«Pedagogical approaches and digital technologies to promote creativity, collaboration and critical thinking among students and teachers: challenges and perspectives»
Marcelo MilradLinnaeus University, Sweden
Resumen de la ponencia
Our society is developing and evolving at a faster pace than ever before, challenging the public sector, corporations and individuals to deal with changes and uncertainties. Educational institutions must then be ready to prepare learners for this future. In this context, educational researchers and practitioners have demonstrated a growing interest in developing pedagogical practices towards fostering a participatory culture in all levels of education. These actions respond to current trends regarding participatory literacies as a key social value of the 21st century workforce. In recent years, different technologies and teaching practices have been proposed with the purpose of encouraging community participation and active involvement of students in their learning. Particularly, collaborative learning theories have exerted a prominent influence in these efforts. While it is argued that technology by itself has not an intrinsic value and effect in supporting teaching and learning, numerous recent investigations support that technology usage guided by an effective pedagogical rationale can be beneficial for learning in and outside the classroom. Creativity, collaboration and innovation as facilitators for learning and knowledge acquisition are fundamental skills that should be developed in school and beyond. However, creativity, collaboration and innovation are not spontaneous processes and therefore need to be systematically promoted and supported by novel technological solutions. Consequently, new and different strategies are needed to explore and promote innovative, sustainable and successful designs for Technology-Enhanced Learning (TEL).
Biografía
Marcelo Milrad is a full professor of Media Technology at the Faculty of Technology at Linnaeus University (LNU) in Sweden. He is also the director of the Center for Learning and Knowledge Technologies (CeLeKT). His current research interests include the design of learning environments to support learning about complex domains, collaborative discovery learning and the development of mobile and wireless applications to support collaborative learning. Professor Milrad teaches undergraduate courses in media technology and computer science with a special focus on XML, web 2.0 and mobile technologies. He teaches also at the international master program on Social Media and Web technologies at LNU. In addition, he is actively involved in doctoral courses in the field of Technology Enhanced Learning.
