The learning challenge

Discovering the power of digital practices

Abstract

‘The learning challenge’ is an authentic and formative assessment task that requires students to evaluate the power of their learning strategies, personal technologies and digital practices for learning. The design was created in response to the need for universities to provide more pedagogical guidance to students preparing for an unknown digital future. The challenge provokes students to question their digital practices and underlying beliefs as learners through gaining pedagogical intelligence and a trialing a transferable action-learning process. The learning design was adapted for an undergraduate languages and technologies course from a teacher development model for technology integration (Steel & Andrews, 2012). The tasks deepen students’ understanding of themselves as learners and technology users through self-exploration, experimentation, evidence-gathering and reflection. Mapped to Fullan and Langworthys’ (2014) continuum of pedagogical effectiveness and supported by student-generated data, the learning challenge offers a powerful way to discover the impact of students’ digital learning practices.