Cultivating Digital TLC -Teaching and Learning Communities (original) (raw)

This study reports on an effort to create a sustainable, blended, mobile and online educational system for a U.S. based national vocational program. The research looked at the current ecosystems within each of the eight city sites before determining an ecological diffusion of technology approach. Organic methods were used to manipulate the adoption of blended, mobile, as well as online teaching and learning. A field observation approach where the researcher identified current states of paper-based models and small pockets of online learning like wikis and blogs, with an inability to model or scale those digital tools. Leveraging a modeling approach, a mobile first eLearning portal was piloted in a staggered fashion, leading to a 100% adoption amongst staff and students. The intentionality behind the modeling approach was to expand adoption to 400% to address semi-and non-academic components of the program. Key results allowed the organization to align its curriculum across cities, and build master courses to offer its corporate partners with quality standards. The flexibility of the organic adoption approach also increased multi-screen access, extending the content delivery and engagement beyond the confines of time and physical space constraints. Be it mobile or computer, the organization transformed learning from a solely instructor-led approach, to accommodate 'flipped' learning engagements, as well as supportive digital and portable learning communities. Through simulations, the organization was also able to incorporate social collaboration, mLearning and interoperable learning tools that cultivated and accommodated differentiated learning and development styles.

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