**4. Deep learning and critical thinking in a digital learning environment**

This builds on a comparative study, but findings showed that the challenges experienced were evident in both countries. Despite being from different sides of the globe, teaching educators from both Norway and New Zealand expressed a concern regarding students' learning in digital contexts. Overall, 13 of the 20 interviewed teaching educators expressed a concern regarding students' deep learning, critical thinking, and source criticism. They link the students' lack of learning and innovation skills with their level of digital literacy skills (cf. Trilling and Fadels' model of 21st century skills). If their learning and innovation skills are not high enough, their use of digital technology seems to be at risk of not being used at a transformative level, and in some instances limits the quality of their learning processes.

#### **4.1 Deep learning?**

#### *4.1.1 Norwegian teaching educators' perception of students' level of learning and learning approaches*

One of the teaching educators was quite astonished that students could be very technically competent without being able to search the web for knowledge. He explained that he had bachelor students not able to find literature, and when he demonstrated, the students were blown away as if it was magic. The ability to make use of keywords when searching for information and relevant articles was poor among students, he said, and he was surprised by the fact that they were not able to use the knowledge they ought to have attained during their education.

Another teaching educator claimed that the students' learning approaches were superficial and based on surface learning. She explained the reason was that they had not learned or practiced deep learning processes. 'When asked to read a text, they do not extract what is important and relevant. They just dutifully read to complete the task'. She said it was fine that they were using Google when studying, but the worry was that the content seemed to move straight from the screen and out of their mouths, bypassing the students' own relevant reflections. Another teaching educator claimed that there was an evident difference between students who had studied media and communication at the senior level in school and those who had not. They understood that there was quite a lot of work involved in being able to utilise the digital tools in a productive way, while the rest was basing their learning processes on a copy-paste strategy. She explained that students tended to express a strategy of searching for readymade abstracts online. This was very unfortunate because the type of learning we want to promote in our teacher education is largely based on reflection, not just reproduction of readymade connections between levels of understanding.

I asked the teaching educators if it was a challenge to get students to engage in deep learning when readymade answers were easily assessable online. The teaching educator replied, 'Of course'. He explained how he had noticed that students were often using online references instead of the syllabus. 'It can be the same keywords as is described in our syllabus, but they would rather google it. So, that is when I question what source criticism they have applied to secure their information'. He

**63**

*Are Teacher Students' Deep Learning and Critical Thinking at Risk of Being Limited in Digital…*

explained that the students were not concerned with this, and uncritically used this on tests and exams. One critical question to be asked was: When using a traditional lens when assessing the students, what are we measuring as new tools and contexts for learning have transformed learning activities and outcomes? Do we have practices for evaluation that aligns with the new learning activities and intended

The same teaching educator's experience with digital tools was that they were

not always helpful. Furthermore, he felt it somewhat distorted/disabled the learning processes. This understanding was confirmed by another educator who explained that she thought of digital technology as a detour. 'Sometimes we use digital technology like PowerPoint, when traditional methods like using a black board can work as a better tool'. She explained that students expressed their preference for educators using PowerPoint, as they found it better not having to write

*4.1.2 New Zealand educators' perception of students' level of learning and learning* 

In New Zealand, teaching educators were also vocal regarding this challenge. One teaching educator explained how she had noticed that students were increasingly entering search words in Google to access what she referred to as 'easy takeaway knowledge'. The consequence, she explained, was that the students did not have to engage deeply or really work with the content. 'Students can access it very easily, and it almost replaces thorough research, like reading academic articles,' she said. She explained how this availability of a lot of information on the internet undermined students' capacity to read critically, do research, and read academic journals or chapters. She elaborated that this aspect of availability, quick easy access, was undermining the development of academic capacities and serious research for assignments. A critical selection of information takes more time. 'You have to actually digest those harder articles, and it seems to me that students read less of those […] even if they use them in their assignment it is superficial.' Another one supported this perception and explained: 'the easiness of technology creates a false notion of what learning is about, that you don't have to work for knowledge. I don't think that's true. If you look at anyone who is good at something, they have put in a lot of work and practice. I think digital technologies might be kind of respon-

