Consultancy and support in getting educational projects online.
Course design, ideas and technical support based on over 20 years in the field, helping clients explore options to deliver effective and accessible teaching and learning solutions.
Learning technologies are any technology that can be used to help with teaching and learning and/or the learning experience.
“…Learning Technology as the broad range of communication, information and related technologies that are used to support learning, teaching and assessment.”
Association for Learning Technology (ALT)
Today, technology is more commonly associated with anything to do with electronics – more specifically anything with a processor, such as computers, tablets, smartphones, etc. However, technology is actually the sum of any skills, methods and processes used to achieve objectives, be it the production of a product, scientific investigation or the recording or passing on of information. As such, technologies used to help with teaching and learning existed well before the advent of computers or even the use of electricity. You only have to look at printed books, manuscripts, the use of writing slates in classrooms, engraving or painting on stone, wood, or any technology involving a medium and being able to leave a mark, to see a form of technology at work. How such technologies were used in the past is speculative, as we obviously only have what evidence has managed to survive. The idea that early man possibly made drawings or marks in the mud or sand to pass on information from individual to individual should not be discarded out of hand. Particularly as archaeology increasingly indicates our ancestors as being far more intelligent and civilised than previously thought.
Learning technologies today
Nowadays, learning technologies are generally anything electronic in nature, such as the use of smart boards in lecture and classrooms, recordings of lectures so they can be accessed again for revision or by those who could not attend in person, creation of podcasts or fully or partially online courses as well as the plethora of web 2.0 technologies eg interactive quizzes and games, discussion forums, online assessment, etc.
Part of the fun of being a learning technologist is coming across a technology and investigating its potential for helping in teaching and/or learning.
Accessibility is very much a key factor when creating content and using learning technologies today. Making sure that whatever is created is available in such a way that anybody with impairments can also access it and ideally not be disadvantaged, and ideally the alternate content delivers the same pedagogical meaning. A simple example of this might be the inclusion of an image to highlight a point. If somebody can not view the image, there needs to be a good description of what the image is showing/portraying and from the pedagogical viewpoint of including the image.
What I offer: Consultancy, help and advice in the use of learning technologies. From development of small bespoke self-paced courses, to the creation of blended or fully online courses using multiple technologies to improve the student experience.
About Kit
Dr Kit Logan
BSc (Hons). MSc. PhD CMALT
I have a background in psychology, education and technology, which combined with an extensive experience in helping develop online courses and resolving technical problems, gives me a unique understanding of many of the issues and needs faced where learning technologies are used.
