Shifting Educational Behaviours

It has been claimed in the past that digital technologies will transform educational practices. However, it has also been claimed that there is a lack of evidence that digital technologies have achieved what has been claimed they will deliver. This book is concerned with exploring both of these apparently contradictory claims. It focuses on the shifting behaviours that have and are being presented when individuals use digital technologies to support educational practices. Examples in the book clearly show that digital technologies have been and are being developed that can be applied to education to support the individual, but the examples also clearly show that educational applications are now increasingly accessible to those beyond educational institutions. Learners, teachers, school leaders, educational advisors and policy makers all have access to digital technologies that can be applied to educational practices, but the width goes beyond this group; current access means that learning can happen beyond classrooms and schools, teaching can happen beyond the school day, support outside school can be increasingly provided by parents and guardians, and advice and policy on educational matters can be widened beyond educational institutions.

Educational behaviours are shifting as digital technologies become increasingly accessible. The behaviours exemplified in the book demonstrate that there is need for a widening of educational concern; learners can benefit from more personalised and individually-focused support, teachers can benefit from regular professional development and maintaining inquisitive approaches, parents and guardians can benefit from educational advice that is specific to their children s needs, and educational advisers and policy makers can benefit from regular updating and widening consultation. Through appropriate uses of digital technologies, communities now have the possibility to engage more effectively and to focus on their needs more specifically. In this way, digital technologies bring forward additional choices; decisions about possible educational approaches are increased through widened choices; questioning and critical approaches are seen to become all the more important for all involved, for children from early ages, for teachers and tutors, for parents and guardians, and for educational advisors and policy makers.