Digital Learning Research Symposium 2016
The following is a description of the keynote speech given by Professor Gráinne Conole that took place on Tuesday 1st November 2016 in the Helix, Dublin City University.
Description
The title of the keynote was:
Research Through the Generations: Reflecting on the Past, Present and Future
The keynote began with Professor Conole outlining what she considers to be the five transformative technologies that have shaped digital learning in the past 20 years:
(1) The Web / WiFi
(2) Learning Management Systems
(3) Mobile Devices
(4) OER/MOOCs
(5) Social Media
She went on to list the three facets of digital learning:
(1) Organisational Issues
(2) Pedagogical Aspects
(3) Underpinning Technologies
Professor Conole then considered the five stages that occur during the emergence of a research field (in this case, digital learning):
(1) Pre-subject area
(2) Beginnings
(3) Emergence
(4) Diversification
(5) Established
She stated that it is her belief that digital learning research is currently positioned between stages 4 and 5 (i.e. between diversification and established).
Professor Conole outlined the characteristics of digital learning research (drawing on a 2007 collaboration between herself and Martin Oliver):
(1) Changing
(2) Political
(3) Interdisciplinary (Education, Cognitive Psychology, Computer Science, Philosophy)
(4) Inclusion versus Exclusion
(5) Interactive
She referred to the state of ‘informed bewilderment’ that Manuel Castells considered modern society to be in. The wider impact of digital learning may result in new models for education and the ‘unbundling’ of education. Peering into the future, the UK report Innovating Pedagogy 2015 (which may be more nuanced than the Horizon reports) looks at the following areas:
(1) Artificial Intelligence
(2) Cloud Computing
(3) Augmented and Virtual Reality
(4) Learning Analytics
(5) Affective Computing
Photos
A couple of photos that I took at the conference:
