I often hear the term ‘Technology Enhanced Learning’ used when trying to sell the idea that a shift towards more ‘digital’ learning tools  will somewhat improve the educational experience. By including the word ‘enhanced’, possibly suggests the previous format is insufficient in some areas, and that technology can enrich and reinvigorate an out of date model for learning.  However, it may suggest that technology is simply improving an already tried and tested method.

As researchers and practitioners of digital education, we need to move away from our over-emphasis on how technology acts on education, or how education can best act on technology. Let us rather acknowledge that the two are co-constitutive of each other, entangled in cultural, material, political and economic assemblages of great complexity. (Bayne 2014)

By co-existing, both technology and education can benefit from each other mutually and develop together into the future.  There are a range of arguments on both sides to whether technology helps or hinders the learning process, however each situation should be judged accordingly by the constraints, values, methodologies and ideologies involved.  Working in e-Learning for a while now, I have seen my fair share of digital blunders and online learning disasters, where the experience certainly wasn’t enriched.  In these circumstances, there was a degree of factors which prevented the success of the projects, sometimes it was the fault of the technology, other times the fault of the individuals (digital literacy skills).  In fact, alongside TEL, there is another term which is up for debate ‘digital literacy skills‘, I’ve heard some colleagues say they can’t stand it, whilst others think it sums up the idea perfectly, I’m not so sure, is there more to digital literacy than just reading and writing on screen, or do we use a multitude of different skills in the process?  The definition of digital literacy states literacy is seen as more than just reading, it has always meant the ability to read with meaning, so that possibly explains how we interact with technology, reading with meaning.

Bayne, S. (2014) What’s the matter with ‘Technology Enhanced Learning’? Learning, Media and Technology, DOI: 10.1080/17439884.2014.915851

https://cleach.wordpress.com/what-is-digital-literacy/