Fostering NCL in higher education: New approaches for integrating educational technology instructional design into teacher's pratice

Networked Collaborative Learning (NCL) is undeniably a double-edged sword. On the one hand it can yield high-quality learning and enhance both teachers' and learners' satisfaction. On the other hand, however, it requires careful planning and specific skills for the design and management of online learning activities. This is one of the main reasons for the limited adoption of NCL in a number of educational contexts. The focus of this chapter is a specific proposal aimed to foster the wide diffusion of Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) and NCL in higher education (HE). In this perspective the chapter analyses the main barriers that limit the diffusion of NCL approaches and then, in order to overcome them, presents an innovative approach to faculty training in Educational Technology Instructional Design. This approach is founded on multidimensional scaffolding, which support teachers to integrate rules, heuristics and the best practices for the easy and effective design of active and collaborative online learning into their everyday activity. In this perspective, the chapter presents an analysis of the dynamics characterizing the diffusion process of Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) and NCL in higher education. Then a proposal is presented to foster wider diffusion of such practices, based on an innovative approach to faculty training in Educational Technology Instructional Design. This approach is founded on multidimensional scaffolding, which support teachers to integrate rules, heuristics and the best practices for the easy and effective design of active and collaborative online learning into their everyday activity. As reported in the article is the results of one of the activities of the WEL project (Web-Enhanced Learning) involving five Italian universities: Genoa, Turin, Milan, Bolzano and Eastern Piedmont. [URL - https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1840792/gtpages/wel.htm]