Adaptable Resources for Teaching with Technology

Dr Mais Fatayer and Dr Suman Laudar, University of Technology Sydney

Abstract: Academics are frequently required to utilise digital technologies for learning and teaching in higher education. However, the challenge that remains for academics is selecting the right technology for the right learning activity and evaluating the outcome. In this presentation we discuss the developmental process of a learning design collection of adaptable resources for teaching with technology (ARTT). These resources are developed following an evidence-based methodology, providing academics with a shortcut to using adequate solutions in the learning environments. The ARTT project team has established internal and external methods for building the resources. The internal method relies on the team member in generating the resources. The external method taps into the cognitive surplus (Shirky, 2010) of teacher-generated pedagogies. Shirky (2010) describes “Cognitive Surplus” as people’s time, energy, creativity, and generosity that leads to productivity, creation, and sharing in the realm of the internet. A typical academic would accumulate a considerable number of hours in developing learning activities during the academic semester. Few endeavours get recognised by faculty or the learning and teaching awards, as most of these learning and teaching practices remain tacit within individuals. The ARTT project aims at tapping into this surplus, where academics have already developed their own teaching approaches, and repurpose this tacit knowledge into reusable and adaptable resources that can be used by the wider audience. Finally, the adopted Open Educational Practices are core to ARTT, where the team encourages contribution from across the university and have associated all resources with a Creative Commons License CC-BY-NC-SA, making these resources available for anyone to use, reuse and repurpose.

References: Shirky, C. (2010). Cognitive surplus: Creativity and generosity in a connected age. Penguin UK.

Suman Laudari is a learning design and technology specialists at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Australia. Suman has been working in higher education since 2009 as an academic and more recently as a learning designer. His research interests include digital competencies, TPACK, digital leadership in education contexts, instructional design, and digital competencies in higher education. Suman designs and delivers evidence-based resources & training to promote student-centred approaches to teaching with technology.