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Information Needs and Uses for Online Teaching and Learning

Started February 12, 2017 • ☕️ 3 min read • #4 papers

🖐️ The big picture

Over the last two decades, technology has been transforming ways in which teaching and learning are delivered to millions of learners around the globe for both formal and non-formal education and training. The use of learning technology brings forth both opportunities and challenges. Designers of learning technologies often squeeze more features from one release to another, and tend not to consider teachers’ practices as much. Very much the same from the learners’ perspective, such technologies, are often designed around “do your best”.

Can we bridge the gap between online learning technology and pedagogy?

I studied this question as part of my Ph.D. dissertation. I examined the design and use of information dashboards to inform teachers’ practices when assisting learners in using online learning platforms. I sought to examine not only what teachers are supposed to do or can do with dashboards, but more importantly what they actually do with such technologies in their everyday work and in the long run.

I argue that this research draws social, pedagogical, and technical ramification, which are crucial to articulate. We cannot truly elicit reflections on social factors without a critical inquiry into the pedagogical practices and technical challenges that teachers’ dashboards underpin. Concurrently, we cannot properly design such technologies without a profound understand- ing and consideration of the social impetus of users’ interactions in the context of classroom situations.

Publications

Read more about my research into teachers information needs and uses in the settings of online learning: