“TOWARDS TRANSFORMATION OF EDUCATION IN THE DIGITAL AGE“

by Dr. Omid Noroozi
Associate Professor of Educational Technology,
Wageningen University and Research (WUR), The Netherlands

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced transformation in educational settings within a short period of time. Such transformation has led to significant changes in our educational settings not only for students and teachers but also for institutions as such. This implies the need for constant innovations within educational programs to prepare our society for dealing with complex and global issues. In such transformation, digital technologies play a key role in today’s classrooms and educational institutions are increasingly developing learning and teaching concepts that rely on the extensive use of such advanced digital technologies. This talk will focus on the key characteristics of transformation in our educational settings in the digital age. Then, the focus will shift towards how to integrate digital technologies in classrooms with particular emphasis on competencies that fit well with the digital age to enhance the process of teaching and learning. It will also focus on the key competencies that are crucial for students to acquire for dealing with complex issues and wicked problems in the digital age. This talk will also provide examples of active teaching methods and how they can be used in classrooms in line with the transformation of education in the digital age. Finally, the outlook of educational settings in the future will be discussed.

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Omid Noroozi is an Associate Professor of educational technology at Wageningen University and Research, the Netherlands. He explores relations among educational technology, learning, and students’ transformative competence development. His Ph.D. (2013, Cum Laude) and research projects have been the subjects of various papers he has delivered at international conferences and various articles published in peer-reviewed journals. Omid has been a visiting scholar at the University of Michigan, USA, University of Oulu, Finland. He has received various research awards such as the most promising publication award at WUR, the best conference, and journal paper awards, nomination for Jan Hawkins award, and several junior research awards. Omid is now serving as an executive board member of the International Society for Technology, Education, and Science (ISTES), a committee member of the CSCL, Editor-in-Chief for the International Journal of Technology in Education (IJTE), and President and Scientific Chair of the International Conference on Studies in Education and Social Science (ICSES). He has co-edited a couple of collected books, served as an editorial board member of several scientific peer-review journals, and also guest-edited a couple of special issues in top-rank journals in the field of educational research. Omid is an active member of scientific associations e.g. AERA, ISLS, ICO, EARLI, and serves as an active reviewer for international peer-reviewed journals and conferences.