Some research shows that students who often use technology tend to do worse when compared with students who use less of such tools [4, 25–27]. Mueller and Oppenheimer [28] conducted a study in which they concluded that the use of a laptop negatively affected the students' test results. They focused on the students' use of laptops instead of traditional writing during lectures. They argued that note taking by hand calls for different cognitive processes than writing on a laptop. One can write faster on a laptop and take more notes. 'Although more notes are beneficial, at least to a point, if the notes are taken indiscriminately or by mindlessly transcribing content, as is more likely the case on a laptop than when notes are taken longhand, the benefit disappears' [28]. Writing by hand is slower, and one cannot take verbatim notes in the same way as with a laptop. Instead, students listen, digest, and summarise so that they can succinctly capture the essence of the information. Taking notes by hand forces the brain to engage in deeper learning, which fosters comprehension and retention [29–31]. As May points out, 'even when technology allows us to do more in less time, it does not always foster learning'. This is in line with the teaching educator who claimed that that learning has a tendency to be too easy. When students are copying and pasting from the internet and using

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.96151*

outcome?

everything down.

*approaches*

sible for this notion of learning'.

#### *Are Teacher Students' Deep Learning and Critical Thinking at Risk of Being Limited in Digital… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.96151*

explained that the students were not concerned with this, and uncritically used this on tests and exams. One critical question to be asked was: When using a traditional lens when assessing the students, what are we measuring as new tools and contexts for learning have transformed learning activities and outcomes? Do we have practices for evaluation that aligns with the new learning activities and intended outcome?

The same teaching educator's experience with digital tools was that they were not always helpful. Furthermore, he felt it somewhat distorted/disabled the learning processes. This understanding was confirmed by another educator who explained that she thought of digital technology as a detour. 'Sometimes we use digital technology like PowerPoint, when traditional methods like using a black board can work as a better tool'. She explained that students expressed their preference for educators using PowerPoint, as they found it better not having to write everything down.

## *4.1.2 New Zealand educators' perception of students' level of learning and learning approaches*

In New Zealand, teaching educators were also vocal regarding this challenge. One teaching educator explained how she had noticed that students were increasingly entering search words in Google to access what she referred to as 'easy takeaway knowledge'. The consequence, she explained, was that the students did not have to engage deeply or really work with the content. 'Students can access it very easily, and it almost replaces thorough research, like reading academic articles,' she said. She explained how this availability of a lot of information on the internet undermined students' capacity to read critically, do research, and read academic journals or chapters. She elaborated that this aspect of availability, quick easy access, was undermining the development of academic capacities and serious research for assignments. A critical selection of information takes more time. 'You have to actually digest those harder articles, and it seems to me that students read less of those […] even if they use them in their assignment it is superficial.' Another one supported this perception and explained: 'the easiness of technology creates a false notion of what learning is about, that you don't have to work for knowledge. I don't think that's true. If you look at anyone who is good at something, they have put in a lot of work and practice. I think digital technologies might be kind of responsible for this notion of learning'.

Some research shows that students who often use technology tend to do worse when compared with students who use less of such tools [4, 25–27]. Mueller and Oppenheimer [28] conducted a study in which they concluded that the use of a laptop negatively affected the students' test results. They focused on the students' use of laptops instead of traditional writing during lectures. They argued that note taking by hand calls for different cognitive processes than writing on a laptop. One can write faster on a laptop and take more notes. 'Although more notes are beneficial, at least to a point, if the notes are taken indiscriminately or by mindlessly transcribing content, as is more likely the case on a laptop than when notes are taken longhand, the benefit disappears' [28]. Writing by hand is slower, and one cannot take verbatim notes in the same way as with a laptop. Instead, students listen, digest, and summarise so that they can succinctly capture the essence of the information. Taking notes by hand forces the brain to engage in deeper learning, which fosters comprehension and retention [29–31]. As May points out, 'even when technology allows us to do more in less time, it does not always foster learning'. This is in line with the teaching educator who claimed that that learning has a tendency to be too easy. When students are copying and pasting from the internet and using

*Teacher Education in the 21st Century - Emerging Skills for a Changing World*

translating from one language to another. The survey, interview guide, and participant statements were translated from Norwegian to English. There are nuances when translating and analysing that may be lost, and these could have influenced the results. An ongoing collaboration with New Zealand researchers throughout the

**4. Deep learning and critical thinking in a digital learning environment**

This builds on a comparative study, but findings showed that the challenges experienced were evident in both countries. Despite being from different sides of the globe, teaching educators from both Norway and New Zealand expressed a concern regarding students' learning in digital contexts. Overall, 13 of the 20 interviewed teaching educators expressed a concern regarding students' deep learning, critical thinking, and source criticism. They link the students' lack of learning and innovation skills with their level of digital literacy skills (cf. Trilling and Fadels' model of 21st century skills). If their learning and innovation skills are not high enough, their use of digital technology seems to be at risk of not being used at a transformative

process was very helpful in concept- and language-related clarifications.

level, and in some instances limits the quality of their learning processes.

