The didactic relation model – digital facilitation of flexible teaching
Purpose and framework
What the course or programme is to achieve, i.e. its purpose, must be clarified at an early stage of the process. The purpose may, for example, be to increase the proportion of social educators in a geographical area or to increase the mathematical expertise of a group of tutors. It is important to understand why the course should be developed and what the level should be to achieve the intended purpose.
Tuition is always planned within a given framework. The individual tutor does not necessarily have any influence on such frameworks, but they affect and sometimes restrict how tuition is organised. Restricting factors may be a lack of technology, inadequate time and scarce financial resources for development work or insufficient academic resources and expertise. Framework factors may also be the result of conscious choices made at an institution because they are believed to create the best conditions for learning and teaching, such as the institution’s digital learning arena. At the same time, a tutor who makes use of digital tools for educational purposes may have greater freedom of choice with respect to use of their own time.
Other examples of framework factors that affect how tuition is organised are the number of students, the possibility of flexible start-up, or that all programmes and courses are to combine online and face-to-face teaching.
The report by the Nordic Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education (NIFU) – Pedagogisk bruk av digital teknologi i høyere utdanning (3)– contains an analysis of various data sources and concludes by highlighting the benefits and challenges of digital literacy for tutors and students. Among other things, digital technology can help ensure that the teaching methods activate the student more, make courses and programmes more accessible, and that pedagogical aspects of practice-related topics are further developed in a positive manner. At the same time, it is important that both the student and the tutor have the necessary digital literacy and recognise the academic merit of the tools. Even major consumers of digital technology in their everyday lives may not have the skills needed to use such tools for learning. Tutors also find it time-consuming to develop and implement good tuition in digital channels.
Fotnoter
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Korseberg, L., Svartefoss, S. M., Bergene, A. C., & Hovdhaugen, E. (2022). Pedagogisk bruk av digital teknologi i høyere utdanning. NIFU Rapport 2022:1
Translated by EPALE Norge and HK-dir