Information and digital literacy in education via the digital path

Fifty years after the first computer network was connected, most experts say digital life will mostly change humans’ existence for the better over the next 50 years. However, they warn this will happen only if people embrace reforms allowing better cooperation, security, basic rights and economic fairness

A growing number of academics are experimenting with new technologies powered by artificial intelligence, but many of the technologies aren't yet ready for prime time.

by Michael Gaebel and Thérèse Zhang

Trends 2018 examines how learning and teaching at European higher education institutions evolves in the context of changing demands, technological and societal development, and European- and national-level policies and reforms. This EUA flagship report gathers data from more than 300 higher education institutions in 48 European countries.

With dozens of figures and tables, complemented by an in-depth analysis, Trends 2018 offers a wide mapping of the developments in learning and teaching across Europe. It also frames the discussion on this topic and why it is becoming ever more present in higher education institutions and in policy debates across Europe.

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The ninth UCISA Survey of Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) for higher education Report has been published. The Report offers a longitudinal perspective of TEL developments across the UK higher education sector, focusing on the current provision within universities and other higher education providers and the emerging and planned patterns of learning technology usage. This year’s Report draws on data going back to 2001 in its longitudinal analysis of TEL trends. In this blog post, we will explore some of the key findings from this year’s Survey, updating the picture that was reported on in 2016 (see corresponding blog post).

Our survey of more than 37,000 students (14,292 from further education) shows more than two thirds of further education (FE) students are turning to each other and their lecturers for technical support, overlooking online help for their digital queries

Common Sense Media’s latest report, co-authored with USC Annenberg, into the ‘new normal’ of media use in UK families reveals that while parents report a sense of anxiety and some conflict with their teens around media, most believe that digital technologies have actually reduced tensions. Despite anxiety, both parents and teens are largely optimistic about the benefits their devices bring, writes Sonia Livingstone. Sonia is Professor of Social Psychology in the Department of Media and Communications at the London School of Economics and Political Science. 

Twitter has made a surprise change to how it shows tweets to its users, following a viral thread earlier today that discussed ways to reverse the platform’s algorithmic timeline. Now, when you uncheck the settings box reading “Show the best tweets first,” Twitter will completely revert your timeline to a non-algorithmic, reverse-chronological order, which is how Twitter was originally designed and operated for years until the company introduced a default algorithmic model in early 2016.

The digital journey consists of 15 online modules for teachers who use little ICT in their lessons and 15 modules for already experienced teachers.

Until recently, Facebook had dominated the social media landscape among America’s youth – but it is no longer the most popular online platform among teens, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. Today, roughly half (51%) of U.S. teens ages 13 to 17 say they use Facebook, notably lower than the shares who use YouTube, Instagram or Snapchat.

This came out 6 months ago, but Esther Grassian just highlighted it - there is a useful introduction to Online Educational Resources (OERs) (with lots of links etc.) in the December 2018 issue of Library Instruction Round Table News: Tech Talk: Online Educational Resources by Billie Peterson-Lugo (on pages 5, 9-14)..

Key messages:

Prepare students for digital learning
Arriving students need to know what to expect from
digital learning. Our findings point to the key practices
and tools that students find useful in each sector but
there is no one-size-fits-all solution. This is where
institutions can make excellent use of their local
insights data.

Make bring your own devices (BYOD) work
Most students now bring their own devices for
learning but many can’t use them to access subjectspecialist software and online content. Students learn
more efficiently if they have access to the full range
of learning tools on a device of their choice.

Assistive technology is for everyone
One in five students is using assistive or adaptive
technologies, often by choice rather than necessity.
Institutions should recognise the value of ‘inclusive
for all’ and investigate how digital technologies can
support inclusion in learning and assessment.

Help students stay happy and well
FE students would benefit from better access to
health and wellbeing services online. HE students
would benefit from more help to stay safe online.
All students want to feel that they belong, so their
log-in should give access to personalised services,
student societies and social networks.Digital experience insights survey 2018: findings from students in
UK further and higher education.

Authors: Tabetha Newman, Helen Beetham and Sarah Knight
SEPTEMBER 2018

This year, MoodleNet has gone from idea to code. In fact, we’ll be launching a Minimum Viable Product in January 2019 to gather feedback from around a hundred testers. That process will start in the New Year.

In a world of agile development, where speed-to-market is everything, why has it taken a year for MoodleNet to emerge? Hopefully, this post (and its many links) will help explain some of that. We agree with Abraham Lincoln’s philosophy when he said: “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”

MoodleNet is a new open social media platform for educators, focused on professional development and open content. It aims to sustainably empower communities of educators to share and learn from each other to improve the...

Researchers studied students’ brains as they learned and took another look at the marshmallow test, learning styles, and growth mindset.

Education research continues to remind us of the powerful impact teachers have on children. This impact is overwhelmingly positive—the studies we highlight here demonstrate specific ways in which teachers can or already do help students feel a sense of belonging in school and make gains in learning.

There are areas for improvement, though: Researchers have shown that different rates of suspensions and expulsions for black and white boys have more to do with adult perceptions of those kids than with their behaviors. 

Today, Research England publishes three documents to help institutions prepare for the consultation later this month on the Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF).

One of those documents summarises the 106 responses to the December 2017 call for evidence, about what data is relevant to knowledge exchange and how it should be used appropriately. In particular, it looks at how institutions can be compared in a “fair and meaningful” way. The majority of responses are read as having a “cautiously positive tone, essentially this could be useful if done well”.

The Top Tools for Learning 2018 list was compiled by Jane Hart at the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies from the results of the 12th Annual Digital Learning Tools Survey, and released on 24 September 2018. [Find out more about the survey and read Jane’s analysis of this year’s list.]