Digital Pedagogy – Yay or Nay?

Digital Pedagogy – Yay or Nay?

The use of electronic devices to enhance or revamp education and the experience thereof is a hot topic right now (just ask my fellow future educators…) and rightly so: we live in an age where we are constantly told that the future is digital. So it was only a matter of time before the education fraternity jumped on the digital bandwagon as well.

The use of modern technology in the classroom has many advantages – it can make lessons more interactive, illustrate and explain difficult concepts in new ways, and put a different spin on teaching “less fun” subjects. I myself had a very memorable class on the human reproductive system involving an interactive whiteboard and different colour pens.  There needs to be a balance though. I think that schools and teachers have become so focused on keeping up with the latest technology that they now care more about how they present a class than what they actually should be teaching. Digital devices can definitely enhance teaching, but not all the time.

Sometimes it is just more practical (and fun) to teach something the “old fashioned” way. In Biology for example, students could watch a Youtube video on the dissection of a frog and its different parts, or they could do it themselves. Using technology to do the work ensures a clean classroom with nobody shrieking, fainting, or throwing around brain matter, but where’s the fun in that?

Electronics definitely it’s place in the classroom, but we should focus less on what is new and why we “need to have it” and rather spend our time figuring out how to effectively incorporate it into the classroom in a “real” way – “real” referring to knowing when to use technology and when not to.  Digital pedagogy should entail the best ways of using electronics in the classroom, but also acknowledge that not using technology is sometimes the better option. If we learn to view and use digital devices as part of our everyday teaching arsenal and not see it as the ultimate tool, we will  be more able to determine the most effective way to present a class. A balance between traditional and digital pedagogy will result in a more effective teaching environment.

Digital pedagogy should enhance education, not replace it.