This research project asked the question 'what role does theory play in university teaching with digital technologies?’ The undertheorised nature of learning technologies has been debated (Tight 2012; Howard & Maton 2011) and much work remains to be done to address the gaps and to mature the subject as a scholarly discipline. In light of recent work done by the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (2016) on professional development of teaching in higher education, this research asks whether current teaching with digital technologies is underpinned by scholarship.
The research was a qualitative doctoral project which comprised interviews with 25 participants in one Irish and one Scottish university. Lecturers from multiple disciplines were interviewed about their teaching approaches with digital technologies and their rationale behind these practices.
Rhizome theory (Deleuze & Guattari 1987) was employed as a theoretical framework for the research. Rhizome theory takes knowledge, amongst other things, to be dynamic, highly connected and non-hierarchical. The research uses this lens to view lecturers and their use of digital technologies in order to observe the highly connected nature of the area and to shed light on previously untheorised practices.
Findings indicate a leading role for folk pedagogies (Olson & Bruner. 1996) and strongly held, but divergent, orthodoxies about what constitutes 'best practice' in using digital technologies. The purposes for which lecturers use technology is highly connected to their beliefs about learning, in particular to their conceptions of knowledge and their role as a teacher of that knowledge. How lecturers chose to use technology in their teaching appears to be strongly related to the degree to which they engage with both academic development and educational research. A selection of visual representations of the data will be presented which demonstrate the interconnectedness of teaching practices, theories and contexts. Recommendations will be made about critical questions which need to be asked around issues of scholarship and professional development of lecturers.
Through forging links between theory and practice, this research aims to provide practical results to be taken forward, not just by researchers, but also by lecturers, those who support lecturers and senior staff in higher education. Thus a positive impact on student learning will be attained through greater understanding and transparency of purpose when digital technologies are employed for teaching and learning in universities.
Key words: digital pedagogy; learning theories; theories of teaching; socio-cultural theories of technology; rhizome theory; scholarship of TEL; folk pedagogy
Deleuze, G. & Guattari, F., 1987. A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Howard, S. & Maton, K., 2011. Theorising knowledge practices: a missing piece of the educational technology puzzle. Research in Learning Technology, 19(3), pp.191–206.
National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 2016. A Conceptual Model For The Professional Development Of Those Who Teach In Irish Higher Education: Report On The Findings Of The Consultation Process., Dublin.
Olson, D.R. & Bruner., J.S., 1996. Folk psychology and folk pedagogy. In The handbook of education and human development. pp. 9–27.
Tight, M., 2012. Researching Higher Education, Maidenhead: SRHE and Open University
Online Education (teaching, learning & assessment) , Evaluation for impact - contributing to the evidence-base
