The NMC Horizon Report 2014 High Education Preview highlights that low digital literacy skills among educators is a challenge that is impeding technology adoption in education. One method of helping to address this issue is to introduce emerging technologies within Master of Education programs.
The University of Ottawa, Faculty of Education offers the majority of its Anglophone courses as face-to-face courses, with a few courses being offered in hybrid and fully online formats. The two technology courses in the program (Emerging Technologies and Learning and Integrating Technology in Education) are currently only offered as fully online courses. Many of the students in the program have low digital literacy skills and describe themselves as ‘technophobes’. It is, therefore, essential to establish and foster a supportive learning environment where students feel safe, supported, and yet challenged to develop digital literacy skills.
This research presentation describes the design of an online Masters course “Emerging Technologies and Learning” that helps educators improve their digital literacy skills while exploring the latest trends in educational technology. The presentation (1) describes the pedagogical foundations of the course, (2) describes the course design and key learning activities, (3) presents the results of the detailed course evaluation, and (4) concludes with recommended design principles.