Information and digital literacy in education via the digital path

Last March when teachers and students transitioned to remote instruction, Iraqi instructor Mohammad Hameed and his students in the Arbat Refugee Camp in the Iraqi Kurdistan region weren’t caught off guard.

While the pandemic and the sudden shutdown of schools provoked fear, the teachers at this remote refugee camp in northern Iraq weren’t worried about how students would cope: They were confident their students were prepared to take their learning fully online. They didn’t have a high-tech classroom with fancy equipment — in fact most students didn’t even have laptops or access to the internet. They had something more important: basic digital literacy.

Amid talk of pandemics and economics, it may seem like a comparatively minor discussion to have: the difference between remote learning and online learning. 

But, with COVID-19 forcing schools around the nation to move their classrooms online and more and more scrutiny leveled at the sustainability of doing so, it’s a conversation that education experts increasingly insist should happen. Making the distinction, some say, could shape the future of online learning for years to come. 

The Covid-19 pandemic has dramatically upended traditional schooling and made remote learning the “new normal.” Teachers are scrambling to offer some form of continuing education using virtual technologies, with the recognition that traditional approaches to curriculum, instruction, assessment, and grading must be altered. While it might be more expedient to present online lessons, electronic worksheets, and resource packets, we propose that the learn-at-home circumstance offers an opportunity to present students with more engaging and meaningful learning experiences. More specifically, we recommend providing students with assignments and tasks that challenge them to find information from various sources, critically appraise what they find, and use what they learn to address interesting issues and genuine problems.

This is a second guest post written for students by students Matty Trueman, Kai Ackroyd, Curtis Alexis-Jones, Gagan Warinch and Eimantus Lukocius. We are final year students at Sheffield Hallam University. Intro The way students learn remotely is becoming more and more important as universities transition to online teaching. With many students facing a number…

The way students learn remotely is becoming more and more important as universities transition to online teaching. With many students facing a number of challenges during this current time, it’s important that there are answers to some of the questions that might have arisen. This blog post aims to provide an informative guide on how students can improve their remote learning experience, with the following questions being answered: how to stay motivated, how are other students learning, how to support your peers and how to be more social.

This is a guest post written for students by students Matty Trueman, Kai Ackroyd, Curtis Alexis-Jones and Gagan Warinch to highlight the free collaboration tools available and how they can support remote learning. We are final year students at Sheffield Hallam University.

Our blog post will look at how you as a student can: plan tasks, share work online, schedule and run online meetings whilst staying digitally connected through messaging services. In addition, tools to help with managing time and staying motivated during times of difficulty will also be shared.