Digital technology and learner-centred pedagogy. Reflections on the use of an ePortfolio at the Salesian University
Vincent Safi
The new digital technologies have caused a shift in the role of teachers in relation to learners. Today learners have greater access to information, experts, and peer learners. This change in the way of learning has led students to prefer the learner-centred approaches, where they are active creators of knowledge. This requires that teachers be formed on how to use the new digital technologies, so that in turn they may be able to respond in an efficient way to the learner’s need today. This article, conscious of the needs and interests of the learner, and considering the affordances brought by the new digital technologies, presents the learning experience through the use of ePortfolio as experimented in the Salesian Pontifical University (UPS) in these recent years. ePortfolio has demonstrated to be not a mere repository of knowledge, but rather a pedagogy, since the set of activities utilized has led to construction and co-construction of knowledge among the students.
Keywords
ePortfolio, learner-centred pedagogies, social constructivism, heutagogy, connectivism.