Digital Learning Symposium

The Digital Learning Symposium was a single day event held at the Faculty of Education, University of Waikato and chaired by Jo MacDonald from the New Zealand Council of Educational Research (NZCER). The Symposium bought together researchers from all parts of the country and covered topics such as augmenting primary teaching and learning science through ICT, exploring eLearning practices across disciplines, extending innovative leadership to enable e-learning for better student outcomes in primary schools and enhancing teaching and learning of primary mathematics through the use of apps.

Roger Moltzen, the Dean of the Faculty of Education opened the Symposium by highlighting the importance to the University of Waikato of digital learning and the Teaching and Learning Research Initiative's (TLRIs). He emphasized the imperative of practice and informed research and spoke about the opportunities that the TLRI's provide to grow research in this area.

There were four morning presentations headed by researchers from WMIER including Mira Peter, Elaine Khoo, and Bronwen Cowie with Jonathan Scott and Howell Round from the Faculty of Science and Engineering. They spoke on 'Reengineering an engineering course: how flipped classrooms afford transformative teaching, learning and workplace competency', while part of this team including Craig Hight from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences discussed 'How copy cut and paste shapes what we know'. Following on were Sydney Shep and Matt Plummer from Victoria University who spoke on 'Moving beyond the threshold: Investigating digital literacies and historical thinking in New Zealand Universities.'

The afternoon session was headed by Rebecca Jesson, Maria Meredith and Naomi Rosedale from the University of Auckland who spoke on 'Porpous learning: What do families and schools need to know and do about learning at home in a digital environment to enhance children's literacy?' Garry Falloon from the University of Waikato introduced and concluded the day while presenting with two teachers from Leamington Primary School on 'Exploring student thinking and problem solving in iPad-supported learning environments'.

The Digital Learning Symposium was sponsored by the New Zealand Council of Educational Research (NZCER) and the Wilf Malcolm Institute of Educational Research (WMIER).

If you are interested in research on digital learning, or want to know more about this event please contact [email protected]