*4.1.1 Norwegian teaching educators' perception of students' level of learning and* 

use the knowledge they ought to have attained during their education.

reproduction of readymade connections between levels of understanding.

I asked the teaching educators if it was a challenge to get students to engage in deep learning when readymade answers were easily assessable online. The teaching educator replied, 'Of course'. He explained how he had noticed that students were often using online references instead of the syllabus. 'It can be the same keywords as is described in our syllabus, but they would rather google it. So, that is when I question what source criticism they have applied to secure their information'. He

One of the teaching educators was quite astonished that students could be very technically competent without being able to search the web for knowledge. He explained that he had bachelor students not able to find literature, and when he demonstrated, the students were blown away as if it was magic. The ability to make use of keywords when searching for information and relevant articles was poor among students, he said, and he was surprised by the fact that they were not able to

Another teaching educator claimed that the students' learning approaches were superficial and based on surface learning. She explained the reason was that they had not learned or practiced deep learning processes. 'When asked to read a text, they do not extract what is important and relevant. They just dutifully read to complete the task'. She said it was fine that they were using Google when studying, but the worry was that the content seemed to move straight from the screen and out of their mouths, bypassing the students' own relevant reflections. Another teaching educator claimed that there was an evident difference between students who had studied media and communication at the senior level in school and those who had not. They understood that there was quite a lot of work involved in being able to utilise the digital tools in a productive way, while the rest was basing their learning processes on a copy-paste strategy. She explained that students tended to express a strategy of searching for readymade abstracts online. This was very unfortunate because the type of learning we want to promote in our teacher education is largely based on reflection, not just

**4.1 Deep learning?**

*learning approaches*

**62**

digital technology uncritically, they miss out on the constituting process of struggling with individual concepts and developing their 21st century skills, like reflecting, generating, being creative, theorising different concepts, and communicating independent ideas. It seemed like the teaching educators had trouble engaging students in deep learning processes as digital technology created a learning environment that fostered the strategic approach, and they experienced challenges where students attempted to maximise academic achievement with minimum effort. Perhaps they did this unaware of the consequences these approaches could have on their potential learning outcomes.

Deep learning strategies cannot be externally imposed and must be interest-led. Interest can be stimulated by placing less emphasis on curriculum content and more on contextual interpretation, in other words, the 4Cs [20]. Learning activities need to be interesting and engaging and allow critical reflection and dialogue with peers and mentors [32].

#### **4.2 Critical thinking?**

#### *4.2.1 Norwegian teaching educators' perception of students' level of critical thinking*

Critical thinking is vital for problem solving, but one teaching educator explained that students' critical thinking skills were virtually non-existent, and that a lot of effort was put into trying to develop those skills alongside their digital skills. Another explained that as much as digital tools were creating opportunities in teaching, they were also creating challenges. Those challenges were related to teaching students to be critical. When is it useful to use it, and what resources are usable in academic settings?

*'The students' ability to use and utilise digital tools shocks me, because it is very poor. They are consumers; they are not producers. The job we do here is about making them able to become producers as well, so that they can utilise the learning resources available. They need to be prepared better through high school in relation to the critical use of digital tools; there are many who have major shortcomings. I think it has gotten worse really, because it's like if it's not on Facebook or Google, then it does not exist. It's a little scary. It seems that they are becoming less and less aware that it is just a person who has written this, and that information could have been written with underlying agendas. The critical reflections are something we have to work quite a lot with, and more for each new class just the three years I have been here.' (translated from interview).*

One teaching educator related the challenge to the fact that it was very easy to retrieve information, without necessarily understanding what it means. One can just type in a word or look something up, 'then you just read exactly what comes out, because you typed in a word'. The problem, she explained, was that the students were not able to see the whole picture. It was noticed in their presentation on exams, or in things they wrote, that they did not fully understand the concepts they were writing about. Their presentation was really just reformulation of something copied from the internet, and was not coherent.

One challenge is related to what extent they understand the concepts they are writing about; another is whether the source is trustworthy. The students were warned both in writing and orally, one teaching educator explained, not to use bloggers' opinions and secondary interpretations as a basis for academic writing. The students still handed in papers with hardly any syllabus literature or academic

**65**

*Are Teacher Students' Deep Learning and Critical Thinking at Risk of Being Limited in Digital…*

references. One teaching educator explained that she had been teaching for so long that she remembered well the time when education was much more book centred.

