2018-2019 / PEDA4059-1

Contemporary controversies concerning the use of TEL

Duration

15h Th, 30h Pr

Number of credits

 Master in education (120 ECTS)2 crédits 

Lecturer

Dominique Verpoorten

Language(s) of instruction

French language

Organisation and examination

Teaching in the second semester

Schedule

Schedule online

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents

The course explores the tensions active in the field of Technology-Enhanced Learning (TEL). Since their inception and till nowadays, these digital resources and artefacts have triggered debates and controversies relating to their potential, usage, effects, and conditions. The course offers a reflection and discussion space of the arguments and positions that can be invoked on issues like:
- ipads, smartboards, BYOD, simulation tools in classrooms; - public investment in schools' cybermedias centers; - the links between technological affordances and the generation so-called "netgens", "millenials", "homo zappiens", Y, etc. - the gamification of educational activities; - the introduction of programming courses in the curriculum; - the new dimensions of the "digital divide"; - TEL and cognitive sciences; - students and teachers' digital identities; - new medias and students' attention span reduction; - replacement or new roles of the teacher in a TEL environment; - educational technologies as a vehicle of "school merchandising"; - social media and learning; - adaptive systems and personalized learning; - MOOCs and learning; - innovative learning spaces - etc.
These topics are only illustrative. They can change according to technological evolutions and political debate updates. 

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

At the end of the course, participants will have :
- heightened their familiarity with modern TEL literature; - methodically approached a bunch of intellectual operations inherent to reading, writing and reflection for a knowledge worker (« academic moves », Burke & Gilmore, 2015) ; - documented recent debates on the use of TEL and, in the light of the studied arguments, sharpened their personal position; - experiences useful tool for ideas presentation, in a new media literacy perspective.  

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

A fair level of English reading skills (or a wish to devote time to a high mastery of the course material) is needed to fruitfully attend to this course whose lectures will be delivered in French. 

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

Lectures are not the main part of the course even though a few of them can sometimes take place. The course relies heavily on students' contributions, especially as a production of short videos on controversies to be defined, which will steadily feed a dedicated online space. 
Overall, the course develops less a content perspective than an attitudinal one: applying an admirative and critical approach to disputed topics, as an intellectual has to do at university and after. 

Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning)

The course occurs every Friday from 17H30 à 20H (TRIFAC), lectured by the teacher and the participants. In-between, preparation (reading, assignment, outputs implying shooting and editing...) is also expected. 

Recommended or required readings

Needed readings (portfolio of press articles, scientific articles, chapters, books, videos, manuals, production documents) will be defined by the start of the course. All of them will be available in or via the online space (https://www.ecampus.ulg.ac.be). Instructions relating to the use of ideas vizualisation tools will also be provided. The ressources are however open to change since the course tries, to a certain extent, to be open the news in the TEL field. Resources might also be brought by participants themselves. 

Assessment methods and criteria

The "video controversy" will contribute for 60% of the mark. The remainder will come from an oral exam wherein all topics covered by the course are likely to come up. 

Work placement(s)

Organizational remarks

Within the course, the self-regulated internalization of contents goes along with the discussion of this content with teacher and peers. The ultimate purpose of this articulation is to refine a personal intellectual position regarding the topics covered. In this context, attendance to the courses and upstream/downstream work thereon is highly recommended because their articulation is what makes learning benefits the most likely. It is also highly recommended to bring a laptop/tablet to the course even though it should be possible, in most cases, to share a computer with a fellow peer. 

Contacts

Dominique Verpoorten
Françoise Jérôme