Study highlights efficacy of digital higher education

A new comprehensive metastudy of the role technology plays in higher education urges universities of tomorrow to capitalise on technologies that effectively support student learning, to embrace blended learning environments, and to customise degree programmes to serve the needs of students in a digital age, reports phys.org.

George Siemens, executive director of the University of Texas at Arlington's Learning Innovation and Networked Knowledge Research Lab, is the lead author of Preparing for the Digital University: A review of the history and current state of distance, blended, and online learning. The international study offers strategies and important implications for higher education institutions preparing for the digital wave. It also emphasises the importance of universities drawing from learning sciences research in preparing new models of teaching, learning and student assessment.

The study supports previously published research that has found online learning to be equally or more effective than in-person instruction. The new study, however, delves further by examining the evolution of learning in digital spaces, including various approaches to credentialing and assessment beyond the traditional grading scale and diploma. Future technology structures that bear no resemblance to current learning management systems are described as part of the tool set for the 21st century education.
Full report on the Phys.org site