My Computer ate my Homework

So, we got this challenge of responding to an article about Digital Pedagogy Unplugged… CHALLENGE ACCEPTED! B-)

I have to admit, my first response was a lot less confident than that might sound. “Peda… peda… what?” Even though it took me about 5 minutes just to figure out how to pronounce Pedagogy out loud before looking up what it actually means, I now get that it involves the method and practice of teaching. Especially in an academic subject or theoretical concept. This makes sense, considering the contexts in which pedagogy has been used in class for the past two and a half weeks.

Two things caught my eye in the article. Firstly, the emphasis that was placed on digital not necessarily referring to electronics, fascinated me. Secondly, the debate for and against the use of electronic technologies in class really got me thinking.

I really liked the way they described digital as “something to get your hands on, to deal with in dynamic units, to manipulate creatively.” In this sense, books, pieces of paper and pictures, for example, could also be included into digital pedagogy. This also means that you don’t need a computer to go digital, thus not excluding less privileged students. All you need is a creative imagination.

The above mentioned debate highlighted some view points and arguments that I could relate to, but never really thought about before. For example, digital pedagogy can be a very helpful tool in the classroom or it could be the learners’ very definition of boredom. I personally believe that it is very important to encourage the use of digital electronics in any field of education. It has become an integral part of our everyday and professional lives and is thus a vital skill to master. This being said, I also fully agree that it should be used creatively and responsibly. By this I mean that, whatever digital tool is being used, it should be used in way that would stimulate the learners’ interest and thus encourage the learners to participate. This is, after all, how learning takes place most effectively. One should also never rely solely on technology, because technology WILL fail you.

The idea of the “flip-classes”, as mentioned in the article, is a very good one and should work quite well, provided that the learners do their part, and read what they are supposed to, before class.

There is also the idea of teaching naked. I don’t agree with it. Not in the inappropriate or digital pedagogical sense of the term. In a modern day and age, I feel that it is important to “keep up with reality”. This being said, there is no doubt that it is better to have a successful, interactive learning experience without any fancy technology, than completely losing the learners’ curiosity and interest for the subject by boring them with impersonal pedagogies that stimulate absolutely no thinking or involvement.

In conclusion, I think that it is important to be able to balance digital technology in a way that it optimizes the involvement and interest of the learners. In a sense, integrating the “human aspect” into digital pedagogy as much as possible. This would then create the optimal learning environment, which is what we want, right?