Does more technology automatically mean better learning? This recent report from Oxford University Press (OUP) investigates…
OUP’s recent report, Digital learning – insights from the classroom, provides a snapshot of perceptions, attitudes, and behaviours around digital learning. The research included conducting surveys with 1,000 teachers and learners across four countries.
Here, we’ll give you a little overview by looking at the section on ‘Creating the conditions for digital integration’. The headline finding here is that learners and educators don’t necessarily want more digital but directed use that offers them clear benefits when they’re supported by the right conditions.
Digital literacy first
In the research, 28% of students reported that teachers who have lower levels of digital literacy can sometimes prevent greater integration of technology in the classroom. Indeed, in the OUP’s focus groups, teachers themselves said that they need digital upskilling, but that training is lacking to help them use the technology they already have in their classrooms to its full potential.
And, despite students being regarded as ‘digital natives’, one educator said that some pupils who are used to iPads have to be taught how to use a mouse and keyboard.
It seems that digital literacy, for teachers and students alike, is at the foundation of success.
Teachers are still the focus
Despite the possibilities that technology now offers, students taking part in the report’s research were clear that their teacher is more valuable than any of it. One participant said they got better explanations from their teacher, and a second said they regarded AI as a substitute that could stand in outside of lessons when their teacher was unavailable.
On AI specifically, students wisely want it to complement their learning rather than simply provide the answers. Teachers, meanwhile, are using it to create bespoke resources, save time and build more engaging lessons.
Student engagement
Most teachers report higher engagement when students use technology in class. Half say it enables students to learn at their own pace, and 47% say it increases independent learning.
When asked to imagine a learning day with no technology, students struggled to picture it, and teachers said some pupils see a lesson without technology as “not a real lesson”.
It appears that the value of technology is in flexible use, with independent choices of how to use it.
What good looks like
According to the report, creating the right conditions for digital integration in the classroom brings three main things together: a focus on students’ digital literacy and skills, the role of the teacher directing the decisions about balancing digital and traditional activities, and the flexibility digital tools can offer both sides.
It seems that technology has a clear role to play in creating a learning experience that can meet individual students’ needs, while helping staff to create the right conditions for learning.
Read the full Digital learning – insights from the classroom report here
