Opportunities and Challenges in Harnessing Digital Technology for Effective Teaching and Learning

TL;DR

This paper discusses the opportunities and challenges of integrating digital technologies, including AI, into higher education, emphasizing evidence-based strategies and a self-regulated learning framework to enhance teaching and learning.

Contribution

It introduces a self-regulated engaged learning framework for effectively harnessing digital tools in higher education, supported by research in physics education.

Findings

Digital tools offer diverse opportunities for enhancing learning.

Effective integration requires evidence-based approaches.

A self-regulated learning framework supports technology adoption.

Abstract

Most of today's educators are in no shortage of digital and online learning technologies available at their fingertips, ranging from Learning Management Systems such as Canvas, Blackboard, or Moodle, online meeting tools, online homework, and tutoring systems, exam proctoring platforms, computer simulations, and even virtual reality/augmented reality technologies. Furthermore, with the rapid development and wide availability of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) services such as ChatGPT, we are just at the beginning of harnessing their potential to transform higher education. Yet, facing the large number of available options provided by cutting-edge technology, an imminent question on the mind of most educators is the following: how should I choose the technologies and integrate them into my teaching process so that they would best support student learning? We contemplate over these types of important and timely questions and share our reflections on evidence-based approaches to harnessing digital learning tools using a Self-regulated Engaged Learning Framework we have employed in our research in physics education that can be valuable for educators in other disciplines.