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education@misco.co.uk 22 | INSIGHT | SECONDARY EDUCATION
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eferring to the use of electronic media and ICT technologies as part of the education system, e-learning has far from a fixed
definition. Just a decade ago, ‘early adopter’ universities were just starting to explore the potential benefits of
mobile and wireless learning. In the 10 years since, the mass availability of public and institutional wireless networks, emergence of new and powerful technologies (cloud computing, for instance), and the prevalence of a host of other similar innovations have changed the way universities operate and interact with their students when it comes to technological mediation. “I started university in 2005 and had a completely different expectation of technology to that which I have today,” noted Emily-Ann Nash, who served as Vice President of Academic Affairs at University of Brighton Students Union. “Many applications are now so user-friendly, and I use many technologies on a daily basis. I regularly use Google, e-books, YouTube and blogs. I have changed from using technology for social use to using it for study too. I use EndNote, listen to lectures for my post-graduate studies, access journals and listen to podcasts, sometimes while travelling to university on the bus.” To help get to grips with the issues surrounding e-learning, Education Technology spoke with Sarah Knight, e-learning’s programme manager at Jisc, a registered charity which champions the use of digital technologies in UK education and research to support learning, teaching, research and administration. “Our remit is to support colleges and universities
Sarah Knight, e-learning’s programme manager at Jisc
as they implement digital technologies for education and research,” Nash said.
Jisc works with a large number of universities and post-16 HE institutions around the country, helping course leaders and administrators realise the best ways to use technology to enhance the student experience. “This might be anything from advising on the new technologies that are coming to the forefront, to advising on legal aspects of technology and the importance of accessibility,” Nash continued. Befiting the innovation at the heart of technological development, a number of universities, colleges and other HE institutions have experimented with various different technology applications to augment the learning process in recent years. For instance, to help overcome some of the linguistic challenges in ESOL classes at City College Southampton, educators implemented an approach based on location-aware smartphones, thereby “providing [students with] opportunities to develop their linguistic skills in real and meaningful ways.” Many universities have also added virtual classroom facilities: allowing students to log in for distance learning sessions.
“I started university in 2005 and had a completely different expectation of technology to that which I have today”
Who you calling a MOOC? Perhaps the apex of this concept is the idea of MOOCs; the massive open online courses, which serve millions of online learners around the globe, offering hundreds of courses from a number of top- flight institutions. MOOCs have been referred to in some quarters as higher education’s ‘Napster moment.’ This references the popular MP3 sharing service which threatened the way that the music industry operated and ushered in the cultural space into which iTunes was launched. Those working within education who worry about the negative impact such a technology could have question whether the Internet’s decentralised approach to control means that universities themselves will become an outdated commodity.
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