Abstract:

In recent years, many universities have invested in ”Active Learning Classrooms” (ALCs) which is a technology intense environment designed for collaborative teaching and learning situations. The physical environment differs from a traditional classroom, the teachers’ placement is in the middle of the room, and the classroom is equipped with numerous round tables for collaboration among students and shared displays on each table [1], [2]. However, it is well known that technology rich environments per se don’t create new teaching practices [3] and that a conscious pedagogy is absolutely crucial for the outcome in practice [4], [5]. In this study, we use an action oriented approach to explore how a course can be designed to achieve active learning in an ALC environment in higher education. The course in question is named “Integrity and democracy in Digital Media” which is interdisciplinary course given to students at their second year at the program “Digital Media” in Sweden. The objective of the course design was to engagement and active participation where student explore, discuss and learn more about societal issues linked to integrity and democracy in a digitalized society. The course design followed the same procedure, with short introductions or “themes” from the teachers followed by questions for the students to work with in groups and thereafter make short presentations of their insights to the whole class in different ways. The design as such is not particular innovative, but the way technology was used in the didactic design had positive effects and is elaborated in-depth in this paper. Data include engaged observations of teaching and learning activities, teacher interview and student survey. The results show positive outcome of that didactic design related to tempo, efficacy, student engagement, the students' critical approach and the overall teaching and learning environment. Contributions includes design implications in an ALC setting.

References:
[1] Park, E. L., & Choi, B. K. Transformation of classroom spaces: Traditional versus active learning classroom in colleges. Higher Education, 68(5), 749-771. 2014
[2] Rands, M. L., & Gansemer-Topf, A. M. The room itself is active: How classroom design impacts student engagement. Journal of Learning Spaces, 6(1), 26. 2017
[3]Genlott, A. A., Grönlund, Å., & Viberg, O. Disseminating digital innovation in school–leading second-order educational change. Education and Information Technologies, 1-19. 2019
[4] Koehler, M., & Mishra, P. What happens when teachers design educational technology? The development of technological pedagogical content knowledge. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 32(2), 131-152. 2015
[5] Willermark, S. Digital Didaktisk Design: Att utveckla undervisning i och för en digitaliserad skola. Högskolan Väst. 2018

Keywords:

Active learning, technology, higher education.