Learning best by forgetting:

In the two readings for this week, Decoding Digital Pedagogy part one and two, I have obtained a much greater understanding of, firstly, what it means to be a pedagogue, and secondly of the nature of digital pedagogy. The readings have opened my mind to the endless possibilities when thinking as a pedagogue and how this applies to digital pedagogy.

Pedagogy is defined as a “scholarship unto itself” something that is used “wherever learning is poised to occur”. Pedagogy is synonymous with being spontaneous, innovative and momentary in the way knowledge is exchanged with the learner. It is the aim to cultivate a desire to strive for knowledge in and outside of the classroom. It is “the place where philosophy and practice meets”. It is thus, in my opinion the greatest strength a teacher can aspire to. The aim to create and distribute knowledge in innovative, engaging and meaningfully lasting ways is paramount to the future generations of our society and indeed all societies.

A pedagogue has the ability to understand the tools he or she is presented with and create new tools out of them in order to facilitate an enhanced teaching environment. How does this apply to a digital pedagogue you might be wondering? In order to answer this we must first understand the concept of digital pedagogy. A digital pedagogue is someone who uses the format of the digital in order to innovate and revolutionise it in order to create new tools for teaching. This is best achieved by forgetting about what the designer created the tool for and learning from scratch in order to innovate and evolve the tool.

An example of how a digital pedagogue fits into the world of the digital would be to inspect the LMS (learner management system). The LMS failed as a concept due to its rigidity, it did not allow for expression or innovation. Teaching is not rigid in nature, it needs to be able to change and evolve. This is why a digital pedagogue “teaches her tools, [but] doesn’t let them teach her”. The ideals of the digital pedagogue could not be possible in such a rigid framework and thus the system could not evolve.

The digital pedagogue thinks critically about their tools, how to use them, and who is able to access them. It is thus apparent that “digital pedagogy refers less to tech and more to the community tech engenders and facilitates”. Pedagogy is about creating; it is the backbone of innovative growth in teaching and thus when it applies to the realm of the digital it is not about what tech is available but how this tech can be used to enhance teaching and learning.