E-learning and digital culture (P01542)

? Credit Points : 20 ? SCQF Level : 11 ? Acronym : EDU-P-P01542

This course situates online learning within the context of the emergence of a specifically 'digital culture'. Recent years have seen a growing dependence in the West on the technologies of cyberspace and digital, networked media for conducting our working and social lives. How does our immersion in this new digital world affect us socially and culturally, and how does it change us as both teachers and learners?

The course will draw on theory from media studies, cultural studies and the study of cyberculture, as well as the educational research influenced by these areas of thought. It will explore the emergence of digital culture, looking at how it interfaces with learning cultures, popular culture, and ideas of virtual community, and considering how the digital domain forges changes in the way we understand language, identity, embodiment, race, gender and subjectivity.

The conceptual material will be explored alongside the development of practical skill in web page design and creation, with part of the course assessment requiring the synthesis of these through submission of a web essay.

? Keywords : learning culture, cyberculture

Entry Requirements

? Pre-requisites : An introduction to digital environments for learning (P01038)

? Costs : Students will be required to have regular access to a networked computer, and will be responsible for providing their own computing equipment and consumables. Broadband is recommended.

Subject Areas

Home subject area

Education, (The Moray House School of Education, Schedule C)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : Postgraduate

? Delivery Period : To be arranged/Unknown

? Additional Class Information : The course is delivered flexibly and online.

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

On completion of this course participants will:

have a critical awareness of the key concepts emerging from the study of digital culture, via cyberculture theory, cultural and media studies

be able to assess the implications of this thought for the history, development and deployment of e-learning technologies

be able to synthesise these ideas in order to develop critically-aware, media-specific pedagogies for online learning

have developed practical skills in the design and building of web sites

Assessment Information

1) Commonplace book (50%): An academic online journal in which learners will record important quotes drawn from the course readings – written out verbatim – and their responses to these quotes. Participants will be expected to maintain the commonplace book from week one of the course, and it should be complete by week twelve.

2) Web essay (50%): Participants will submit an essay in the form of a web page, or series of web pages. The web essay will be based around a review of one of the course set texts, incorporating commentary on the implications of its ideas for learning online. Participants will receive guidance on what should be included in their essay in terms of hyperlinks, use of sources and multimodality.