With all the technological innovations and digital advances
available to us today, using it to teach is something that was bound to happen.
The internet made distance learning easier and more accessible and opened up
opportunities to reach and educate faraway communities. Great work has been
done, but calling it digital pedagogy is not always accurate.
Does teaching over the internet automatically mean that you
are a “digital pedagogue?”
Absolutely not.
Pedagogy can be described as your beliefs about teaching and
the way in which you facilitate learning. Sean Morris calls this place where
philosophy and practice meets “praxis”. Digital “praxis” would thus be the way
in which we use technology to facilitate learning and the practical, effective
methods we employ to accomplish it. This
digital “praxis” is often missing when teaching over the internet.
Many think that
teaching over the internet is easy and does not require a lot of work – you do
not have to deal with an unruly class and not being prepared is not a problem.
Simply show a video or upload a Power Point presentation and your work is done –
congratulations, you have now successfully employed digital pedagogy. This kind
of mindset couldn’t be further from the truth and undermines what the internet
actually can do and how combining it with teaching could be phenomenal.
Digital pedagogy is not as easy as logging onto the internet
– to be successful, it requires hard work and a lot of time spent learning and
getting comfortable with all that it entails. Sam Morris says it perfectly – “simply
slotting your pre-written materials into an online framework and calling it a
class is not interesting or sound pedagogy.”
Digital pedagogy
involves teachers and students and it is those students we have to take care
of- even if you are on a different continent. For teaching and learning to be
effective, the students have to engage with the work and do more than simply
stare at a screen. It is your job as teacher to make sure your content is up to
date, easily accessible, interactive, and open to discussion. To create a
successful learning environment the teacher thus has to think outside the box
of ways to make an impersonal experience a meaningful one. As a teacher, you
have to put a lot of thought and effort into your work and find a way to use
the internet in such a way that it suits and supports your pedagogy.
Not so easy, huh?
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