Within Higher Education (HE) Early Years (EY) undergraduate students are trained using a range of knowledge and experiences to support their learning. This in turn influences how the students support children’s learning. This paper focusses on the experiences of both tutor and student as the collision between the pedagogies of digital technology and outdoor learning and play are explored, in order to support a holistic curriculum.

The focus of this study is a BA (Hons) Early Years Education and Practice undergraduate degree, in a large UK University. Over the three years of the course students engage in a breadth of modules, including “Children Learning through Landscapes” which is a specific module teaching students about the importance of the outdoor environment and how to provide children with regular opportunity to engage with it, connect with nature and learn through the use of all their senses. This experiential, active learning is critical in children’s brain development as well as their holistic development (Palmer, 2006), helping them to make sense of the world around them. This pedagogy is an integral element of EY practice and follows the pioneering work of Montessori, Steiner and Froebel, who first advocated the importance of an outdoor space to play and learn, as well as a rich environment for healthy growth and development (Pickering, 2017). Welsh  Government (WG), (2020) expect all children to have regular access to the outdoor environment as part of their curriculum.

Thus, in order for EY students to understand and to be “able” in this teaching pedagogy, they also need regular access to the outdoors. This affords them opportunities to embrace the natural environment in order to promote their own knowledge and understanding, enabling them to become role models for future generations.

However, the introduction of the Digital Competency Framework (DCF), has become a compulsory part of the Welsh Curriculum. This means that EY students also need to be digitally competent to develop their own academic skills as well as to support and develop children’s digital skills; this has become an area of priority within the curriculum. Therefore, as an education professional in HE and as part of “innovative learning and teaching”, the need to present and role model digital practices blended with traditional outdoor pedagogy is now greater, and significantly challenging for ‘digital immigrants’(Sakr, 2020; Edwards, 2016; Prensky, 2001) ,encouraging students to confidently apply the relevant skills in their own practice.

Nonetheless, within the context of the Welsh curriculum the two approaches appear to conflict with one another as it seems that they are competing for the “attentions” of practitioners as well as the children they teach. They each look to develop skills for life as part of a new progressive Welsh curriculum (WG, 2020).

Therefore, blended pedagogies need to be modelled by the HE tutor so that students can confidently demonstrate and apply these skills in their own practices, making them self reflective learners and professionally ready for the demands of the work environment, allowing skills to be transferred and employability to be enhanced.

Thus, the questions that inform this case study are:

(1) Can digital technology be blended with traditional outdoor pedagogies to support a

holistic curriculum?

(2) What are the effects of blended pedagogies on student learning experiences?

(3) What lessons are learnt from the perspective of the HE tutor in attempting to model

the blended pedagogies?

A reflective case study approach was applied to practice in situ as part of an outdoor learning project within a Level 5 module. One Higher Education (HE) tutor and 24 EY female students participated in the study. Choosing a case study approach was considered a suitable method for this reflective study as it was undertaken in situ, as part of the module. It aimed to offer information on relationships and any changes to behaviours between students and tutor and to explore the effects of any changes to the traditional processes of teaching and learning (Denscombe, 2014). Case studies are not “methods” of collecting data but more an approach that can use a variety of instruments to gather information and offer more flexibility. However, they can be limited in how the findings might be applied to a general population and may not always be easily replicable due to the narrow focus often studied (Gilbert, 2008) as applied in this case study. Nonetheless, case studies allow the reader to understand more about the general phenomenon (Johnson and Christensen, 2012, p. 408) and due to being highly qualitative in nature, the researcher can participate in the research. Insights gained by using a case study to look at blending teaching pedagogies can cause us to rethink our position on a certain practice or topic (Mukerji and Albon, 2018), which is the basis of this case study, and which are fundamental processes in reflective practice. Additionally, having ecological validity (Tobin et al., 1989) means that the findings reflect what happens in real life, allowing student behaviours to be observed more holistically. A digital app called “Seesaw” was introduced to the students. It is a secure digital platform and allows participants to share their content. Students were given a task to complete whilst on ‘placement’ and this involved using their own iPads or iPhones to take photographs or videos (with ethical consent) of their outdoor lessons, activities, spaces and resources which they then needed to upload into seesaw in order to share with their peers. Students used the app at times that suited them, could provide feedback, messages, comment or ‘likes’ on the content that each had posted and the tutor could also do the same. Embedding this digital approach to outdoor learning was a new approach to teaching and learning.

This case study reveals the advantages and discomfort of role modelling a practice as HE tutor that has not been applied before in this context and as such is considered an innovative pedagogy(Koros-Mikis, 2009). Issues around modelling pedagogies that depict 21st century learning are highlighted for “digital immigrant” (Prensky 2001) HE teaching staff members, and require a paradigm shift in thinking. However this case study has provided a new lens on blended pedagogy and the positive outcomes that it has brought to this practice. EY students engaged in the blended pedagogy, applying digital technology for educational purposes in an outdoor learning context and this resulted in enhanced collaborative learning between students and tutor, affecting attendance and confidence to try new approaches in their practice. For some students it ignited a connection to their natural environment and thus improved their own knowledge in teaching children. From the tutor’s perspective this was an unexpected outcome (Hughes, 2011) . Reflecting on this practice has revealed that pedagogical thinking can be transformed when we share ideas in ways that appear non-judgemental and new approaches can be applied where the right environment affords such opportunities. Belk (2013 p.1599) supports this stating, ‘you are what you share’. The implications of this case study raises questions around the appropriateness of training and development for “digital immigrant” staff members, understanding student digital competency, blending pedagogical approaches, as well as the debate around digital technologies being part of young children’s learning within a reformed curriculum in Wales. These challenges present questions that require social consideration as well as arguments as to why they cannot be overlooked.

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