Video transcript:

Hi and welcome to this course round of the course LH238V Digital learning in higher education. 

My name is Fredrik Enoksson and I am the course coordinator and main teacher for this course round. I am employed as a researcher at the division of digital learning, a part of the department for learning at the ITM School. Here I teach courses, supervise Ph.D. students, and perform research about digital learning. I have been working with digital learning for more than 15 years and given seminars, courses, etc with content and learning goals similar to this course. I also have a central appointment with regards to the digital learning environment at KTH

This course is planned to be a blended course with 3 face-to-face seminars on KTH campus Valhallavägen and 7 seminars on Zoom. Some of the face-to-face meetings will also be open for virtual attendance.  All seminars will focus on interaction and collaboration.

The formal aim of this course is to provide you with the skills to analyze, plan, create, carry out and evaluate courses that are either online or blended. 

The pedagogical approach emphasized this course, might differ somewhat from what you are used to. We and our guest in this course, see ourselves as your guides and facilitators in your journey towards becoming a better and more confident online and blended teacher. This is done by integrating practical tools and methods with theoretical frameworks and by emphasizing critical thinking and reflective discussions based upon course material and your practical experience.

This means that we in general will not transmit information in large blocks or chunks, such as two-hour lectures or providing you with a single textbook. Instead, we look forward to engaging with you in the inquiry process to become a better online and blended teacher. We will provide workshops, materials, etc., as a point of departure for you to build upon together with other participants (and us) in collegial discussions. 

The course consists of 5 modules, where each module runs for 2-4 weeks. The names of the modules are: Introduction to Digital learning, Digital assesment, Digital learning activities, Theoretical perspectives, and last but not least the future of digital learning.

Module 1, 2 and 4 have a similar structure, with two course meetings, course material that you are expected to read or view, and one assignment for each module. The first seminar of each module is generally more introductory and/or practically oriented. In contrast, the second one has a more theoretical and reflective focus. The material consists of research papers, book chapters, webpages, and videos. Module 3 and 5 are similar, but differ in that module 3 will have 3 course meetings and 2 assignment, and module 5 will only have 1 meeting.

All material will be available online, either as open access or via the KTH library subscription. The assignments consist of creating something, like a video or a part of a digital assessment, reflecting on the module’s theme, further examining (and referring to) the course literature, and providing peer feedback on assignments. Several of the course meetings will also have guests.

The course is 4.5 ECTS credits. This corresponds to 15 working days in total and we therefore expect you to work in average 3 days per module of the course. Out of these 3 days, we have planned so that the 2 meetings will take 1 day together, the material will take 1 day to complete, and the assignment will take 1 day to finish. The course is designed so that the workload on you as participants should be as even as possible. With that said, depending on your previous experiences, some of the parts of the course might be easier than others. It is advised that you, as a participant, reserve time in your own calendar for on average 2 days per module in order to have enough time to read and view the material and complete the assignment.

So, in addition to the seminars, book 2 days in your calendar for each module to work with the course. 

We look forward to meeting you online in the first Zoom seminar. In the meantime, I invite you to read the course-PM published on the course information web and look at the course room in Canvas. There you can find an open discussion forum where you are invited to present yourself and ask us if you have any questions. Looking forward to meeting you in the course!