My question is ‘How do we use technologies to enrich teaching and encourage our students to use them to enrich their learning, while still respecting individual differences and preferences?’.
I suppose I have been grappling with this for a while now (see the ‘Digital Expectation Gap’ post earlier on this blog), but haven’t expressed it in words. I seem keener than most of my students on using technology in an educational setting, and keener than some of my colleagues.
I think we should not make ‘digital natives’ assumptions – students may prefer not to use technologies in their studies, or may lack experience or skills in so doing. Just because they may use a certain technology in every day life, that doesn’t mean it crosses the bridge into use in their studies. I find this issue very interesting, and I wonder how I can open up their minds to some of the affordances of the technology, so that their choices are informed. There is some overlap between this and cultural shift among teaching staff, I think. Old habits die hard!
