Some Thoughts on "Rethinking University Teaching in the Digital Age"

Sometimes it's good to take a step back on do a little reflecting. I've been working on the IMPART online course and decided to take a few minutes to read the article "Rethinking University Teaching in the Digital Age" by Diana Laurillard (Futures Forum 2002)¹. This article is a summary of "Rethinking University Teaching for the Knowledge Society" by the same author - a paper presented and discussed at the EDUCASE Forum's 2001 Aspen Symposium².
The article talks about how the "transmission model" of teaching (that is, passing on knowledge/information from teacher --> student) has been the dominant form of "education" and even as we adopt new technologies, such as the Internet, we continue to use this method. However, people "learn by doing and gain the experience necessary to reason, strategize and make sense of situations that will arise in practice, during their future careers" --> the transmission model does not meet these requirements. Laurillard puts forth a "conversational model," which looks something like this:

Highlights of this model:

• iterative dialogue - 2 types:


1. discursive, theoretical, conceptual level (top of diagram)
2. active, practical, experiential level (bottom of diagram)


• 2 processes:
  
1. adaptation of practice in relation to theory
2. reflection on theory in light of practice

Reading this article reminded me to focus on interactivity when I design the modules for my online course. Opportunities for students to discuss the issues, especially how theory meshes with their experiences within research practice and how they can incorporate the theory into their research practice, need to be presented to generate useful discussions among the students in order to enhance learning. As well, feedback from the students on the learning to the "teacher"³ is an important part of the process.

And one last thing from the article - it presents the following definition of the role of universities in society (from the British National Inquiry into Higher Education, 1997): "to enable society to maintain an independent understanding of itself and its world," pointing out that this broad mission really separates universities from the for-profit sector's more limited mission. I like this - I think that it's important to recognize the importance of maintaining indepedent universities.

---

Footnotes

¹Full text of "Rethinking University Teaching in the Digital Age" (as well as other summary articles from the Forum for the Future of Higher Education's 2001 Aspen Symposium: http://www.educause.edu/Apps/forum/ffp02w.asp?bhcp=1

²This article is next up on my reading list! It, along with the other papers presented and discussed at the EDUCASE Forum's 2001 Aspen Symposium, can be downloaded for free from http://www.educause.edu/Apps/forum/ffpiu01w.asp

³in the case of my online course "teacher" can, I think, be viewed as the mentors in the program (who represent the experts in the various topics, as well as myself as the course designer. It is also important to remember that this iterative dialogue between students and teachers will take place in the seminars and need not all be incorporated into the online course.