Session 1: Technology enabled Learning & its future in Higher Education

We as consumers strive to acquire quality products and access to quality education via technology is no exception. In the past, shopping for products meant being able to visually and physically inspect it hence making informed purchases. However, with the introduction of online or e-shopping, the product may not be to our expectation or may be of varied quality upon taking delivery.  In my opinion if the same analogy is applied to technology enabled learning, it becomes essential that the quality of education is not compromised and is aligned with meaningful student centered learning.

The Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework is aptly designed to address the challenges of technology based learning. Importantly, it is not technology that causes learning but rather the tools that may be chosen to facilitate certain activities. The influence and changes brought about by introducing learning technologies at higher education has been a first hand experience for me. At present all course materials can be conveniently accessed without the need for printouts, communication between teachers and learners is easily facilitated mainly for distant learning courses, missed lectures can always be revisited via lecture recordings, and exchanging and acquiring information has been made simple. In the regional sense, the introduction of learning technologies such as the Moodle platform has virtually brought the University of the South Pacific member countries closer.

Here is a article summary video on 'Technology-enhanced learning in higher education: