Access

Access to good educational technology tools should be a priority within a HyFlex learning environment. What is needed is well designed educational technology tools, or taking tools that are out there (such as social media e.g., Instagram) and reapplying them to an educational context.

What if we ask ourselves –

• How am I connecting with my students after we meet synchronously?
• How are they connecting with each other?
• What tasks are in the learning design that foster meaningful connection and collaboration (as opposed to the typical ‘comment on this week’s content’ style of discussion forum post)
• What choices are provided for assessment that foster individual as well as group responses?

When tasks are manufactured through the use of assessed discussion boards or forums they become ‘false’ collaborations and communications. Fabricated for the teacher. Now that we are all so familiar with instant messaging and social media our expectations have changed about when and where we communicate and collaborate so we need to be harnessing not necessarily the actual technology but the affordances of that technology.

What is it about social media that works so well? Anytime, anywhere to almost anyone. Imagine if we had that level of captive audience in our learning environments. Well we do and we can, if we utilize edtech tools with more understanding and fluency.

It is challenging to list educational technologies in an ever-changing landscape of innovation however these have been available for many years and proven to consistently afford the transformative pedagogies we aspire to:

• Padlet
• Voicethread
• Flip (after 12 years, now integrated into Microsoft Teams)
• Shared docs (e.g., Google docs and slides)
• Mural
• Popplet
• MS Teams
• Wakelet
• Diigo
• Buncee
• Engageli
• WordPress

Case Studies – Examples of digital technology that facilitates Access