Transformative Digital Learning

This report explores the use of digital technologies in education and envisions a preferred future for digital learning. It discusses the concept of backcasting and the necessary pedagogical, social, cultural, and political changes to achieve the desired future. The report also identifies and analyzes obstacles and challenges in adopting digital learning.

Transformative digital
learning

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
1) Describe the use of digital technologies to support and mediate learning and articulate a
preferred future for what that could be...................................................................................3
2) Provide some context for what backcasting is, that is, what and how do you understand the
method of backcasting............................................................................................................5
3) Backcast from future to the present, speculating what kinds of pedagogical, social, cultural
and/or political changes might be required to reach your articulated future..........................6
4) Involve a consideration of at least 3 meaningful pedagogical, social, cultural and/or
political obstacles...................................................................................................................8
5) Think beyond the need for training and simple solutions for challenges of using digital
technologies............................................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
In the past few years the education industry has faced significant transformation in the
technology so used for learning and teaching. The schools are operated with various advance
technology that in which the educators can impart the knowledge more effectively by making
students to learn and understand the things more deeply (Garbett and Ovens, 2016). Such digital
transformation has not happen within the industry overnight it went through various stages and
has faced various resistances at different level both from the students and educators. The first
phase of the transformation of digital learning includes the use of clouding and web based
services through the increased use of computers while the second phase is more advanced which
includes the adoption of Internet of Things (IoT), automation in the processes of adaptive
learning etc. These transformations within the industry has enhanced the chances of the success
of the education and improved the level of understanding of the learners as they have been
offered various options to learn through in an attractive manner. Transformation is not stagnant
due to which it continues to offers various opportunities and challenges in education industry for
the digital- centric population of the students as well as for the teachers. This report is based
upon various tasks that are related with the creative, imaginative and optimistic thinking. In this
use of various digital technologies in a specific space of learning are defined along with a
preferred future of such technology. In addition to this, the concept of backcasting is discussed
and how it will be undertaken for the preferred future for the digital technology. Various
pedagogical, social, cultural and political obstacles are analysed along with various simple
solutions for them.
MAIN BODY
1) Describe the use of digital technologies to support and mediate learning and articulate a
preferred future for what that could be
Digital technologies include various electronic tools, devices, resources and systems that
can generate data, store data and can process it. For digital learning various such sources are used
by the educators to make the learner better and fast from irrespective of their location and the
distances among them. To facilitate learning various space of learning are taken into
consideration. For this report the space of learning that is considered is the classrooms. The
classroom has transformed in such a manner that it attract students as the ambience that has been

developed is tech-enabled, digitally interactive, adaptive due to which the collaborative
engagement has been supported (Aldhafeeri, Palaiologou and Folorunsho, 2016). The uses of the
digital technology in mediating the learning within the classrooms are given below:
 Most of the institutions has been adopting various IoT for improving the learning and
teaching experiences by transforming the environment. This enables the educators to
encourage engagement among the students as with this the presence of the students
increases which allow interaction among them as well as their participation in the
academic activities. Internet of Things is used by the educators to provide the resources
and the study materials to the students with the help of help of which they can prepare
their notes and complete the assignments (Jackson-Barrett, 2019). Also with this the
students are connected to the teachers through cloud which enables them to take
additional instructions of the teacher when required in a more personalised environment.
It also enables the teachers to analyse the progress of the students whether they are
learning with a better pace or not.
 The automation is taken place in various activities to be performed by the teachers within
the classroom such as taking attendance, grading of the papers etc. They have started
using the artificial intelligence for these activities which reduces their time in these
activities thus increases the time for the students. The students mark their attendances by
way of RFID techniques, biometrics and many more which saves the time for both.
Teachers has been using projectors within the classroom for simplifying the process of
learning for the students as with this they displays and discusses how the things actually
takes place (Daniela, 2018).
 The emergence of adaptive learning within the classrooms is prevalent and this makes the
learning more interesting for the learners. It is been used by the tutors as a twist in the
teaching and learning pattern such as with this the students are asked to complete their
assignments online, move on the different levels of the tests by passing on one to another
within the time frame so defined by them. The teaching with online medium directly
from the classroom is also part of adaptive learning.
In the future the changes in the technology for learning are highly expected. The online
teaching is emerging which will improve further in future. It will reduce the requirement of the
students to visit to the campuses often rather to take classes from home with classroom

