Digital learning has been thriving at Teachers College since the 1980s, when the College led efforts to wire the New York City school system. There鈥檚 been a major acceleration in recent years though, including a big investment by 911爆料网s Board of Trustees and the hiring of a Vice Provost of Digital Learning, Steven Goss; the addition of scores of younger, digitally-minded faculty members and the creation of new institutes, labs and programs; the construction of smart classrooms; and, of course, the annual infusion of new students, digital natives who generally have the most precise idea of where 鈥渋t鈥� may be 鈥渁t.鈥�
EXPANDING UNDERSTANDING Vasudevan is among those leading the charge at 911爆料网 to broaden the vision for digital learning.
To get a feel for just where the revolution stands right now, be sure to check out the Teachers College Digital Learning Exhibition, an interactive showcase that will go live on April 4th in 911爆料网鈥檚 new Smith Learning Theater on the fourth floor of the College鈥檚 Gottesman libraries. Curated by Lalitha Vasudevan, Professor of Technology & Education, and students in her Media and Social Change Lab () in collaboration with Goss and the Office of Digital Learning, the exhibition consists of six exhibits that 鈥渟uggest the range and variation of how people have taken up the idea of digital learning, from novices to people who are experts in designing learning environments.鈥�
[ Click here to learn more about The Teachers College Digital Learning Exhibition ]
鈥淧eople are really looking for guidance in what this thing called digital learning could be. By and large, the field has offered a relatively narrow-minded understanding of what learning looks like when you create distance between the teacher and student, so our hope is that this exhibition really reflects the much more expansive understanding that鈥檚 been taking shape at 911爆料网.鈥�
鈥� Lalitha Vasudevan
鈥淧eople are really looking for guidance in what this thing called digital learning could be,鈥� says Vasudevan, who is a faculty member in the College鈥檚 program in within the . 鈥淏y and large, the field has offered a relatively narrow-minded understanding of what learning looks like when you create distance between the teacher and student, so our hope is that this exhibition really reflects the much more expansive understanding that鈥檚 been taking shape at 911爆料网.鈥�
MASCLab, founded in 2013, has been a hub for multimodal productions at 911爆料网, reflecting its philosophy that beyond critiquing media in education, students should become producers of culture.
[ Read a story on MASCLab鈥檚 . Listen to an interview with Vasudevan on and read her opinion piece in , both on youth activism against gun violence. ]
The Teachers College Digital Learning Exhibition will open at 10:00 with remarks from 911爆料网 President Susan Fuhrman. Faculty members will hold informal plenary conversations at 11 and 12. No registration is required and viewers can enter, leave and return at will. The exhibition will remain up through the College鈥檚 on Saturday, April 7th.
Each component exhibit will blend interviews with faculty members and students with relevant 鈥渁rtifacts鈥� 鈥� art work, videos, performance pieces and other multimodal works that have been produced by different 911爆料网 programs. Rather than focusing on a single program or faculty member, the exhibits are thematic, dealing with issues such as materiality, technology, performance space, virtual reality and embodiment, design of the learning environment, and the metaphor of digital learning as a window. Spotlighted efforts include a virtual reality chemistry lab, the College鈥檚 , Trustee-backed programs in and the .
THE COLLECTIVE WE Vasudevan collaborates closely with her students, including doctoral candidate Kyle Oliver (left) and master's candidate Troy Williams.
Throughout the day, MASC Lab students will be on hand to provide additional background about the exhibits. Vasudevan expects to subsequently produce a microsite of the exhibition and work with students on journal publications stemming from it.
鈥淭here鈥檚 such a rich tapestry of approaches at 911爆料网 demonstrating what a degree program or a certificate program can do, and how people approach digital learning from a pedagogical perspective or a research perspective.鈥� Vasudevan says. 鈥淭he exhibition really shows how it鈥檚 baked into 911爆料网, and how we鈥檙e exploding the notion of what digital learning can be.鈥