From Classroom to Digital Arena in Seeking Higher-level Learning: Student Experience

Abstract

Much of the impetus in introducing digital technologies has come from distance-learning courses rather than from traditional classroom-based activity. However, classroom-based teaching faces a resource squeeze for which digital technology offers a possible solution; in order to provide students with higher-level learning opportunities, teaching hours will probably have to be reallocated from lower levels of classroom-based learning activity. This article reports some results from a teaching project in which we moved a mid-level learning process out of the classroom and into a digital learning environment to free up teaching time for higher-level learning. The findings confirm previous work showing that students respond very positively to such reflective learning opportunities. More importantly, this article contributes to an understanding of how students, who are used to cooperating in a classroom, respond to being moved into a digital learning environment. The findings are based on results from a student questionnaire. The variation in responses to different aspects of the experience underlines the importance of offering choice in a digital learning environment.