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Where is the digital technology

post_title='Where is the digital technology?'
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id=18226
link="https://djon.es/blog/"
category="casa"
img_base_url="https://djplaner.github.io/memex/share/blog/2022/"

ASCILITE's aspiration#

I recently attended ASCILITE'2022. The annual conference for the define ASCILITE. ASCILITE's aspiration is to be (emphasis added)

recognised internationally as Australasia's foremost community for the use of digital technologies in tertiary education.

On the first day I was struck by examples of (quite good) presentations where digital technologies were absent. Then one of the invited plenary speakers generated a positive reaction with a sentiment captured here by @LindaCorrin

Given ASCILITE's stated aspiration, is that the right sentiment for ASCILITE?

If it is, then I wonder how ASCILITE differentiates itself from HERDSA and its commitment to "the advancement of higher and tertiary education"?

Where's the digital technology? More examples#

The first ASCILITE'22 keynote drew on Glazier's (2021) suggestions for building human connections online: insert link

  1. Humanize the instructor
  2. Provide personalized feedback
  3. Reach out to students
  4. Support student peer collaboration

Pretty good, but those suggestions seem to apply regardless of whether you're using digital or online technologies to build human connections.

Another example on the first day were the 6 principles for digital learning innovation (Adachi et al 2022):

  1. Create a safe place for new ideas
  2. Keep focused on your purposes.
  3. Keep focused on your users.
  4. Be ethical.
  5. Start small and build up.
  6. Think holistically

These seem likely to be as useful as principles of innovation for QANTAS or McDonalds. Nothing here to provide specific advice on either digital innovation, learning innovation, or digital learning innovation.

This observation isn't intended to limit the value of these principles as useful guides for the practice of digital education or education more broadly. Instead, I'm wondering if at ASCILITE - given ASCILITE's aspirations - there should be more explicit engagement with digital technologies? Perhaps questions like if/how/why etc. the use of digital technologies in tertiary education complicates, aids, hinders etc the building of human connections or innovation (and many more).

So what might mention of digital technology look like at ASCILITE?

Smooth users?#

If we don't mention technology, are we destined to be "smooth users"

It's not the instrument, but how you use it?#

  • we're not computer scientists or technoogists

  • the focus is the use of digital tech in higher education

  • Gregor's types of theory

Extant literature examples

  • categories of use: with, from ---
  • critical perspectives
  • socio-material perspectives: Orlikowski, Fawns,
  • ?philosophical? Dron
  • Digital technology

It's the environment#

Dewey

we can never educate directly, but indirectly by means of the environment

Jonassen

we can never educate directly but can design the environment for learning to be happening