DECODING DIGITAL PEDAGOGY

Once I had finished reading the 2 passages I was a little blow away. Our first reading by Fyfe made me feel like I got the grip of digital pedagogy, now I feel like ‘I miss the train completely’.

Digital pedagogy in the mind of these authors seems to be without boundary, I felt that it was being treated like a concept that is yet to be fully unravelled. I can relate, in a way, to the authors’ enthusiasm, after years of being taught a single dull technique of how things should be done, discovering a new and exciting point-of-view (technique) is liberating.

Reading these passages I wonder whether it will be conducive in a classroom situation, a room filled with energetic adolescents. Assuming it is conducted in a subtle and well structured manner, it would be perfect.  We would first need to see if it will not challenge the culture of the school, or all schools (is it in par with the educational system).

“For some, teaching begins with authority and expertise. For the digital pedagogue, teaching begins with inquiry.”

 I mean, structures in place have purpose; hence they have stood fast for so many generations. Do I want disruption of a system that has not failed many generations of successful people? No, so basically what should be kept in mind is inclusivity. Let’s use digital pedagogy to cater for the diversity in our classrooms; so that more of our learner can achieve the goals set-out for the grade. Digital pedagogy should ignite learners’ ability to think for themselves, critical thinking, and self-motivation to learn and understand the text.

Goal orientated behaviour seems to be the way forward in my eyes. The kind of people we would like our learners to eventually become can be orchestrated through digital pedagogy. This being said, one can see that Pedagogy is a powerful tool, and should be used only to add significant contribution to the curriculum and not just for the sake of having it been performed.

I would also like to share my opinion on criticizing LMS-based teaching. With reference to online teaching, I am not disagreeing with the authors, but let us not forget that digital pedagogy needs us to unlearn many misconceptions (which may not be easy for all of us), thus LMS should be viewed (and used) as a foundation phase to teaching (in my opinion). Digital pedagogy should be seen a more advanced, more professional way of teaching.