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Enhancing Learning
Capturing Learning Moments Digitally
2/20/2008
The Importance of Planning Distribution
New instructional design necessarily involves attention to the distribution of learning. While we have become quite familiar over the last decade that the Internet can deliver content to students in a course of study, we now need to understand that the content of a course can evolve and grow when students are involved in the process and that collective knowledge can and should be distributed on a regular basis. Distribution now means capturing learning moments and distributing those to students with the group and outside the group on a regular basis. Cell phones can distribute class announcements and changes in schedule, but they can also distribute new ideas, collate project results, and promote ongoing learning opportunities, such as additional tutorials, working groups, assignment "pods," and discussion groups. Pod casts can distribute content in a multi-media object and collaborative screen shots can help to distribute the ownership of the thought process and promote ongoing contributions to the task or projects.
In addition to the importance of the production of learning that is possible now using digital tools, the distribution of those captured learning moments is vital. That is, without realizing the capability of mobility that teachers now have, the benefits of mobility will not be achieved. This I refer to as "mobile pedagogy." Understanding that learning is not confined to the moment in which it was captured means that learning becomes fully accessible, dynamic, and constructive.
While there are very real challenges in emerging teaching methods and uses of new technology in instruction, the capabilities are endless in both capturing and distributing learning beyond conventional confines. Smart Technologies, in a Campus Technology article, "Appealing to the Millennial Learner" wrote:
"In interacting with millennial learners, today's educators face formidable challenges in grabbing and retaining student attention. For better or worse, students are accustomed to large amounts of visual stimulation and to being offered a smorgasbord of ways to absorb information. That includes recorded voice and video capabilities in the classroom. And interactive technologies that let them participate in their own learning experiences." (2007)
My sense is that while there may be an obvious desire from students to receive information differently, the implications for a better learning experience must be what educators consciously plan into instruction. While discussion is ongoing in best practices in the field, an intense injustice is done when new methods are not attempted and new technology is used to merely reinforce conventional ideas about how teaching and learning is to happen. Instructors who keep on learning are very effective teachers; my sense is that the ongoing learning which must be done should involve the capturing and distribution of learning as much as content expertise and course design.
References
Mezirow, Jack (1997). "Transformative Learning: Theory to Practice." In Transformative Learning in Action: Insights from Practice. Hew Directions for Adult and Continuing Education. No 74, edited by P. Cranton, pp. 5-12. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, Summer 1997.
Reynard, Ruth (2005) Blogs in Higher Education: personal voice as part of learning." Campus Technology 2005. Online at http://www.campustechnology.com/
Scardamelia, M. (2002). Collective cognitive responsibility for the advancement of knowledge. In B. Smith (Ed.) Liberal Education in a Knowledge Society (pp.67-98). Chicago, Open Court.
"Smart Campuses: Appealing to the Millennial Learner." Campus Technology, Nov. 2007
Ruth Reynard is the director of faculty for Career Education Corp. She can be reached at rreynard@careered.com.
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