| CODE | ACA5009 | ||||||
| TITLE | Technology Enhanced Learning | ||||||
| UM LEVEL | 05 - Postgraduate Modular Diploma or Degree Course | ||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 7 | ||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 5 | ||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Arts, Open Communities and Adult Education | ||||||
| DESCRIPTION | This study-unit will be delivered in a blended modality, which includes a number of face-to-face interactive and hands-on lectures together with learner-centric online sessions characterised by a series of collaborative tasks. The socio-collaborative model used for this study-unit is designed to engage learner participants in technology-mediated knowledge and skills acquisition. This design will be reflected in a number of activities leading to the: 1. search, selection, and evaluation of information over the digital and online media; 2. best practices in communication and Internet ethics; 3. generation of content based on the use of multimedia and transmedia; 4. achievement of personal or professionally set goals. The second part of the study-unit covers such areas as: 1. An introduction to Social Media and Web 2.0; 2. Primary social media theories - from networked individualism and echo chambers to the strength of weak ties; 3. Digital literacies and why they matter; 4. Developing online content for target stakeholders; 5. Constructing and managing online audiences; 6. Developing a social media strategy - use of pyramid principles to develop a compelling strategy for education projects; 7. Social media as participatory culture - branding the self; blogs and videos as citizen journalism; the strategic application of blogs, micro-blogs, videos and social networks; 8. Social media networks - engagement, reflexivity, privacy and surveillance; 9. Social media - meaning, representation and communication power: social media as ideology. The promise of the new public sphere and the limits of participatory democracy; 10. Power and social media production - hegemony and the art of managing online discourse: towards a new hegemonic order. Study-unit Aims: 1. Expose learners to concepts, theories, social dynamics and empirical research related technology enhanced learning and digital citizenship; 2. Provide a grounding in the foundations of digital literacies and connected learning; 3. Critically review tools, media and applications related to technology specifically targeting learning in adult communities; 4. Support the co-creation of teaching and learning digital objects and artefacts as part of a socio-collaborative learning setting; 5. Provide a critical introduction to social media theory and practice; 6. Provide a grounding in the foundations of digital literacies and connected learning; 7. Help students engage with emerging theory on social media power; 8. Develop, by means of engaging in a practical online project, awareness of the potential and limitations of social media for education purposes. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: a. List and select digital tools, media and applications best suited as teaching resources and aids, in a specific context; b. Describe and give examples of how digital practices are democratising education in the current society; c. Use and apply a number of selected digital tools, media and applications to their teaching and learning context; d. Analyse how the use of selected tools, media and applications can impact their students’ learning; e. Modify existent open access resources to reproduce learning objects/artefacts that can be used in their teaching context; f. Create open resources using different forms of media, that can be used and reused in different teaching contexts; g. Recommend sets of tools, media, applications and technologies for the achievement of set goals; h. Demonstrate an understanding of a set of digital literacies; i. Demonstrate an understanding of the fundamentals of digital citizenship; j. Learn how to communicate effectively online; k.Critically assess the role of social media in contemporary society; l. Learn how to evaluate an online crisis situation and develop appropriate strategies using the right social media tools; m. Learn how to use social media tools for connected learning. 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: a. handle information found and gathered online effectively and filter it according to its value; b. communicate effectively in the online environment using different digital media by following best practice guidelines and Internet ethics; c. co-create digital objects in a socio-collaborative setting making use of virtual communities; d. participate in virtual communities adapting to different roles and responsibilities for task completion; e. strategically devise plans and methods towards solving set problems and achieving personal goals; f. set up and manage a blog, Twitter, Facebook page for education purposes; g. develop a social media strategy; h. assess the communication strategies of key players in the political arena; i. develop an online project that meets pre-set education objectives. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: Main Text Part 1 Jenkins, H., Ford, S., & Green, J. (2013). Spreadable media: Creating value and meaning in a networked culture. NYU Press. (Main text) Supplementary Texts: Jenkins, H. (2015). Textual poachers: Television fans and participatory culture. Routledge. Griffin, P., McGaw, B., & Care, E. (2012). Assessment and teaching of 21st century skills (p. 36). Dordrecht: Springer. Rheingold, H., & Weeks, A. (2012). Net smart: How to thrive online. Mit Press. Squire, K. (2011). Video Games and Learning: Teaching and Participatory Culture in the Digital Age. Technology, Education--Connections (the TEC Series). Teachers College Press. 1234 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY 10027. Van Dijk, J. A., & van Deursen, A. J. (2014). Digital skills: unlocking the information society. Palgrave Macmillan. Main texts Part 2 Carah, N. & Louw, E. (2015). Media & Society. Production, Content & Participation. London: Sage. (main text) Fuchs, C. (2014). Social Media. A critical introduction. London: Sage. (main text) Rheingold, H. (2012). Net Smart: How to Thrive Online. Cambridge MA : MIT Press. Supplementary Texts: Curran, J. Fenton, N. Freedman,D. (2012) Misunderstanding the Internet. Routledge: London. Hinton, S. and Hjorth, L. (2013). Understanding social media, Thousand Oakes (CA): Sage. Meraz, S. 2011, "The fight for 'how to think': Traditional media, social networks, and issue interpretation", Journalism, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 107-127. Rosenberg, S. 2009, Say Everything: How Blogging Began, What It's Becoming, and Why It Matters New York: Crown Publishing Group. |
||||||
| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Blended Learning | ||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
|
||||||
| LECTURER/S | Joseph Vancell |
||||||
|
The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2025/6. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
|||||||