Tony Bates: the future of higher education is digital
Tony Bates, manager of the E-learning and Distance Education Resources blog discusses two conferences held recently on the future of digital learning: The Digital Future of Higher Education at Thompson Rivers University and the Just ID Network Event at the University of British Columbia.
These presentations really fall into two camps: theory and practice. As the psychologist Kurt Lewin said, there is nothing more pragmatic than a good theory. Michael Peters and Ted Hamilton both provided very thoughtful analysis of the underlying social and philosophical issues that underpin the Internet, the knowledge society, and their implications for digital learning, universities and the public education system. Norm Friesen and Mark Bullen discussed what this means in terms of the kind of students now entering our higher education institutions, and how we should respond. The ID workshop was all about changing practice in a rapidly developing digital environment.