ambiences. They will be provided the gadgets such as glasses that they have to wear while taking
the classes online, this will give the students a feel of class with more personalised services. In
future with the adaptive learning the students will be able to get better experience as they can
efficiently interact with the teacher. This will offer them real time experience with lesser
disturbances while direct online interaction. In addition to this the educators are experimenting
the gamification of the education in which the learning will turn out to be through video games.
Also in future the robotics, hologram technology and smart board technology will be prevailing
for the learning programs. This will enables the students to learn from far locations and the
teachers to teach to a large number of students from different location (Dreamson, 2019).
2) Provide some context for what backcasting is, that is, what and how do you understand the
method of backcasting
Backcasting is the methods of planning with the help of which a desirable future can be
defined and accordingly work backward for identifying policies and programs so that the future
objective can be achieved by consistent action starting from present. The fundamental question
that is related with backcasting is: "if we want to achieve a goal then what actions must be taken
to reach to the goal"? It facilitates to establish the description various the future situations in a
definite and specific manner. The concept of backcasting involves imaginary movement
backward and then planning step by step actions as well as mechanism through which specific
future course of objectives can be attained from present. It has been denoted as a method to
analyse the future option as it is not based upon what will going to happen in future rather it is
based upon the desirable future that can be attained with the help of resources and capabilities.
This concept is generally applied for complex issues which are in a long term on the basis of
various images of future scenario (Ng, 2016). It is considered to be a road map for introducing a
transformational change. It can be considered a valuable tool in the following situations:
 While addressing various Complex problems that has impact on factors and various
levels of society.
 In a situation where incremental change is not sufficient this concept can efficiently be
used.
 External factors have important role in any matter but which factors are not addressed
efficiently by the market.
 It is suitable when the marginal changes are not sufficient for the prevailing situation.

 In case of a longer time Horizon where the organisation has to consider the deliberate
choice.
The concept of backcasting can be used by the organisation along with the scenario planning.
In this the stakeholders are presented with various scenarios along with predetermined time
period that facilitate them to understand the rate of change and its benefit within the organisation.
For achieving the changes in the digital technologies in future within the learning process it is
important to consider the concept of backcasting as with this the institutions can efficiently plan
the actions that they have to undertake for managing such changes and can enhance the benefits
to the learners as well as to the teachers.
3) Backcast from future to the present, speculating what kinds of pedagogical, social, cultural
and/or political changes might be required to reach your articulated future
On the basis of the analysis above it has been identified that the transformation of the
digital technology has affected the ways of learning as well as teaching for both the students and
teachers. Such changes are expected to develop more in future which the increase uses of
internet, artificial intelligence, virtual reality etc. With such development there will be various
factors that will affect the style of learning of the individual and process with which they have
been learning (Makarova and Makarova, 2018).
It is expected that in the next 10 years there will be various emerged technologies within
the learning sector such as the online teaching will improve by way of smart boards which can
facilitate open interaction among the students and the teachers by eliminating the issues faced
today. The issue which are faced includes the time lag for delivery of the messages due to which
the communication will get affected. This technology is the one which consists of the white
boards that enables interaction by way of writing on it or by moving around it (Lichtenthaler,
2020). Such a board is connected with the computer or with a projector so that the study material
can be visible on the boards. In addition to this the technology of gamification is expected to
emerge with which the students will be facilitate to learn with the pattern similar to video games
like they have to pass on various levels to completed the assignments which are designed
innovatively so that they can be attracted.
For reaching the goals there are various factors that will be required to be analysed by the
institutions before developing the technology as well as while implementing them within the

education system. Various kinds of social, cultural, pedagogical and political changes must be
taken into consideration while implying the concept of backcasting.
 Social changes: The social change includes the change in style of the teachers and the
style of students in which they grab the knowledge. With more efforts of the teachers the
students need to adopt the collaborative practices and work in which they have to
emphasis on the analysis, inquiry and the critical thinking (Zaki, 2019). Heavy reliance
must be on the application programs rather than the classroom teaching. In addition to
this their focus must be on the productivity and the presentation software, internet
browsers so that use of the technology can be ensured. Also the focus must be laid upon
the instrumental and transformative education has to be shifted gradually.
 Cultural changes: The changes in the culture has greater influence on both the learners
and the educators due to which for changing technology in future it is important that
various cultural changes are managed well by them. The changes that will require for
adopting the future course of changes includes mutual respect between the instructor and
learner, openness to the difference on the view as well as opinions, evidenced based
arguments so that the understanding of the students is better about the topic with the help
of critical thinking. Apart from this the learning must be made fun for the students as
with their participation and engagement can be improved. In addition to this transparency
is must in the assignments in context of the criteria so that while appearing the students
have clarity even if they do not have any physical contact with the system organising
their exams and grading their assignments (Galindo-Martín, Castaño-Martínez and
Méndez-Picazo, 2019).
 Pedagogical changes: It is must to have significant changes within the art of teaching as
with this only the new technological changes can be adopted by the entire education
system. The two approaches which are to be expected under this include use of
multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches. Such approaches will enable the
teachers in developing an organised structure of learning. For the future course of actions
as per UNESCO report the efforts of change must be multinational which will require not
just the knowledge of academic but of the culture, policies, systems and structure so that
they can impart knowledge to the students even across borders.

