What follows is a summary of one of the chapters included in Emergence and Innovation in Digital Learning: Foundations and Applications. 

Digital learning is messy and complex. Yet, it’s often portrayed as a solution to the perils facing educational systems or as a cause of those problems. Ross and Collier call for a recognition of the messiness of digital learning. As emerging technologies and practices practices are not yet fully understood or researched, these authors provide a compass to help readers make sense of digital learning environments and their design. They argue that in designing digital learning we

  • should avoid emulating established practices,
  • could gain fruitful knowledge about the instructor’s role if consider the online instructors’ body, and
  • should consider how calls for accountability and data science are unsatisfactory for modern educational systems

Ross, J., & Collier, A. (2016). Complexity, Mess, and Not-yetness: Teaching Online with Emerging Technologies. In G. Veletsianos (Ed.), Emergence and Innovation in Digital Learning: Foundations and Applications (pp. 17-33). Edmonton, AB: Athabasca University Press.