Abstract
The implementation of digital learning technologies in higher education is expected to improve the quality of teaching and facilitate more personalised, flexible, and student-centred approaches. Despite these predicted educational benefits, research shows that technology is predominantly used to support traditional teaching. Due to their opportunities to combine digital technology and face-to-face learning, blended learning designs are considered important in the digital transformation of teaching in higher education. The aim of this paper is to draw on what we know from the blended learning literature and introduce the notion of active digital pedagogies (ADPs). We suggest that there are formidable barriers that prevent the implementation of ADPs in higher education and propose relevant institutional actions.
Highlights
Digital learning technologies are expected to reform higher education: The recent Digital Education Action Plan (2021–2027) of the European Commission (EC) states that digital education should facilitate more personalised, flexible, and student-centred teaching (European Commission, 2021)
We draw on the work of Bonwell and Eison, who defined active learning as “instructional activities involving students in doing things and thinking about what they are doing” (Bonwell and Eison, 1991). Building on this and the EC’s initiative to reset education for the digital age, we suggest that Active Digital Learning Pedagogy constitute four rudimentary pedagogical prescriptions on which we will embark below
Active Digital Learning Pedagogy and our suggested preliminary list of pedagogical prerequisites can provide insights into how to “pull” and in what direction. This unstructured literature review, informed by our own experiences as digital innovators, made us realise that the digital transformation of higher education can be far slower than desired, and is even at risk of maintaining at status quo
Summary
Digital learning technologies are expected to reform higher education: The recent Digital Education Action Plan (2021–2027) of the European Commission (EC) states that digital education should facilitate more personalised, flexible, and student-centred teaching (European Commission, 2021). Taking the perspective of the students, recent survey data from Norwegian higher education shows that, during the pandemic, lack of motivation and sense of loneliness have been an increasing problem among students (NOKUT the Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education, 2020). From this we learn that a fully digital approach in higher education has limitations both when it comes to pedagogical practices and students’ well-being. Despite the high expectations to digital education, a review commissioned by the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research found that technology was most often used to support traditional teaching and that scholarly approaches that promote active pedagogies are lacking. Most examples provided are from Norwegian higher education, we believe that due to the extensive digitalisation of Norwegian society, the Norwegian context constitutes a pioneering and interesting case for other countries
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