EdTech Seminar Series – Professor Frank Rennie

The restrictions on public meetings caused by the current pandemic, and the subsequent disruptions to face-to-face educational provision, has highlighted many of the advantages and difficulties in delivering education online. While this format is a new situation for many educators, it is not entirely novel, and many institutions have been providing tuition in a wide range of online styles for thirty years. The University of the Highlands and Islands, in Scotland, offers a full continuum of courses from fully face-to-face to fully online, across a widely dispersed communications network. The key to a high-quality learning experience is the design mix of pedagogy, technology, and academic subject matter, and when this is optimal, Frank Rennie argues that this can provide a richer, more flexible, and more personalised experienced than most ‘conventional’ learning encounters. In this interactive session, some lessons are shared, with participants encouraged to raise questions and comments to exchange practical options for utilising digital solutions to enhance Higher Education.