If you can’t make it to tomorrow’s SALT Reading Group, there are some questions below that you might like to ponder. You can use the comments to add your thoughts.
Are the authors correct that one of the main concerns of previous educational research ‘has been to find out what is wrong with students who do not engage in the ways their tutors wish them to’?
Would you agree that ‘e-learning is not a separate way of learning but a part of normal everyday experience for students’?
Is the module an accurate reflection of student experiences?
- Functional Access
- Skills
- Practices
- Creative Appropriation
Is Creative Appropriation the pinnacle of effective learning?
Does Creative Appropriation actually share features with Maslow’s self-actualization? Is this relevant?
Can the pyramid be used to identify the different levels students are expected to achieve in a range of literacy related outcomes?
Could learners use the model to diagnose their own ‘digital literacy status’?
How easy is it for learners who have used ‘practices that have served them well at school’ to move to a situation where ‘they need to experience success in using new tools, where the focus is on high-level, academic outcomes such as argumentation and research’? What role does the University have to play in this?
The link below takes you to the reading group choice from the book “Rethinking Learning for a Digital Age” How Learners are Shaping their Own Experiences. You will need to your Swansea Blackboard password to access the content.
‘Understanding students’ uses of technology for learning: towards creative appropriation’
by Rhona Sharpe and Helen Beetham.
I think that you meant ‘model’ rather than ‘module’!
My initial response is are big words standard in educational literature? I had to look up “appropriation” and even having done so, I’m not sure that I know what it means in this context. My other response is to question where most academics would sit on the pyramid. If they are generally lower than the students then there’s a serious mismatch that will only get worse.
That’s a good point Chris. e-Learning literature can often be jargon heavy and my choice of reading probably means that I’m guilty of it as well. Although I was hoping this reading would not come over like that. I found a lot of interest in the reading but it was perhaps more appropriate to someone in my role in SALT. I think we probably need to rethink the type of readings we choose. Something more general perhaps? Something controversial?