The Digital Carrot and Survival Stick for Increased Learning and Teaching Agility

摘要

This working paper describes a pilot study in which Higher Education teachers are offered new mobile devices with very few conditions attached. They are shown at the outset the results of student feedback from their own courses, where the students set out their preferences for using learning technologies. The study hypothesizes that where staff are offered the simple incentive of new mobile devices for .professional and private use, they will be keener to adopt new practices. The only conditions required are the adoption of two items of software - Sharepoint as a file repository and the VLE provider's mobile learning application which provides access to the VLE for both learners and staff developing resources. Preliminary results from this study suggest that if Higher Education institutions have to grasp the digital nettle fast, sheer enthusiasm will not do - reflecting Marshall's view (2012). This paper will discuss how a mix of incentives, student feedback and peer development among academic staff may be the way forward to develop the openness to new experiences required in developing e-competence (Volk et al 2012) and learning and teaching agility.