*'One had to search for and order different articles at the library, and so on. Now it is all online, and that is great. It makes things easier. From that perspective, the students have accepted the possibilities online, and that is good. Nevertheless, there is a negative side to this. I do not find that students' source criticism has developed or increased according to this change. For instance, I do not accept references to Wikipedia in my papers, even if there is a lot sensible information written there. I encourage them to start there to get an overview. It can function as a platform for relevant references. But they have to be critical regarding what they are basing their* 

*4.2.2 New Zealand teaching educators' perception of students' level of critical* 

The same perception is widespread among the New Zealand teaching educators. One explained that one of the things they were focusing on was critical analysis and information literacy. He said, 'The information is at our fingertips, but we need to really think about when we're using it and how it's being used, and be able to seek out robust information for what we need, and understand exactly what we're using'. Another participant explained that she had noticed that there was an overreliance on inaccurate media rather than knowing that they could go to a particular resource

'So they can't make those kind of judgements about what is valid and what isn't valid to cite, because there's been no role models for them to look at and learn from. So the whole concept to any kind of academic approach to writing, whether it is through social media or other aspects of writing, is a very big learning curve for

The same challenge was exemplified by an interaction with another teaching

'One of my postgraduate students this week wanted to know what I meant by "doing critical review", which is an instruction for an assignment. And she copied something in, and I said: Where did you get this from? She said: Oh, I got it off Mr. Google, and I'm sort of thinking is this really, you know… This is a postgraduate student who is saying that, and doing that. That is actually pretty problematic. So,

She explained that the biggest challenge was that the students needed to develop their critical perspectives on what they were seeing, and referred to this as 'very patchy'. She was trying to encourage academic writing, thinking, and discussion, to make students extract knowledge and the underpinning ideas. To 'have the students in the position where they can tell the good from the bad, the useful from the not so

One teaching educator challenged the notion of students as superficial in their learning because of digital technology; she claimed that the challenge was about the

*'I certainly don't feel that students are more superficial because they're using them, or because they can access Wikipedia or… I think they need to learn a different set of skills, but I think that once you have developed those skills, I think you can actually get into deeper learning, and I think digital technology enhances those skills. I think we can be superficial in whatever we do. But, it's not because of digital* 

you can't make too many assumptions about where people are at.'

useful information. That has been a problem.'

*technology we become superficial.'*

need for a different set of skills.

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.96151*

*thinking*

and have more valid information.

them… they struggle.'

educator and a student.

*arguments on, and the skills to do this are lacking.'*

*Are Teacher Students' Deep Learning and Critical Thinking at Risk of Being Limited in Digital… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.96151*

references. One teaching educator explained that she had been teaching for so long that she remembered well the time when education was much more book centred.

*'One had to search for and order different articles at the library, and so on. Now it is all online, and that is great. It makes things easier. From that perspective, the students have accepted the possibilities online, and that is good. Nevertheless, there is a negative side to this. I do not find that students' source criticism has developed or increased according to this change. For instance, I do not accept references to Wikipedia in my papers, even if there is a lot sensible information written there. I encourage them to start there to get an overview. It can function as a platform for relevant references. But they have to be critical regarding what they are basing their arguments on, and the skills to do this are lacking.'*

#### *4.2.2 New Zealand teaching educators' perception of students' level of critical thinking*

The same perception is widespread among the New Zealand teaching educators. One explained that one of the things they were focusing on was critical analysis and information literacy. He said, 'The information is at our fingertips, but we need to really think about when we're using it and how it's being used, and be able to seek out robust information for what we need, and understand exactly what we're using'. Another participant explained that she had noticed that there was an overreliance on inaccurate media rather than knowing that they could go to a particular resource and have more valid information.

'So they can't make those kind of judgements about what is valid and what isn't valid to cite, because there's been no role models for them to look at and learn from. So the whole concept to any kind of academic approach to writing, whether it is through social media or other aspects of writing, is a very big learning curve for them… they struggle.'

The same challenge was exemplified by an interaction with another teaching educator and a student.

