 4 is about using digital technologies and strategies to enhance assessment. Area 5 is about empowering learners through the use of digital technologies to enhance inclusion, personalisation and active engagement. And Area 6 covers facilitating the digital competence of learners, enabling them to creatively and responsibly use digital technologies for information, communication, content creation, wellbeing and problem-solving.

The figure below schematically summarizes the 22 competences:

Source: https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/digcompedu

Games can be effective modes of learning. ILO & Skolkovo Academy in Russia developed a simulation game for VET school directors. You can learn more here.

Elements of games can be used through so-called gamification techniques, to get learners engaged in a learning flow.

E-learning is gaining popularity on other devices than computers. For personalised learning, many schools have started to use tablets. But mobile learning via smartphone is also gaining popularity. Not all applications can run on a computer and a phone, and thought needs to be given to where people will learn. Mobile phones are seen as critical for growing e-learning in developing countries, because of their relative low cost and wide availability.

What is the appropriate model for each country? It depends on the ambitions and capacities. Critical factors include broadband connectivity and teacher digital skills and competences. In order to ensure the relevance and quality of learning, scaling up good practices developed in schools is important. Teachers need to be aware of how to use existing open digital education resources. New learning programmes can also be developed by recycling bite-size chunks developed elsewhere. Cooperation in European initiatives is one important way of exchanging international experiences.

E-learning applications offer new opportunities for tracking the progress and difficulties that learners have in their individual learning. Learning analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of data about learners and their contexts, for purposes of understanding and optimising learning and the environments in which it occurs. Learning software is often programmed to generate more learning in areas where individual learners have particular challenges. With the increased use of artificial intelligence, it is expected that learning can be more focused on individual learning patterns.

The ETF has prepared a policy paper on digital and online learning that sets out the main challenges and steps for the development of digital and online learning in Partner Countries. These include supporting the following trends:

Personalise and focus on individual students

• Activate learners directing their own learning
• More collaboration between students
• Blending traditional and innovative pedagogy
• Flipped classrooms.

A concrete example of how technology can support learning is flipping the classroom. Traditionally, classroom time is spent by a teacher explaining a concept or specific skills, and after the class students receive homework to enforce the newly learned concept or to practice the skills. In a flipped classroom, it is the other way around. Students watch the lecture online and/or read materials at home to prepare for the classroom activities. In this way, the time at school can be used for further inquiry, application and assessment.

Bring the world outside school into the classroom

• Consider all learning that occurs outside schools
• Integrating social media for collaborative learning 
• ePortfolio
• Bring Your Own Device
• Connect schools-based and work-based learning.

Support teachers to

• Implement learning strategies
• Assess and evaluate students’ progress
• Collaborate in learning communities.

‘SELFIE’ is a tool developed to help schools assess where they stand with learning in the digital age. The ETF is promoting SELFIE among schools in Partner Countries to test their e-readiness, and to support their development. SELFIE is available in several languages, including French and Russian.

Selfie - watch video

Is your school making the most of digital technologies for teaching and learning? SELFIE is a free, easy-to-use, customisable tool to help schools assess where they stand with learning in the digital age.

STEP 1

If you would like to use SELFIE in your school, the first step is to assign a person or small team to coordinate the exercise.

STEP 2

School coordinators:

• Register the school on the SELFIE platform, providing basic information such as type of school (for example primary or secondary), size and location
• Choose the timing of the SELFIE exercise
• Select who will take part (for example which group of students).

STEP 3

As well as the set statements and questions, you can select or add items that match the needs and context of your school.

STEP 4

Coordinators invite students, teachers and school leaders to take part in SELFIE on an anonymous basis. It takes around 30 minutes to complete the questions. For teachers and school leaders this can be done at a time that suits them; for students we recommend making it part of a lesson.

STEP 5

Once participants have completed the questions, SELFIE generates a report for your school, showing the aggregated results in a visual and interactive way. These results are fully anonymised. The report belongs to the school and only the school can access it.

STEP 6

You can use the findings from SELFIE to start a discussion on how technologies support teaching, learning and student assessment in your school. This could help you formulate an action plan and set priorities.

STEP 7

You can repeat the assessment periodically to gauge progress and see where more action is needed.

Learn more about Selfie here. 

Digital technologies not only have the potential to unite teachers and learners in collaborative learning settings, but also to unite policy makers, leaders of institutes and teachers in the process of collaborative design of new VET curricula.