In the debate about digital versus analogue teaching aids in Danish schools, their complementary potential is overlooked.
Teachers’ freedom to choose resources is essential to adapt teaching to the individual.
By Thomas Bjørner, researcher in digital learning games and media innovation at Aalborg University, and Kim Høgskilde, chairman of The Association for Teaching Aids.
The Danish school is among the most digitized in the world, and this has created a debate about the role of digital teaching aids. Unfortunately, the debate is often reduced to an either-or position, pitting analogue and digital teaching aids against each other. The polarized approach overlooks nuances that show how the two types of teaching aids can complement each other in teaching.
Digital and analog teaching aids offer different resources and should be considered complementary tools. If digital teaching aids were simply designed to imitate analog ones, they would not add value. For example, they cannot provide the same tactile sensuality or shared reading experience as physical books. However, new research from Aalborg University from 2022 to 2024 shows that digital teaching aids can improve student learning and engagement, especially when they meet and take into account specific challenges that students experience with analog materials.
Teachers reported difficulty reading complex narratives in book form. Game-based instruction, which included interactive elements such as finding historical objects, gave 85 percent of students an understanding of historical progression, while only 33 percent achieved it with books. 78 percent of the students were also engaged in the digital version of the story compared to 27 percent in the analog reading. Likewise, the chemistry teachers reported on students’ challenges with understanding the periodic table, where chemistry games involving interactive organization of elements resulted in significantly better learning engagement.
Digital teaching aids also have the advantage that they can support teaching differentiation to a greater extent, offer individual motivational elements and are easily accessible.
The teacher’s free choice is the key
The teachers’ professional assessment must not be limited by restricting access to a varied selection of analogue and digital teaching aids. When teachers have the freedom to choose and combine resources, they can adapt teaching to the needs of each individual student.
A one-sided approach that favors one format over another risks inhibiting student learning and engagement. Instead, a differentiated method that utilizes the strengths of both analogue and digital formats can create a more dynamic and inclusive teaching. This ensures that all students get the best conditions to learn and thrive.
Source: it-kanalen.dk
