Reflections on the Digital Dimension Block: Holistically Seeking the Connections

            The digital dimension block within the Pedagogical Issues and Perspectives in Higher Education unit of the Master’s in Open and Networked Higher Education, has taken me on a journey through a number of valid issues related to digitally mediated education.  These issues have foregrounded the need to integrate technological competences with subject content, to create a holistic education that seeks to go beyond simplified dichotomous perspectives and to also develop such perspectives about online education that are holistic in themselves.

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In my blog post titled ‘For the Love of Education: Of People and Machines’, the notions of pedagogy and digital technologies were explored and seen to feed into each other, without one gaining supremacy over the other; rather, a digitally-mediated educational context such as that pertaining to open and networked education, would call for discourse/s that is/are not deterministic in nature and one/s which does/do not ignore context (Fawns, 2022; Oliver, 2011).  In brief, neither technologies nor pedagogies are inherently good or bad unless one considers the context and values informing their use.  Utilising digital platforms such as Teams or Zoom or collaborative pedagogies does not automatically entail better student engagement or educational success (Oliver, 2011), nor are the physical classroom or transmissive pedagogies by default outdated educational experiences.  Education is a complex reality and as such, a holistic outlook would favour this complex reality by throwing light on all the factors that make it up and multiple perspectives that may inform it.  “Technology, users and social context all matter, and all partially determine activity.” (Winner, 1980, as cited in Fawns, 2022, p. 713) 

In this sense, explorations of the digital dimension in this learning journey have highlighted how this dimension, in and of itself, does not come in a vacuum.  Digital technologies embed pedagogies or are embedded by pedagogies, both are entangled, both are paramount in the educational journey, both gain momentum in the relationality involved, not least in the way they are played out by the human factor, that is educators and learners alike.  Critical thought is again foregrounded by breaking up any assumptions that may become normative and fixed.  I echo here Houlden and Veletsianos’s claim that “scholars’ understanding of flexibility in online learning has been hampered by an implicit assumption that all online learners participate in and experience education in similar ways” (2019, p. 1005).  Case in point was a particular synchronous session in research methods, which informed by a transmissive pedagogy via a teleconferencing platform, proved to me as a learner with regards to a specific learning activity more useful in gaining insight into the particular subject content than my attempts at self-directed learning.  Rapanta et al. (2021, p. 734) refer to a kind of flexibility that utilises “a greater variety of courses, in different modalities and implementing different methods”.  There can be such a vast array of idiosyncrasies in the educational journey, whether in terms of learning activities, tools used and no less in the humans populating the context, that no hard and fast rule can, or should, apply. 

A second vital subject area explored in the digital dimension block was that related to cybercime and cybersecurity, reflections on which were provided in the blog post titled ‘Playing with Fire or Playing it Safe: Insights into Cybercrime and Higher Education’.  A deeper understanding has been gained about what crime in the digital realm constitutes and the real repercussions entailed in the physical world.  As simultaneously learner and educator, here I engaged in issues which significantly struck a chord, such as those related to privacy and surveillance.  On reflection, we are oftentimes unknowingly providing a significant amount of information, whether it is personal data or a log of activities via the virtual learning environment (VLE).  Two important issues arise with regards to this.  Firstly, all stakeholders involved in higher educational institutions (HEIs) should have the common aim of promoting increased awareness, knowledge and skills in the prevention of cyberthreats (Bandara et al., 2014, p. 732) – an informed workforce can only make the educational journey a more holistic one.  Secondly, improving on these skills can empower educators to be better educators overall.  As per Dron’s idea, “[e]ducation is always enacted through technology, and teachers cannot avoid learning to use it” (2021, as cited in Fawns, 2022, p. 715).  Having a behind-the-scenes knowledge of that same technology, becomes part and parcel of the educator’s occupation and can lead the way for exemplary digital citizenship on the part of students, especially since leading by example is always the best option.  As an educator, it has become increasingly important on a personal as well as professional level that I become aware of any issues related to the digital realm, and I take these with me along with the subject content that I actually teach. 

