Student Voices: Innovative Pedagogical Models for Course Design

Abstract

Ever since Marc Prensky introduced the term Digital Natives there has been an ongoing debate about digital skills and expectations of today’s students. Some, like Don Tapscott, claim that they are grown up digital, others claim the term ‘digital native’ is overrated and wrong. This paper reports in depth interviews and research with students, addressing their experiences, competence and expectations regarding use of digital technology in higher education. The paper includes students from three different higher education institutions and from different study programs. Some of the students were part of a larger project aimed at flipping the lecture, meaning all lectures were replaced with video instructions, and the “lecture time” used alternatively. The findings show that students’ expectations on pedagogy and use of technology in higher education are strongly affected by current practice as well as students’ prior experiences in K1-13 education. Students, however, quickly embrace new ways of learning when introduced to them. The paper reviews differences in the student use of digital technology for learning.