There may be connections to ACU’s Mission in the focus of the activity that you are designing or evaluating. For example, the sequence may be dealing with an ethical aspect of professional practice, or with students’ community engagement. There are also wider connections between the Catholic tradition and technology-enhanced learning, and these connections might prompt us to reconsider our values on what learning itself should be.
A. Technology and the right to education
All men [sic] of every race, condition and age, since they enjoy the dignity of a human being, have an inalienable right to an education that is in keeping with their ultimate goal, their ability, their sex, and the culture and tradition of their country, and also in harmony with their fraternal association with other peoples in the fostering of true unity and peace on earth.
More than fifty years old, the declaration from the Second Vatican Council on Christian education, Gravissimum educationis, expresses here the same commitment to universal access to knowledge as that aspired to by early advocates of the Internet. (It was written in the same year as the word ‘hypertext’ was invented, for example.) The University of the People is one example of a contemporary expression of the same belief, that “everyone deserves the right to an education, and that no one should be left behind due to financial constraints”: it offers tuition-free degree programs globally via the internet.
Teaching Online‘s module on ‘Designing and developing your online course‘ covers equity topics in unit 2 ‘Things to consider before you start designing your course’: Planning for diverse learners (unit 2.6)
B. The areopagus of the contemporary world
Pope Francis (who has an Instagram account as well as multilingual Twitter profiles) referred to the declaration on Christian education and the contemporary responsibility of universities like ACU in his 2014 address to the Congregation for Catholic Education:
Catholic academic institutions cannot isolate themselves from the world, they must know how to enter bravely into the areopagus of current culture and open dialogue, conscious of the gift that they can offer to everyone.
Pope Francis’ themes of diversity and the importance of dialogue in education have practical application in evaluating models of learning and the use of technology in building and maintaining relationships. He emphasises as well the centrality of the teacher:
The educator in Catholic schools must be, first and foremost, competent and qualified but, at the same time, someone who is rich in humanity and capable of being with young people in a style of pedagogy that helps promote their human and spiritual growth. Youth are in need of quality teaching along with values that are not only articulated but witnessed to.
C. Keeping the teacher in the classroom, and other heresies
As two teacher-researchers in a Catholic university, Reinhard and Noonan explore the sticky question of whether technology can substitute for the teacher.
Outside the Catholic conversation, Neil Selwyn usefully if ruthlessly lays out how technology can be seen to have altered teaching in The digital labor of digital learning.
Tara Brabazon (Digital hemlock, 2002) wonders whether “teachers may be major losers” (p. 20) in the wired university. Brabazon (p. 8) also quotes the student voice on how technology and human concerns should be considered. These were some of the responses to a student survey question: “What advice would you give to teaching staff planning to create a web-based learning course?”
- Don’t disregard the human factor for tutorials and labs
- Use it as a tool but don’t use it as the only means of communication – maintain word-of-mouth explanations as central to the course.
- Make it easy to follow and colourful; make it interesting so people stay attentive.
- Think about the students first and from the students’ perspective. You are a teacher first.
- You have to be enthusiastic about what you are doing.
Sources:
Brabazon, T. (2002). Digital hemlock: Internet education and the poisoning of teaching. Sydney: UNSW Press.
Selwyn, N. (2016, January). The digital labor of digital learning [Blog post]. Available from http://newmediaresearch.educ.monash.edu.au/lnm/the-digital-labor-of-digital-learning/