Education 2.0 & 3.0

Digital Tool kit:
Scenario one: live online learning
Scenario two: what makes an engaging course on the virtual learning environment (VLE)?
Scenario three: managing digital communities of learning

While some students thrived, many others flailed in the digital learning environment

Key Takeaways
New digital tools and platforms create opportunities in pedagogy, but they also result in deployment of under-tested digital tools in classroom instruction, which raises questions and challenges for educators.
A collaborative project between a media studies professor and a digital humanities librarian at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign sought to address these challenges by developing digital pedagogy practices.
As the two case studies described here show, these practices can foster an environment of interdisciplinary, collaborative student engagement with new tools; openly acknowledge the digital tools' experimental states; and encourage playful student tinkering with the tools, even when they appear simple or familiar.

Surely our prime focus needs to be on education in the broadest sense and equipping our educators with the skills, knowledge, rewards, support and time to develop pedagogies that are effective, learner centred and evidence based. Tapping into and fostering intrinsic motivations to be the best educator you can be. This and a gradual changing of culture and value placed on learning and teaching provides the foundation and platform for genuine, lasting and positive transformation, technology is just and will always be a supplement to that.

"Many students look at online learning courses as a respite from the rigors of brick-and-mortar learning, but that’s only true if educators and administrators choose not to maximize the digital learning environment to challenge their student populace.  While digital learning has its limitations and flaws, it can also be used as a powerful tool to stimulate critical thinking in students. In fact, there are plenty of ways to induce such propensities for critical thought without a student even being aware of it!"

There are three critical issues that are expanding the gap between the modern classroom and today's digital tools--here's why we hvae to address them.

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