Session 274: What do we want in a learning platform of the future?
Beyond critiquing major information technology (IT) platforms such as learning management systems at their institutions, panelists “lead with the solution.” They set forth visions, plans, and ethical, sustainable principles for the teaching IT of the future.
Friday, 6 January 2023, 12:00 – 1:15 PM PST
Virtual session (For online access, see the session’s convention program page, which shortly before the session starts will display a “Join Now” button for a Zoom meeting. See the MLA’s “Online Session FAQ” for more information.)
Hashtags: #mla23, #s274
Presider
- Lee Skallerup Bessette (Georgetown U.)
Presentations
- “Collaboration Is the Killer App,” Brian Croxall (Brigham Young U., UT)
- “Journey into Volumetrics,” Bryan Carter (U. of Arizona)
- “Gaming Our Way into the Future: Gamification of the Learning Process through LMS,” Svetlana Tyutina (California State U., Northridge)
One of two sessions at #MLA2023 organized by the MLA’s Committee on Information Technology, this panel (#s274) addresses the teaching portion of the issues set forth in the committees original call for papers:
Research and teaching are core missions of our higher-ed institutions. Yet when it comes to major information technology (IT) platforms and services—general-purpose document-creation and management platforms, learning management systems, proprietary databases, and data services—as well as more specialized tools for video conferencing (and remote instruction), surveying, mapping, design and visualization, etc.—researchers and teachers are accustomed to reacting to (or critiquing) directions set by others. They are latecomers to decisions that result in acquisitions of large enterprise systems that bundle research and teaching IT into business models originally intended for industry or other institutions with different student populations and needs. Administrative or support demands unrelated to higher-ed’s core functions and instead common to all institutions (communications, document creation, storage, management, payroll, timekeeping, security, etc.) thus come to determine IT investments that can be millions of dollars each year per institution.
What if, instead of merely reacting, educators led with their visions of long-term directions for research and teaching IT platforms? What if they set forth clear goals for future IT environments whose material, operational, organizational, and labor infrastructures and functions align with core research and teaching missions, and did so in ways that are ethical and sustainable? What could having a plan, even if at first only impractical, give scholars as leverage in the shared-governance conversations they will need to have over the next decade with university administrators, IT industry representatives, staff, students, and others (including those from their ranks who work in relevant areas of engineering, education, or policy research)? We invite short papers for two panels that plan, speculate about, or suggest technologies or strategies optimal for supporting our scholarship and instruction.
(See also Session 620, which addresses the research portion of these issues.)
