Personalised Education, Pedagogy, and Equity in the Higher Education Sector
In this chapter, we aim to unsettle and unmask the discourse of e-mediated instruction and personalised learning. We look to re-see and rethink these terms through trajectories other than those often now provided to us. There is considerable literature th
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Personalised Education, Pedagogy, and Equity in the Higher Education Sector
Abstract In this chapter, we aim to unsettle and unmask the discourse of e-mediated instruction and personalised learning. We look to re-see and rethink these terms through trajectories other than those often now provided to us. There is considerable literature that trumpets successes, but the literature also suggests that at present it is really difficult to navigate the terrain of e-mediated, personalised instruction in the higher education sector, even with the best of intentions. We outline many threats to the promise that this policy landscape holds, especially in relation to issues of distribution and participation if and when access is gained.
Pedagogic Promise We agree that e-mediated instruction that is personalised is a positive step in catering for the individual learner and their needs. We also recognise that e-mediated instruction exerts global outreach and internationalisation (Guri-Rosenblit 2005). E-mediated instruction provides flexibility for both teacher and learner and provides the opportunity for blended learning environments to emerge. E-mediated programmes also provide a marketable commodity for universities that can be sold for profit or redistributed between public and private sectors. We are very well aware that computers, and their affordances, allow us to be more flexible, to access information on demand and to become authors of our own electronic footprint. But it would be remiss of us if we did not also consider the threats to the pedagogical opportunities provided by such instruction. We argue that e-mediated instruction at present has limited stand-alone pedagogical promise (Guri-Rosenblit 2005).
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2017 B. Garrick et al., Theorising Personalised Education, DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-2700-0_5
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Personalised Education, Pedagogy, and Equity …
A Teaching Experience To take a personal experience as a starting point to this chapter’s discussion, a student came up to Barb as she concluded the last lecture for a course, ironically, on diversity studies. The course was a first-year introduction to the issues and practices that sit around the inclusion of students who have specific learning needs in schools. The course was provided through blended learning and involved the lecturer in over 300 h of preparation to try to ensure that the needs of all students were met. The course was provided in audio and visual formats with some face-to-face lectures and some lectures provided online. The course had an instructional component based on UDL where the students could choose how they accessed material, what they accessed, and when and how they presented their knowledge through assessment. Feeling quite chuffed that all had gone relatively well in the first blended learning course that she had designed and taught, Barb’s excitement was soon dashed when a student thanked her for the course and in particular the face-to-face component, but then said that she had not listened to one audio
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