What is Digital Pedagogy?

 


Source: http://www.teachernology.com/digital-pedagogies.html

"Digital Pedagogy is precisely not about using digital technologies for teaching and, rather, about approaching those tools from a critical pedagogical perspective. So, it is as much about using digital tools thoughtfully as it is about deciding when not to use digital tools, and about paying attention to the impact of digital tools on learning."

"Digital pedagogy" began appearing in peer-reviewed journals starting in 2011. It is not just about the act of using technology to teach, the "how". At its core, it is about reflecting on the use of technology to enhance or to change the experience of education. The focus is not on the digital tools themselves but how the most basic architecture of our interactions with and through machines can inspire pedagogies. It is looking at how ways of learning, teaching and instruction can be fundamentally different now because of what digital technologies have made possible. Digital technologies such as electronic tools, systems, devices and resources that generate, store or process data. Some examples of these? Social media, online games, apps, multimedia, productivity applications, cloud computing, interoperable systems and mobile devices. 

The opening diagram illustrates aspects of digital pedagogy that are a shift from traditional methods of learning and teaching. Power is shifted to the learner, where teaching (as in the content and methods) is centered around the learner and not around the teacher or the curriculum. Teaching methods are centered around engaging learners to be active in their learning by creating conversation to create knowledge. That it is more important to be in a state of correcting versus a teacher needing the students to memorize and apply a correct answer. This requires a shift in the classroom from being an environment that is controlled, where learners passively consume the 'right' information, understanding and methods, to a learning environment that is comfortable and accepting of chaos that comes with active learning. I find the idea of homeocracy (stemming from the word homeostasis) crucial to this pedagogy (or believing it will work). Homeocracy being that there is a tendency for things to reach a stable equilibrium between interdependent parts. 


Technology Integration Models

Just because technology is used does not mean education or learning improves. The diagram below shows how integrating digital technology in teaching should be looked at and dealt with using two different lens - Curriculum (what is taught) and pedagogy (how it is taught). It addresses two questions: (1) What impact does technology use have on curriculum and pedagogy? and (2) Could the activity been achieved without digital technology?


              Source: http://edfutures.net/DTIF

The relationships demonstrated there also underlie Technology Integration Models - frameworks for navigating the elements interplaying between digital technology and education, towards the end goals of achieving the greatest learning impact. The Triple E Framework is based on research that shows that the effectiveness of technology integration begins with good instructional strategies. This framework was designed for instructors to easily evaluate how to select digital tools to meet learning goals, not the other way around. It helps instructors think critically about the potential effectiveness of a technology in a lesson or learning activity by following three sets of questions with corresponding scoring system, as shown below from the Triple E Framework website:



Other models such as the SAMR (example, example) and RAT have limitations in how applicable they are in helping educators design learning lessons or activities with intentional use of digital technologies. For example, it is difficult to distinguish modification from augmentation in real life and often that distinction does not have tangible benefit in helping make decisions about how to use technology in planning lessons or learning activities. These models have also been criticized as idolizing integration at redesign or transformation stages as the pinnacle of success, when in actuality effectiveness should be evaluated based on what impact the use of technology on achieving the learning goals of the lesson/training. 

Although not a framework, I also find TPACK very helpful to understand the different types of knowledge needed to effectively integrate digital technologies for pedagogy on a specific subject matter. Below is a graphic that illustrates the various sections of the TPACK model (Content knowledge, Pedagogical knowledge, Technological knowledge) and their intersections (Technical-Content knowledge, Pedagogical-Content knowledge, Technological-Pedagogical knowledge).


Again, although not a tool, it is helpful to use to self-identify which type(s) of knowledge I have, where I need to grow and perhaps explore tying in different subject matter experts when planning lessons or training sessions. For example, when it comes to palliative and end of life care, I have a lot of content knowledge, some content-pedagogical knowledge (from experience), some technological-content knowledge. The areas I haven't mentioned (TK, PK, TPK) are the areas I need to improve on, or think about how to fill those gaps by perhaps using subject matter experts to chime in during my lesson planning or delivery process.  

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