RGS-IBG Annual Conference, Royal Geographical Society, London
Wednesday 30 August – Friday 1 September 2017
Call for Papers (Deadline Friday 10th February, 2017)
Convenors: Derek France (University of Chester, UK) and Jennifer Hill (UWE Bristol, UK)
Digital technologies are systems, devices and resources that generate, store or process data. They include social media, online games and applications, multimedia, cloud computing, interoperable systems and mobile devices. Use of digital technologies in and beyond the classroom can encourage active learning, knowledge construction, inquiry and exploration on the part of the learners, and allow for remote communication and data sharing across different physical locations. But teaching, learning and assessment using such technologies has also been criticised for a plethora of reasons.
This session will interrogate what the rise of digital technologies means for learning, teaching, assessment and pedagogic research in higher education geography. We invite papers that examine how we:
- critically engage with key theories, concepts, principles and issues in using digital technologies to support learning, teaching and assessment;
- develop effective and reflective practice in learning, teaching and assessing using digital technologies;
- focus on understanding the potential and use of digital technologies for best impact in a variety of teaching and learning contexts, and appreciating the challenges/criticisms of digital technologies in the higher educational setting;
- ascertain which graduate attributes digital technologies are particularly good at developing in geographers;
- ensure that digital technologies are helping our learning and teaching to be inclusive.
Engaging with digital technologies draws forth pedagogic issues such as Bring Your Own Device, (BYOD), Fly Your Own Drone (FYOD), flipped classrooms, Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs), MOOCs, Personal Learning Networks (PLNs), e-portfolios, and online assessment and feedback. Learning using digital technologies can foster dialogic and emancipatory practice, improve learning by augmenting and connecting learning activities, and offer exciting and novel environments for learners. But, for all of their benefits, digital technologies remain disruptive due, for example, to the injustices of the ‘digital divide’ and issues of cost and user safety. The critique of digital technologies in higher education pedagogy must be considered as part of a broader move to ‘reimagine’ the role of universities in a fast-changing economic and cultural environment. You are welcome to join the debate via contributions to this session.
Please email paper proposals (title and 250 word abstract) or queries to Derek France (d.france@chester.ac.uk) or Jennifer Hill (Jennifer.hill@uwe.ac.uk). The deadline for abstracts is Friday 10th February 2017. The format of the session will be the presentation of five papers each lasting 20 minutes.
Sponsored by HERG and DGWG