Using technology
Learning technology encompasses the full range of tools and media that can be used to facilitate teaching and learning.
There are many ways that technology can enhance teaching and learning; an important thing to remember when exploring and choosing any technology is that it should be used in a way that furthers your teaching and learning goals.
Technologies Available on Campus
The university supports instructors to create engaging learning environments and provides technology solutions to support educational experiences both in the classroom and online.
A list of supported learning technologies and their descriptions is available on the new USask Learning Technology Ecosystem Toolkit. The Learning Technology Ecosystem (LTE) is made up of the tools that the USask community uses to create, deliver, manage and analyze learning content. The LTE Toolkit is a collection of the teaching and learning technologies available at USask.
Courses, workshops and equipment
Courses and workshops: There are many ways to access training on topics related to using learning technologies.
- Intro to Teaching Online - course
- View all teaching and learning courses and workshops
- USask Training Services sessions
- Other online training - LinkedIn Learning
- See the Getting Help section to connect with further support.
Finding Equipment and Labs: Instructors and students can access much of the computer lab licensed software (ie. SPSS, MATLAB, R) remotely from home or on campus.
You can learn about equipment and technology available in classrooms and lecture rooms in our buildings.
Choosing the technology
The 3E Model
The 3E framework assists teachers with the practical implementation of technology in their classes. It is based on a continuum which includes the following elements:
- Enhance - Adopting technology in simple and effective ways to actively support students and increase their activity and self-responsibility
- Extend - Further use of technology that facilitates key aspects of student’s individual and collaborative learning and assessment through increasing their choice and control
- Empower - Developed use of technology that requires higher order individual and collaborative learning that reflects how knowledge is created and used in the professional environment
The examples provided in the USask version of the 3E Learning Technologies framework include the six key components of our digital information literacy initiative.
6 Components of Digital Information Literacy:
S - Searchers - Strategically searching for information
Com - Communicators - Sharing information that you have collected, evaluated and / or created
Cur - Curators - Collecting, organizing, and managing information
Col - Collaborators - Working with others to evaluate, manage, create, and build upon information
Cre - Creators - Creating new or building upon existing information
Con - Consumers - Consuming information after evaluating for accuracy, bias, credibility, and other factors
Example: Essays / Research Papers
Enhance
Student Example
Students will search for and collect initial information for their essay. Students will post a list of initial resources in the LMS by the end of the week.
SConCur
Instructor Example
Instructor will create a series of short weekly announcements in the learning management system that tell students where you expect them to be in the essay research/writing process by the end of that week.
Extend
Student Example
Students will complete the self-check quizzes to receive immediate feedback.
Con
Students will provide peer feedback to each other via the learning management system.
Com
Instructor Example
Instructor will create a short 4 or 5 item self-check quizzes on a particular topic that ‘releases’ an example of a good essay on successful completion.
Instructor will provide online spaces for formative tutor and peer review of drafts.
Empower
Student Example
Students will engage critically and directly with the public knowledge base in their area by writing accurate scholarly pieces for online sources like Wikipedia.
ComCurColCreCon
Instructor Example
Instructor will access existing supports at USask to assist students growth in digital information literacy and arrange for access to appropriate public forum for student contributions (e.g. wiki).
Please click below to see other illustrative examples using this framework.
This work is a derivative of work by Keith Smyth, Stephen Bruce, Julia Fotheringham and Chirstina Mainka of Edinburgh Napier University and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License
Ways to incorporate learning technologies
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