Producing Digital Learning Resources (DLR) for Teacher Training

Anders Grov Nilsen,Helene Gram,Aslaug Grov Almås

doi:10.16993/dfl.153

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to describe the development and design process of an educational app for teacher training. Online teaching and learning resources are used more than ever in teacher training. However, the utilization of digital technology in higher education shows unambiguously that very little has been transformed or improved so far (Selwyn, 2014: 109). Regarding teacher education specifically; the slow uptake of ICT is also documented (Tomte, 2015: 151). Using a design-based research methodology, the researchers were involved in planning, designing and developing new resources for new practices in flexible teacher-training studies. Through three iterative cycles, the main aim in this article is to describe aspects in the process of designing DLR for the hybridization of teacher training. The findings suggest several aspects of the design process that we believe can enhance teacher trainers and development of digital learning content in higher education.

Highlights

Several teacher training institutions offer decentralized and part-time teacher-training studies
Our own research and development experiences suggest that more teacher educators need to be involved in the use and design of Digital Learning Resources (DLR)
According to the introduction and theoretical aspects presented, three iterative cycles were framed by designbased research to focus our discussion and contribute to developing new educational resources

Summary

Introduction

Several teacher training institutions offer decentralized and part-time teacher-training studies. Use of digital learning resources is crucial to implement this kind of teaching in a satisfactory way. There are high expectations about the potential of digital learning resources in teaching, learning and assessing online in higher education (Johnson et al, 2016) and students entering higher education today expect flexible studies (Dahlstrom and Bichsel, 2014). Involving teachers and development of pedagogical software have for decades, been a challenge in Norway, for teacher education. Focus on embedding pedagogical design into the open educational resource development process is a widely accepted trend (Miao, Mishra, & McGreal, 2016: 225). We see a concrete need for developing new practices with the use of modern digital learning resources. Using scenario-based simulations tends to be successful for student teachers learning classroom management, “in providing leverage for reflection, by means of catering for social interaction and dis-

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Conclusion