Re: Digital support for teaching as a design science

HowardJ, April 18, 2012

Hi Professor Laurillard;
You said; "A 21st century education system needs teachers who work collaboratively to design effective and innovative teaching." I would suggest that in addition to technological tools (which I agree are sorely needed), we also need to integrate these tools with new social psychological conceptual tools. Teaching is still dominated by the implicit idea that knowledge is in our heads, we can understand a student by looking at the knowledge they possess, and teachers have everything they need within the classroom walls. From a design perspective, I believe learning and collaboration are two sides of a coin that are described by Vygotsky's zone of proximal development; focusing not on who a student (or teacher) is, but in who they are becoming and the activity that will get them to that point. To be in the "zone", you need support to confidently and collaboratively get out ahead of your own ability. To be successful, the design of digital tools and the environments in which they are used should help and support us to get out ahead of ourselves. Teaching is not only changing, teaching and learning is change; a process of becoming someone different. [Comment] [Permalink] [Previous][Next]