Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
Through my studies in this fourth topic of the ONL course, I have been able to give a lot of thought as to how I can best facilitate learning in both an online and blended learning environments for my students.
The concept of scaffolding is an important one, as we often come to teach young people with preconceived notions of their skill set, as explored in Topic 1 of ONL. The “digital native” debate continued to be explored with academics such as Bennett, Maton & Kervin (2008) advising that the term digital natives does not explain how some learners are adept at using technology while others are not. Like other skills such as reading and writing, technology use has its own literacy.
In my own teaching, I use digital resources such as our school’s Learning Management System (LMS), together with other online resources such as our library website to facilitate instruction. We create tutorial videos and handouts to assist students with their use of these digital technologies.
With this wider understanding of Blended Learning and Digital Literacies, I aim to build an ICT Capabilities Continuum that has practical applications for students to show their understanding as well as teaching points for staff to integrate skills into their own lessons.
References
Bennett, S, Maton, K & Kervin, L 2008, ‘The ‘digital natives’ debate: A critical review of the evidence’, British Journal of Educational Technology, vol. 39, no. 5, pp. 775-786.
