Groupe des technologies de l'apprentissage

Sheryl Nussbaum-Beech

Through lectures and a project, learn the fundamentals of human-computer interaction and design thinking. Work together in teams of three on a quarter-long project. Each week, in small design studios, present and discuss work with peers. The setting for the course is mobile web applications. The constraints of this small form factor make this an exciting challenge. At the end of the course, present to a jury of IT and design leaders.

That's over 1,300 iPads, roughly $700,000 worth of Apple's magical technology. The iPads will come preloaded with the schools' eTextbooks, "beckoning a new era of light-weight and interactive learning tools." This bold move is a first of its kind in Canada.

Delivering courses in cyberclassrooms has gained broad acceptance among top college leaders, but the general public is far less convinced of online education's quality, according to new survey data released this week by the Pew Research Center, in association with The Chronicle.

Although more and more people are now using the term "social learning" to mean the use of social media for learning, most of them are simply referring to how social media can be used within formal, social learning/training - whereas this is only a small part of the picture.The more powerful part is how social media is being used to enhance informal social learning.

In framing such alternative models, however, I find myself wrestling with the unpleasant truth that the primary barriers to altering curricular, pedagogical, and assessment practices towards any transformative vision of education are not conceptual, technical or economic, but instead psychological, political, and cultural. The largest challenges in moving beyond historic models of schooling are people's emotions and their typically unconscious beliefs, assumptions, and values. To be achieved, a transformative model must generate professional commitment, political will, and cultural enthusiasm - not an easy task.

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