'One of my postgraduate students this week wanted to know what I meant by "doing critical review", which is an instruction for an assignment. And she copied something in, and I said: Where did you get this from? She said: Oh, I got it off Mr. Google, and I'm sort of thinking is this really, you know… This is a postgraduate student who is saying that, and doing that. That is actually pretty problematic. So, you can't make too many assumptions about where people are at.'

She explained that the biggest challenge was that the students needed to develop their critical perspectives on what they were seeing, and referred to this as 'very patchy'. She was trying to encourage academic writing, thinking, and discussion, to make students extract knowledge and the underpinning ideas. To 'have the students in the position where they can tell the good from the bad, the useful from the not so useful information. That has been a problem.'

One teaching educator challenged the notion of students as superficial in their learning because of digital technology; she claimed that the challenge was about the need for a different set of skills.

*'I certainly don't feel that students are more superficial because they're using them, or because they can access Wikipedia or… I think they need to learn a different set of skills, but I think that once you have developed those skills, I think you can actually get into deeper learning, and I think digital technology enhances those skills. I think we can be superficial in whatever we do. But, it's not because of digital technology we become superficial.'*

*Teacher Education in the 21st Century - Emerging Skills for a Changing World*

their potential learning outcomes.

and mentors [32].

*thinking*

**4.2 Critical thinking?**

usable in academic settings?

*have been here.' (translated from interview).*

copied from the internet, and was not coherent.

digital technology uncritically, they miss out on the constituting process of struggling with individual concepts and developing their 21st century skills, like reflecting, generating, being creative, theorising different concepts, and communicating independent ideas. It seemed like the teaching educators had trouble engaging students in deep learning processes as digital technology created a learning environment that fostered the strategic approach, and they experienced challenges where students attempted to maximise academic achievement with minimum effort. Perhaps they did this unaware of the consequences these approaches could have on

Deep learning strategies cannot be externally imposed and must be interest-led. Interest can be stimulated by placing less emphasis on curriculum content and more on contextual interpretation, in other words, the 4Cs [20]. Learning activities need to be interesting and engaging and allow critical reflection and dialogue with peers

*4.2.1 Norwegian teaching educators' perception of students' level of critical* 

Critical thinking is vital for problem solving, but one teaching educator explained that students' critical thinking skills were virtually non-existent, and that a lot of effort was put into trying to develop those skills alongside their digital skills. Another explained that as much as digital tools were creating opportunities in teaching, they were also creating challenges. Those challenges were related to teaching students to be critical. When is it useful to use it, and what resources are

*'The students' ability to use and utilise digital tools shocks me, because it is very poor. They are consumers; they are not producers. The job we do here is about making them able to become producers as well, so that they can utilise the learning resources available. They need to be prepared better through high school in relation to the critical use of digital tools; there are many who have major shortcomings. I think it has gotten worse really, because it's like if it's not on Facebook or Google, then it does not exist. It's a little scary. It seems that they are becoming less and less aware that it is just a person who has written this, and that information could have been written with underlying agendas. The critical reflections are something we have to work quite a lot with, and more for each new class just the three years I* 

One teaching educator related the challenge to the fact that it was very easy to retrieve information, without necessarily understanding what it means. One can just type in a word or look something up, 'then you just read exactly what comes out, because you typed in a word'. The problem, she explained, was that the students were not able to see the whole picture. It was noticed in their presentation on exams, or in things they wrote, that they did not fully understand the concepts they were writing about. Their presentation was really just reformulation of something

One challenge is related to what extent they understand the concepts they are writing about; another is whether the source is trustworthy. The students were warned both in writing and orally, one teaching educator explained, not to use bloggers' opinions and secondary interpretations as a basis for academic writing. The students still handed in papers with hardly any syllabus literature or academic

**64**

Based on what the teaching educators explained, it seems like digital learning environments are enabling advanced multi-structural learning at such a high level that their lack of relational understanding and ability to create extended abstracts have been overlooked. Digital tools make students appear skilled in handling information as they can copy ready-made text online by googling keywords. This apparent skill in writing could be misleading for teachers in their assessment of the student. When students reach higher education, they are perceived as unskilled and uncritical, as higher education reveals a worrying lack of learning strategies that would enable them to reach deeper levels of understanding [22]. It seems that through primary and secondary education, they develop an imbalance between learning and innovation skills, and information, media, and technology skills [3]. Furthermore, this imbalance seems to create an asymmetrical reinforcing effect as digital environments make it easy to present multi-structural understanding at a high level, which can disguise the need to work with students' ability to think critically, a central part of the higher order of thinking in the SOLO taxonomy.