In the third blog post navigating the digital dimension, titled ‘A Moral Compass: Considerations on Ethics in Higher Education’, explorations ranged from issues of appropriate online behaviour and netiquette to an online education that ethically strives for equity and equality.  This is an ulterior layer in the development of a holistic education that combines the use of technology with subject content.  Educators and learners involved in open and networked education cannot do so unless with an awareness of the permanency of online content (McQuade III, 2007) and therefore an understanding of the need for caution in posting publicly in online forums.  On another level, to what extent is online education ethical in its inclusivity and accessibility?  As described by Guardia, in designing learning activities that “place the students at the centre of the learning process asking them to combine self-regulation, autonomy, creativity, collaboration, communication and other generic skills” (Rapanta et al., 2021, p. 731), to all good intents and purposes, there are suggested expectations of a kind of learner that can actually engage in an online context.  This may be excluding other learners (Bayne et al., 2020, p. 92; Oliver, 2015), who may not possess such “personal preconditions” (Otto and Kerres, 2022, p. 59), not to mention the expectation of having other digital and literacy skills or the financial means to access online education, including owning the necessary digital devices (Bayne et al., 2020, p. 91), or the required internet quality (Kahu et al., 2014, p. 536).    For these and other reasons, ethical considerations as posed by the digital dimension, gain added significance in pursuing a more holistic educational journey.  This recalls Gravett et al.’s considerations of education provision that is morally right, by putting forward their idea of “pedagogies of mattering [that] can foster more caring and ethical ways of working with students by encouraging us to notice our institutions and learning spaces anew” (2021, p. 13).  This would entail that even novel spaces such as those afforded by online education, should be ongoingly reconsidered.

            In conclusion, the digital dimension block, with its focus on digital issues, has taken forward the relationality of these aspects to other factors constituting education.  This seems to attempt at the cognition of education as more of a whole than its separate parts, much in the same way that Koehler et al. (2013), convey the Technological, Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework, wherein “[d]ifferent kinds of knowledge are considered in combination rather than individually” (as cited in Fawns, 2022, p. 720). As an educator, I believe that a holistic approach to education can help me reach a whole new level. An increased awareness and understanding of the digital dimension in online education can propel us into seeking the connections and bridging the gaps.

References:

Bandara, I., Ioras, F., & Maher, K. (2014). Cyber Security Concerns In E-Learning Education. ICERI2014 Conference, 728–734.

Bayne, S., Evans, P., Ewins, R., Knox, J., Lamb, J., Macleod, H., O’Shea, C., Ross, J., Sheail, P. & Sinclair, C. (2020). The Manifesto for Teaching Online. The MIT Press.

Fawns, T. (2022). An Entangled Pedagogy: Looking Beyond the Pedagogy-Technology Dichotomy. Postdigital Science and Education, 2022(4), 711-728. An Entangled Pedagogy: Looking Beyond the Pedagogy—Technology Dichotomy | SpringerLink

Gravett, K., Taylor C. A. and Fairchild, N. (2021). Pedagogies of mattering: re-conceptualising relational pedagogies in higher education. Teaching in Higher Education. DOI: 10.1080/13562517.2021.1989580.

Houlden, S. and Veletsianos, G. (2019).  A posthumanist critique of flexible online learning and its “anytime anyplace” claims.  British Journal of Educational Technology, 50 (3), 1005–1018.  DOI:10.1111/bjet.12779

Kahu, E. R., Stephens, C., Zepke, N. and Leach, L. (2014). Space and time to engage: mature-aged distance students learn to fit study into their lives. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 33 (4), 523-540. DOI:10.1080/02601370.2014.884177

McQuade III, S. C. (2007, January 5). We Must Educate Young People About Cybercrime Before They Start College. The Chronicle of Higher Education. https://www.chronicle.com/article/we-must-educate-young-people-about-cybercrime-before-they-start-college/#annotations:6cJTcsXTEe2xScdn6ciIGg

Oliver, M. (2011). Technological determinism in educational technology research: some alternative ways of thinking about the relationship between learning and technology. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 2011(27), 373-384. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2729.2011.00406.x

Oliver, M. (2015). From openness to permeability: reframing open education in terms of positive liberty in the enactment of academic practices. Learning, Media and Technology, 40(3), 365-384. DOI: 10.1080/17439884.2015.1029940

Otto, D., & Kerres, M. (2022). Deconstructing the virtues of openness and its contribution to Bildung in the digital age. In: D. Kergel, J. Garsdahl, M. Paulsen, & B. Heidkamp-Kergel (Eds.), Bildung in the Digital Age (pp. 47-63): Routledge.

Rapanta, C., Botturi, L., Goodyear, P., Guardia, L. and Koole, M. (2021). Balancing Technology, Pedagogy and the New Normal: Post-pandemic Challenges for Higher Education. Postdigital Science and Education, 2021(3), 715-742. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42438-021-00249-1