Recent Developments in Technology-Enhanced Learning: A Critical Assessment

Abstract

Our societies are considered knowledge societies in which lifelong learning is becoming increasingly important. At the same time, digital technologies are entering almost every aspect of our lives and now play an important role in education. The last decade has seen numerous new developments in the field of technology-enhanced learning. In 2004, George Siemens presented connectivism as a learning theory for the digital age. His ideas inspired the creation of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), which have recently received a great deal of attention. Theoretical works on the use of digital devices for learning have focused on the affordances users perceive in these devices. Design research has also shown us that learning environments enriched by digital technologies are extremely complex and should be viewed as learning ecologies. The discussions on connectivism and MOOCs, affordances of digital devices, and design research have taken place in different discourses that have paid hardly any attention to each other. It is important to point out, however, that the developments in technology-enhanced learning not only can but need to be related to each other. Keywords

Factors affecting Students Continue Intention to Use MOOCs, Benefits and Drawbacks. A Research Paper from the UAE Context

“…Despite public enthusiasm for MOOCs, it has been observed that MOOCs suffer from enormous dropout rates. On average, less than 10% of students attending MOOCs complete their course (Steffens et al, 2015). Considering the issue of MOOCs dropout and non-completion rates, a subject of great concern has been centered on issues of quality in learning and teaching (Al-shami, Sedik, Rashid, & Hussin, 2018c; Diver & Martinez, 2015) However, completion rate may not be the best measure for evaluating learning in MOOCs (Jordan, 2015), because students enrol in MOOCs for a variety of reasons (Al-shami, Sedik, Rashid, & Hussin, 2018a).…”

Collaboration, collation, and competition: Crowdsourcing a directory of educational technology tools for teaching and learning

“…This brings us to a second and related issue for further discussion: the analysis of the "suggested academic subjects for usage" and "suggested uses for the tool in an educational setting" fields. The comparatively undeveloped inputs for these fields give rise to a potentially techno-determinist (the assumption that integrating technology into the learning process is by its very nature positive or desirable - Steffens et al, 2015) or techno-centric (learning about the tool or technology or the effects of the tool or technology itself, rather than learning with or through the technology -Brennan, 2015) dimension of the project. Of course, these issues have long standing within debates on the use of technology in education (e.g., Papert, 1987;Salomon, 2016).…”

An Approach to Co-Design and Self-Regulated Learning in Technological Environments. Systematic Review

“…Technology Enhanced Learning Environments (TELE) refers to contexts that facilitate the acquisition of knowledge and skills with the support of ICT (Steffens et al, 2015). With regard to technology, it is important to distinguish between course-specific resources and applications for group work.…”