[wpvideo dyzZcjM2]

This video is a first draft of my take on how and why geography, virtual or otherwise, still matters in elearning. This clumsily alludes to the sense of boundary/border crossings, imagination, and playfulness found in elearning, all elements of a sound pedagogy for online learning. I think we often devalue imagination in this process as well, or attempt to intellectualize it perhaps too rigidly; imagination, in my experience, is the fuel for creativity, innovation, any meaningful interaction.

I consider myself a borderline veteran of elearning as a participant as the video suggests and this is just me reflecting on what seemed to work and what didn’t.

This was originally created as part of a discussion for the University of Edinburgh, but it seemed to have some general application to elearning and teaching as well. It draws clumsily from a few different sources, including:

  • Bayne, S. (2010). Academetron, automaton, phantom: uncanny digital pedagogies.London Review of Education, 8/1, 5-13.
  • Edwards, R. (2010). The end of lifelong learning: A post-human condition? Studies in the Education of Adults, 42/1, 5-17.
  • Meyer, J.H.F. & Land, R. (2005), Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge (2): epistemological considerations and a conceptual framework for teaching and learning. Higher Education, 49 (3), 373−388.
  • Usher, R. and Edwards, R. (1998). Lost and found: ‘cyberspace’ and the (dis)location of teaching, learning and research. SCUTREA

 

By Michael Gallagher

My name is Michael Sean Gallagher. I am a Lecturer in Digital Education at the Centre for Research in Digital Education at the University of Edinburgh. I am Co-Founder and Director of Panoply Digital, a consultancy dedicated to ICT and mobile for development (M4D); we have worked with USAID, GSMA, UN Habitat, Cambridge University and more on education and development projects. I was a researcher on the Near Futures Teaching project, a project that explores how teaching at The University of Edinburgh unfold over the coming decades, as technology, social trends, patterns of mobility, new methods and new media continue to shift what it means to be at university. Previously, I was the Research Associate on the NERC, ESRC, and AHRC Global Challenges Research Fund sponsored GCRF Research for Emergency Aftershock Forecasting (REAR) project. I was an Assistant Professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (한국외국어대학교) in Seoul, Korea. I have also completed a doctorate at University College London (formerly the independent Institute of Education, University of London) on mobile learning in the humanities in Korea.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.