In 2020 I was invited to present some thoughts on the impact of the Covid pandemic on physiotherapy education as part of a World Physiotherapy webinar series on digital solutions for online learning.
I wanted to use the opportunity to encourage colleagues to take a critical perspective on the move to online and blended learning environments, and to reflect on how the choices we’d made were unlikely to be optimal. Given that those choices could possibly inform teaching practice for the next few decades, I wanted to push back against what I saw as the dominant paradigm, and to argue that no matter how engaging or well-produced, these were not ideal formats for online learning.
And then I also wanted to talk about how we can use technology to design transformative learning experiences for students, using a critical pedagogy; to change power relationships in the classroom; to develop networks for collaborative activities; to bring students’ personal histories and lives into the learning environment; and to increase diversity and interaction in the process.