The last five years have been particularly disruptive to Higher Education, and we saw institutions worldwide rapidly scaling their digital learning capabilities. This shift led to a more robust digital infrastructure and innovative teaching methods, significantly influencing curriculum development and instructional strategies (Marinoni et al., 2020).
As we move beyond approaches developed during the pandemic, digital learning remains a cornerstone of educational strategies. Institutions are now revising curricula and exploring new online and blended learning approaches, new pedagogies and new tools (Hodges et al., 2022).
Looking ahead is ever more important for effective educational practice. As the new academic year approaches, the Digital Education Studio invited three educators to share their insights on the emerging potentials and challenges in key areas of digital learning.
Sue Beckingham Associate Professor and National Teaching Fellow, Sheffield Hallam University Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/suebecks LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suebeckingham/
Variety is said to be the spice of life, and bringing in a blend of approaches into the classroom can augment the learning experience by enabling and encouraging social interaction between students and peers and the tutor, across all modes of learning (Beckingham, 2024). Collaboration can be enhanced by shared digital spaces and group chat applications. These enable real-time and asynchronous interactions and learning activities that can combine in-person and remote participation. Even a large group lecture (in-person or online) can become interactive by introducing poll/quiz technology that students can respond to using their mobile devices. This not only keeps the students engaged but helps the tutor gauge students’ understanding. Activities can also include asynchronous pre-class tasks e.g. flipped learning where you might ask students to watch a video or listen to a podcast; and then begin the in-person class with a quiz.
Blended learning needs to involve the seamless integration of various digital tools with traditional classroom activities. Courses are increasingly designed to be hybrid, with a mix of face to face and online components that are interdependent. The integration of active blended learning has the potential to create an extended learning environment beyond the physical classroom by including digital spaces that encourage and support ongoing interaction and collaboration.
There is the potential to explore AI text-to-image generation in medical education (Burr et al, 2024) and generative AI agents for roleplay activities in the health sciences (Reimers and Myers, 2024). Whilst needing additional technology and preparation, the use of virtual reality, augmented reality and haptic technology can provide an immersive experience for students in the classroom and help prepare students for clinical sessions (Moussa et al, 2022). These tools can allow students to engage in experiential learning activities that might be impractical or not possible to undertake in a traditional classroom setting.
Key to the success of any form of blended learning is preparation and remembering that you do not need to do this alone!
Whilst it doesn’t come without challenges with respect to professional development and investment of time, blended and digital learning has the potential to significantly enhance the learning experience for students and prepare them for a rapidly changing world.
Sue Beckingham is an Associate Professor in Learning and Teaching, a National Teaching Fellow, and Learning and Teaching Lead in the School of Computing and Digital Technologies at Sheffield Hallam University. She is a SEDA Fellow, a Certified Management and Business Educator, a Senior Fellow of the HEA, and a Visiting Fellow at Edge Hill University. Her research interests include social media for learning and the use of technology to enhance active learning and teaching; and has published and presented this work nationally and internationally as an invited keynote speaker.
Richard Price
Global Health Workforce Education Technology Advisor, NHS England
NHS England Simulation and Immersive Technologies
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardpriceuk/
Immersive technologies, such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), are helping prepare the next generation of healthcare professionals, which is key to delivering the NHS Long Term Workforce plan.
Already, we are seeing grand ward rounds delivered remotely to students using augmented reality headsets, seeing orientation and induction conducted in virtual reality, and scenario-based teaching brought into blended learning programmes and courses.
Immersive learning promises to transform healthcare education, offering alternative ways of delivering training, increasing clinical placement capacity, and democratising access to education (Bailenson et al., 2021). In the future, personalised VR and AR learning experiences will improve collaboration among medical professionals through shared virtual environments, and continuous skill development via realistic simulations, ultimately enhancing patient care and creating a more resilient healthcare workforce.
But are the NHS and healthcare learners ready? There needs to be a cultural shift away from more traditional training methods, an improvement of digital capabilities among learners, and investment in the infrastructure and technology to support delivery of immersive learning (Dalton et al., 2022).
Looking ahead, the future of immersive learning looks both promising and challenging. If you are interested in exploring this area, reach out. The NHS England Simulation and Immersive Technologies team works across the system to support those looking to explore the potential of these emerging technologies for training the workforce and provides expert advice and leadership.
Join us to discover the potential of immersive technology in your practice by joining our networks: england.simimmtech@nhs.net
Dr Martin Compton, Programme, Module & Assessment Design Lead King's College London
In a recent interview with Professor Chie Adachi, Dr Martin Compton shared insights into Generative AI’s impact on teaching, learning, assessment and the learner’s experience.
Towards the end of the interview, there is an excellent discussion on possible challenges and opportunities, such as adaptive learning technologies, virtual teaching assistants, and AI-driven research tools.
Pelletier, K., McCormack, M., Muscanell, N., Reeves, J., Robert, J., & Arbino, N. (2024). 2024 Horizon Report: Teaching and Learning Edition. Educause. ISBN 978-1-933046-20-4. Available at: https://library.educause.edu/-/media/files/library/2024/5/2024hrteachinglearning.pdf (Accessed: 16 July 2024).
Hodges, C. B., Moore, S. L., Lockee, B. B., Trust, T., & Bond, A. (2022). The Difference Between Emergency Remote Teaching and Online Learning. Educause Review, 57(1), 14-24.
Marinoni, G., Van’t Land, H., & Jensen, T. (2020). The Impact of COVID-19 on Higher Education Around the World. IAU Global Survey Report.
Beckingham S. (2024) Re-defining Modes of Learning. In G. Ó Súilleabháin, D. Lanclos and T. Farrelly (Eds) How to Use Digital Learning with Confidence and Creativity: A Practical Introduction (pp. 168-177). Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781035311293.00034
Burr, P., Kumar, A. and Young, T. (2024) The potential of AI text-to-image generation in medical education: The educator and students’ perspective. In S. Beckingham, J. Lawrence, S. Powell and P. Hartley (Eds) Using Generative AI Effectively in Higher Education: Sustainable and Ethical Practices for Learning, Teaching and Assessment. (pp. 74-81) Routledge.
Moussa, R., Alghazaly, A., Althagafi, N., Eshky, R., and Borzangy, S. (2022). Effectiveness of Virtual Reality and Interactive Simulators on Dental Education Outcomes: Systematic Review. European Journal of Dentistry, 16(1), 14–31. https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0041-1731837
Reimers, S and Myers, L, (2024) Using generative AI agents for scalable roleplay activities in the health sciences. In S. Beckingham, J. Lawrence, S. Powell and P. Hartley (Eds) Using Generative AI Effectively in Higher Education: Sustainable and Ethical Practices for Learning, Teaching and Assessment (pp. 82-86). Routledge.
Bailenson, J.N., Yee, N., Blascovich, J. and Guadagno, R.E., 2021. Transforming healthcare education with virtual reality. Journal of Medical Education and Curricular Development, [online] Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8936968/ [Accessed 16 July 2024].
Dalton, J., Craven, M., Bergin, A., Ticho, S., O’Brien, R., Phelan, I., Carrion-Plaza, A., Price, R., Logeswaren, A., Kilkelly, F., Ghatnekar, P., Newbutt, N., Peres, N., Michelson, R., Elan, L. and Pearlman, K., 2022. The growing value of XR in healthcare. [online] Available at: https://www.xrhealthuk.org/the-growing-value-of-xr-in-healthcare [Accessed 16 July 2024].