BSc Education

The course will take as its starting points the increasing role these digital technologies play in society and education and consider the implications of this for education. It then explores relevant educational theory and debates around the value of such technologies in the educational process. Students will explore different digital technologies and consider their value for education and meeting the needs of learners in different contexts. It will look at different technologies like Multimedia, digital games, virtual and augmented reality, mobile devices, or social media as examples of digital tools. Students will also be engaging with design and development process of specific technologies. The course will be run using these tools and the students will reflect on their experiences and do project work and presentations.

• Develop a critical understanding of digital technologies (e.g., Multimedia, social media, mobile phones, digital games, augmented and virtual reality software etc.) and how they can be adopted and/or integrated (or not) in different educational settings and contexts
• Explore learning theory relevant to technology mediated learning
• Provide practice in developing teaching materials that use digital technologies to support the development of knowledge and skills
• Practice digital skills relevant both to social and educational media

Knowledge and understanding

• Can identify the impact that digital technologies can play in specific educational contexts
• Can explain key theories in teaching and learning relevant to the deployment of digital technologies
• Can apply key theories in teaching and learning relevant to the deployment of digital technologies
• Can illustrate the affordances and challenges of different digital technologies for teaching and learning
• Can identify appropriate principles for technology mediated learning based on context and learning aims

Intellectual skills

• Analyse and critique the different stances people take on the role of digital technologies in education
• Reflect on how different digital technologies can be deployed to deliver different educational outcomes in different contexts

Practical skills

• Students will have developed a number of digital skills in the use of digital technologies learning, including the collaborative creation of technologies, the uses of social networking software to support education, the creation of digital media for inclusion in teaching. They will have looked at how digital games can be utilised in teaching and learning.

Transferable skills and persona; qualities

• Digital media skills (integrating, adopting, critiquing, creating digital media content)
• Group working skills (Recognizing and identifying views of others and working constructively with them)
• Presentational skills (Capacity to make oral presentations, using appropriate media for a target audience)

This course unit is exploratory in its nature and involves the participants in engaging in building their own understanding of the subject. It essentially uses what is termed enquiry, or problem-based learning. There will be interactive lectures using various technologies, through which we explore topics by discussing critically book chapters, articles, blog posts and relevant video material found online. Students will be engaging in interactive tasks, case studies, and hands-on design sessions with various technologies. Participants will be expected to research ideas in small groups and present them in class. We will also make use of students’ own devices and students will be asked to bring laptops, tablets and mobile phones to class.