The culture of a paradigm shift in digital learning

Salient features of the recent widespread adoption of digital educational resources by Higher Education are reviewed. Although change is ongoing, there are some obvious lessons to learn. Firstly, there is no single blueprint on how online education should best be done. The flexible mixture of pedagogy, technology, face-to-face and online contact, will be different for individual subjects, students, levels of education, and institutions. There are, however, some key factors that can optimise the opportunities for successful educational engagement. It seems obvious that the way we would like learners to understand a subject (pedagogy) should take precedence over the choice of tools (technology) to enable communication and educational interaction; regrettably this is not always the case. Choices of the delivery format are often based upon decisions by an institution or lecturer who may be very knowledgeable about the subject matter but poorly aware of the full range of effective digital opportunities available. Despite greater awareness of digital educational activities, new applications are barely realised. Sustainable, large-scale implementation of (fully or partly) online education, will require customised training for students and staff in the use and rationale of digital educational technology. The cultural aspects of learning and acquisition of technical competency may be more difficult for staff than simply changing the application of technology.