Digital Pedagogy = Friend or Foe?

Digital pedagogy is being judged mainly by those who don’t like change or prefer the “back in the day” teaching. There are a few reasons as to why so to name a few:

1.   Digital pedagogy is misunderstood meaning that the first thought is often towards using technology or keeping up with the modern learner. These thoughts are not wrong but they aren’t accurate either. Digital pedagogy is the use of electronic elements to enhance or to change to experience of education.

2.   Digital pedagogy is new and different leading those who don’t like change to respond to it negatively. I am speaking in terms of the teachers who like the same old teaching styles

3.   It has limitless possibilities which sounds too good to be true

4.   Timeless as in it won’t be going away anytime soon

5.   Inspires creativity and a sense of freedom which some teachers might not appreciate

Quote from @slamteacher states that “pedagogy has at its core timeliness, mindfulness and improvisation. Pedagogy concerns itself with the instantaneous, momentary and vital exchange that takes place in order for learning to happen.

It fulfills the needs of all learners as it has place for all learning styles and involves learners with different capabilities.

The LMS (Learning Management System) is not pedagogical for a number of reasons namely:

1.    Its limited as it doesn’t use the full potential of technology i.e the internet

2.    It exerts too much control

3.    It was executed prematurely and is therefore seen as a mistake

4.    There is no creativity involved and its old in its ideas

I’m not saying that technology is the be all and end all of teaching and learning. I’m saying that the time we living in and the learners we will be teaching cannot be approached or taught like the old days. They are interested in technology and therefore we need to use it to keep them motivated. Technology is simply a tool in teaching and not a learning outcome.

I refer now to the quote from @jessifer that states that “pedagogy is the place where philosophy and practice meet”. My interpretation is that pedagogy involves the emotions and thoughts of the learners and the practical aspects of that, a combination of theory and practical ideas. Digital pedagogy then includes the interests of the learners because it is always going to involve them. They are the minds of the future and if we as educators don’t prepare them or help them become better, more equipped adults then this lovely world of ours will be lost.

My conclusion is that digital pedagogy is a friend and we should appreciate it. 

Teaching naked? What?

What makes digital pedagogy an effective tool in teaching?

This topic of digital pedagogy is way out of my league but that doesn’t make it any less fascinating. To answer my question above I first have to explain some terms. The first term is digital humanities. With some research and my own understanding, I determined that digital humanities is a collection of the following:

• ·         Learning material in a digital form e.g PowerPoint presentation
• ·         Learning that includes information about technology
• ·         Learning that is empowered by the use of digital methods or tools
• ·         Learning that includes experimenting with technology and
• ·         Learning that criticises or aims to improve technology

The second term is hacking which can be used to describe the productive use or manipulation of the technology that is available to you.

The link between my question and these terms is relatively simple. Teaching with technology is unreliable without digital pedagogy. You cannot be a digital humanist or hacker without applying some form of pedagogy. A purpose needs to be present in your use of technology in a classroom or learning environment.

I’m going to make use of an example in the article to explain this further. The lecturer made the notion with his class to have theory lessons on a Friday called “No-reading Fridays” The classroom activity involved a projection screen and the topic of discussion at that time was “The Question concerning Technology”. The learners didn’t read any material in advance, they simply took turns and read from the text projected on the screen during class. The lecturer then stated that after two Fridays, the class discussions he had with his learners had been motivating and informative. This shows us that even the simplest use of technology can add variety to a lesson and be a powerful motivator to learners to gain information which is what we as educators strive for.

I therefore conclude that using some form of technology makes digital pedagogy an effective tool but in moderation. If technology is over-used, the learning part of a lesson can easily be lost. What i like about using technology as a tool is that it targets all types of learners and it ensures that they all are engaged in the lesson 

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