MODFL/Technology/Introduction
It is not by accident that the theme of technology has run throughout this course. Indeed, the disruptive nature of technology has been felt not only in education, but also in the way that consumers, industries, or businesses operate. Although uptake of technology has been slow in education, there have been compelling reasons to resort to some form of technology as a result of natural disasters like Covid-19. Harnessing the affordances of technology has not been peculiar to distance education, even conventional face-to-face institutions have also embraced technology to enhance access and quality.
In this unit, you will learn how technology is affecting the emergence of new pedagogies. The unit brings to the fore the need for distance education practitioners to be familiar with the technologies that are available and to make informed choices on which ones help them leverage their preferred pedagogical approaches. Whilst it is good practice to use technology, we hasten to point out that in any learning environment, it is not the technology that is prioritised. Rather, it is the learning designer’s approach to teaching and learning that should determine which technology to use and how to use it.
