We all know what it is... Don't we?

Surely you already have first-hand experience of what digital learning is. After all, are there any teachers anywhere who haven't been pushed to experiment with digital learning during the COVID-19 pandemic? However, we all like a good definition. They are clean and tidy and help us transcribe what we are already (possibly only unconsciously) conscious. Like many other concepts, digital learning does not have a single, universal definition.

Let's see some definitions

According to the New Jersey State Department of Education, it is "any educational practice that effectively uses technology to strengthen a student's learning experience and encompasses a broad spectrum of tools and practices."

A somewhat similar source is the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, whose Digital Learning Glossary defines the concept of digital learning as "any technology-facilitated learning that gives students some element of control over time, place, path, and/or pace. This learning includes content with instructions, interactions, data and assessment systems, learning platforms, online courses, adaptive software, personal learning enabling technologies, and student data management systems.

Is there anything more specific?

Since the above definitions are quite broad and refer to any use of technology to achieve learning, some sources point to the need to consider the terminology we are using within the general term digital learning and recommend that we try to standardize the various terms. For example, the Canadian Digital Learning Research Association prepared a report in which the authors described the problem:

"For years, the terminology used to describe forms of digital learning, such as online learning, hybrid learning, and remote learning, has been applied inconsistently. Simply put, two people could be conversing, using the term "online learning" and have very different definitions of this term without the other knowing. The pandemic and the massive shift to delivering courses in an online format further amplified discrepancies and inconsistencies as individuals and institutions sought to describe and categorize their modes of delivery."

Spectrum of Learning Modes
The report proposes the use of the Spectrum of Learning Modes, which is "a framework for common understanding and is designed in such a way that definitions will retain their meaning over time (as technologies and ways of teaching and learning continue to advance)." The full 11-page report is an interesting and very accessible read and is available at this link. Evolving definitions in digital learning: a national framework for categorizing commonly used terms

Click below to see some more examples of how people view digital learning.