 Political changes: With the changing technology in future regarding the study various
other related changes will take place such political changes that includes more
contribution to the development of the education industry by contributing more through
more investments. In the prototype of the republic plans the government need to declare
various grants so that the educational institution can develop better technology efficient
infrastructure that can support better learning experience. While the democratic plan
emphasis on the findings to the specific activities so that such funds can be utilised as per
the specifications made in the plan (Srivastava and Dangwal, 2017). Along with this the
changes in the policies for the equality and disparity must be launched by discussing
various issues related to it so that an accountability system for measuring the contribution
can be established. In addition to this the policies focussing the decentralisation of the
powers, diffusion of the science etc. must be analysed so that the requirement of
permissions does not affect the delivery of the services.
4) Involve a consideration of at least 3 meaningful pedagogical, social, cultural and/or political
obstacles
On the basis of the above study it is identified that there are various obstacles and barriers
which has to be faced while encouraging the use of the technology in the learning as different
may react in different manner due to which the objectives can be affected. To develop an
understanding of various challenges is crucial for the educators as with this they can determine
effective solutions for them (Jensen, 2018). The barriers and obstacles related to pedagogy,
social, cultural and political factors are given below:
 Entrenched instructional practices: This is the barrier that has been faced in the
pedagogy. It arises due to the fact of lack of clarity for the benefits of the technology to
the educators among them, lack of willingness among them to take risks of adopting
different ways of providing services to the students, denying the need of more rigorous
efforts of the instructors so that they can offers better study material to their students. In
addition to this to cope up with the technology the educators need to have significant
trainings for learning the technology and this act as a barrier to the technology. Also the
ethical concern within the education industry has impact on the confidence level of the
teacher regarding resistance for change and to adopt new technology rather than
classroom studies.

 Obstacles to effective collaboration: This barrier is based upon the perception of both
learners and the instructor due to which the effective student’s collaboration is affected.
There are generally four obstacles which are faced by the effective collaboration while
the three antecedents which help to help to explain various reasons for the obstacles.
They are relted to the opposition of the people made by other as the students are not
ready to understand the part of others due to this entire session gets affected (Morris
and Stommel, 2018). In addition to this trust among each other and a sense of helping
each other does not exist due to which the collaborative practices cannot be developed
and this affects the recent changes such as online classes where people do not agree
with each other and this affects their collective ability and opportunity to learn. The
obstacles can be analysed on the basis of antecedents such as the goals of the activity,
the ways in which the instructions are given as well as the manner in which the
assessment is done.
 Political barriers: The adoption of various technologies becomes the barriers for
various technologies such as sessions which are provided with the help of Internet of
Things along with the smart boards as due to which the government has to face various
losses in context of the income from the non-residents for their livings and fees. Due to
these factors the government promote such technologies with which their educational
system improves but it cannot be outsourced as due to this the number of students
visiting their country is reduced.
 Cultural diversity: A large number of students are present in the universities and
colleges which bring in the diversity. Due to this the people may not find the right
environment and equal opportunity to step out the comfort zone of the. This can be a
obstacle for the instructor and for the learner as they both can get influenced with this.
Due to this the adoption of the technology is must with the rapid changes but this also
gets affected as the students do not agrees to take sessions from some educators or not
to be participative with other diverse people (Selke, 2016).
On the basis of the trends various changes were identified that will take place in near future
within the education industry. To mange such changes the concept of backcasting can be adopted
by the institutions, instructors as well as by the learners as it will facilitate them to accordingly
plan their actions in present so that they can meet up with the change in future such as

