The Teaching and Learning Innovation Digest - May 2023

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DIGITAL CROSSROADS
AT CENTENNIAL
Dr. Sowmya Kishore and Shannon Bramwell
Faculty, Centre for Faculty Development and Teaching Innovation (CFDTI)
Flexibility and access have become
indispensable components of how we live,
work, teach, learn, or play today. The pandemic
only threw us more quickly into embracing
and adopting a way of life and accelerated
this process faster than it may have otherwise
happened. The education sector, in particular,
has been reimagined in more ways than
ever. MOOCs, blended learning, online, and
distance offerings have been around since
the early 2000s, but we’re clearly in the thick
of an evolving paradigm shift that reflects
and respects learner-centric approaches
more intentionally.
As Zhou et al. (2020) aptly describe, the “e” of
e-Learning captures so many emerging facets
of education: electronic, efficient, exploratory,
experiential, expanded, extended, easy-touse,
and enhanced learning. The message
behind flexible learning is loud and clear,
and its services and support are firmly
grounded in incorporating both in-person
and online approaches so that students
can choose how, when, and where they
study. Camosun College, B.C., aptly notes
four principles that make this pedagogy truly
holistic: accessible, inclusive, innovative,
and sustainable.
Technology and Pedagogy
Higher education in the “fourth industrial
revolution” has involved objectives that
ensure a certain quality in teaching and
delivery to empower learners to access and
absorb knowledge via exploratory research
and thereby sustain human development
(Lupanda, 2020). The author notes how there
is an increased pressure on postsecondary
institutions in the fourth industrial age to put
innovation, both evolutionary and revolutionary,
high on its agenda. That they must deepen
technology infrastructure by breaking down
barriers, without degrading the educational
experience, on the contrary, they must
augment it.
Sowmya
Shannon
To this end, at Centennial, our approach has
allowed an array of projects and opportunities
in the recent past, from the HyFlex Pilot to
BringIT (bring your own device) initiative and
the transformation of standard classrooms into
active learning spaces. Although all College
initiatives share commonality in striving
towards “empowering technology to empower
people”, each project is uniquely suited to
different learners and teachers:
HyFlex: HyFlex provides the greatest amount
of flexibility and autonomy to the learner
whereby they get to choose how they wish to
interact with each lesson on a weekly basis:
i.e. live in-person, online synchronously,
or online asynchronously at a later
time. HyFlex classrooms have been equipped
with state of the art audio/visual equipment
in an effort to create a seamless video
conferencing experience for those in person
as well as those tuning in remotely. A pilot
that was launched in Fall 2021 has resulted in
more courses and programs embracing this
approach across schools and campuses in the
last two years.
BringIT: As the college strives to model the
future of work for both its employees, as well
as students who are training for the workforce,
the BringIT initiative allows for the affordances
of technology to be brought into the classroom,
as students each bring a device of their
own. This project has adopted a technologyequity
approach within programs; several
being fully immersed in technology, while most
others taking a ‘technology-enhanced’ path,
thus allowing each area to make necessary
upgrades be it curriculum, pedagogical, or
industry related. It also ensures all programs
integrate digital literacy and digital fluency in
a scaffolded approach that maintains human
connectedness, learning, and the needs of our
learners in focus.
Active Learning Classrooms: With increased
technology in our lessons, many classrooms
have also received a classroom transformation
with updated and added hardware to support
classes. These spaces across Progress
and Morningside Campuses have been
transformed with multiple screens and access
points, allowing for the display of various
content simultaneously. The furniture in these
rooms are fully movable, encouraging a more
equitable classroom setting where there is no
front or back of the room and learning is coconstructed
between faculty and learners.
These agile and flexible initiatives present a
very different view of teaching. No longer is the
teacher the sole contributor when planning and
preparing a lesson. Rather, the preparation
of lessons involves a host of parties
with various expertise, coming together
in the shared teaching and learning
space. The inclusion of learning technologists
to help choose technology tools, the use of
instructional designers to help lay out course
content, as well as the assistance of audio/
visual and IT support staff to ensure lessons
are delivered smoothly.
This interdisciplinary approach requires
understanding and respect for each individual’s
role and a collaborative way to design engaged
learning opportunities.
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