Digital Delights

Introduction

Traditional lectures, especially when given to large audiences, are characterized by a prevalent passivity of students as well as reduced interactions between the lecturer and the audience. For some years, research has been devoted to exploring how new media can be harnessed to support and promote collaborative activities in large learning groups. Prominent applications or systems that have gained much attention include social media such as Wikis, Twitter and Facebook for (informal) information exchange [Siemens, 05], as well as Audience Response Systems (ARS) for playfully assessing students' retention and attention during lectures.

On the other side, investigation of the capabilities of Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) led to the development of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) capable of providing several ten thousands of learners with access to courses over the web [McAuly, 10]. MOOCs have recently gained much attention especially in the US and are now often considered a highly promising form of academic teaching [Pappano, 12]. While the figures are impressive, MOOCs have yet to become subject to sharp debates criticizing among other the educational approach, vague business models, and the very drop off of MOOCs attendees. However controversial MOOCs may be, they strikingly show the potential of social and/or new media to fundamentally change higher education. (Face-to-face) Lectures may no longer primarily serve the purpose of disseminating information, which can be easily retrieved from Wikis or online courses at any time. They may instead focus on the deeper elaboration of learning materials, albeit in large groups, putting high demands on interactions among learners as well as faculty and scholars.