gamification of the learning in which learning will be facilitate with the same procedure as of the
video games, hologram technology with which better understanding of various scientific
processes can be understood, use of the smart boards with which real time interaction can be
made possible etc.
5) Think beyond the need for training and simple solutions for challenges of using digital
technologies
To meet up with these obstacles it is important for the institutions to consider various
solutions so that the objectives can be achieved that is to improve the experience of the students
and make them learn better. For this various solutions can taken into considerations which are
given below:
 Teaching development is must for the educators so that they can develop skills among
them regarding the advance technologies such as gamification of the learning, hologram
technology, online teaching with the help of smart boards etc. All these skills are
developing with the development in the technology due to which it has become important
to provide various trainings to the instructors to adopt such changes (Bygdås and Hagen,
2019).
 The regulatory bodies operates within the country must develop various strict policies for
overcoming the issues such as adverse impact of the cultural diversity. With the help of
this the teacher can be motivates as well as the students will be motivated. It can also be
done by encouraging the use of various technologies such as hologram, online sessions
and assignments through internet etc.
 For enhancing the collaboration among the learners and developing understanding among
them it is crucial for the educator to organise various assignments with the help of
emerging technologies within groups. This will enable them to enhance their
understanding and to develop collectivism among each other. This will facilitate them to
help each other and to work upon the goals and objectives simultaneously.
CONCLUSION
It is concluded from the above report that the transformation has taken place within the
technologies that has been used by the educators in teaching and by the students for learning.
Due to this the pattern of learning has changes as now online classes are organised but there are

various flaws in the existing technologies which leads to development in them in the near future.
With the help of backcasting the objectives can be achieved for the future with the actions in
present and to deal with this the students need o develop collaborative understanding while the
instructors need to take various trainings for the technological advancement so that they can
impart better knowledge to the students. To support this various obstacle that can faced are
included along with the solutions to them so that the impact of factors such as pedagogy, culture,
politics and social factors does not affect the overall outcome.

REFERENCES
Books and Journal
Bygdås, A. L., Clegg, S., & Hagen, A. L. (Eds.). (2019). Media management and Digital
transformation. Routledge.
Selke, S. (Ed.). (2016). Lifelogging: Digital self-tracking and Lifelogging-between disruptive
technology and cultural transformation. Springer.
Jensen, T. B. (2018). Digital Transformation of Work. Scandinavian Journal of Information
Systems, 30(2), 27-40.
Galindo-Martín, M. Á., Castaño-Martínez, M. S., & Méndez-Picazo, M. T. (2019). Digital
transformation, digital dividends and entrepreneurship: A quantitative analysis. Journal
of Business Research, 101, 522-527.
Zaki, M. (2019). Digital transformation: harnessing digital technologies for the next generation
of services. Journal of Services Marketing.
Lichtenthaler, U. (2020). Building blocks of successful digital transformation: Complementing
technology and market issues. International Journal of Innovation and Technology
Management (IJITM), 17(01), 1-14.
Makarova, E. A., & Makarova, E. L. (2018). Blending pedagogy and digital technology to
transform educational environment. International Journal of cognitive research in
science, engineering and education, 6(2), 57.
Ng, W. (2016). NEW DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION. SPRINGER
INTERNATIONAL PU.
Dreamson, N. (2019). Critical Understandings of Digital Technology in Education: Meta-
Connective Pedagogy. Routledge.
Jackson-Barrett, E. M., & et. al., (2019). Skilling up: Providing educational opportunities for
Aboriginal education workers through technology-based pedagogy. Australian Journal
of Teacher Education (Online), 44(1), 52.
Garbett, D., & Ovens, A. (Eds.). (2016). Being self-study researchers in a digital world: Future
oriented research and pedagogy in teacher education (Vol. 16). Springer.
Aldhafeeri, F., Palaiologou, I., & Folorunsho, A. (2016). Integration of digital technologies into
play-based pedagogy in Kuwaiti early childhood education: Teachers’ views, attitudes
and aptitudes. International Journal of Early Years Education, 24(3), 342-360.
Daniela, L. (Ed.). (2018). Didactics of smart pedagogy: Smart pedagogy for technology
enhanced learning. Springer.
Srivastava, S., & Dangwal, K. L. (2017). Digital Pedagogy in Teacher Education. Microcosmos
International Journal of Research (MIJR).
Morris, S. M., & Stommel, J. (2018). An urgency of teachers: The work of critical digital
pedagogy. Hybrid Pedagogy Inc..