Digital P - unlearn - play - rediscover

Good evening class, I am Juffrou Gibson and I would like to begin by saying that the more I read about Digital P (My abbreviation for Digital Pedagogy cause it sounds so rad and like a Vitamin you should take that will make you spontaneous and fun!) the more it sounds like the art therapy of education, I quote, form Jesse Stommel's article: "Digital Pedogagy is less about knowing and more a rampant process of unlearning, play, and rediscovery" [Decoding Digital Pedagogy, Pt.2: (Un)mapping The Terrain - by Jesse Stommel]. Whilst the other article by Sean M. Morris talks about Pedagogy concerning itself "with the instantaneous momentary vital exchange that takes place in order for learning to happen" [Decoding Digital Pedagogy, Pt.1: Beyond The LMS - by Sean Micheal Morris]. Think about this for a second.

So, Morris just threw another curve ball our way, one I feel Fyfe also touched upon, it says basically that simply using technology does NOT make us digital pedagogues (Just when I thought I got the hang of the word Pedagogy...). And there is a difference between just being a teacher and being a pedagogue. I mean, a pedagogue is a teacher, yes, but not all teachers are pedagogues. What is a pedagogue? Morris explained, when you are just a teacher, teaching will inevitably begin with authority and expertise. When you are a Pedagogue, teaching will begin with inquiry. Throughout the articles I highlighted a few terms that for me stood out in describing a pedagogue and pedagogy and digital pedagogy, these included:

• Playfulness
• Improvisation
• Collaborative
• Dynamic
• Responsive by nature 
• Participative
• Catalyst
• Inspires
• Nourishing
• Mindful
• Facilitates

And I think probably the one that encompasses all of it the best:

• Can't be pinned down in a stable definition

I think this means it is what you make of it, as long as you know that as the same time that it shouldn't necessarily be anything specific, it should be ever-changing, like this world, like the kids we will be teaching year after year. I think that is why Stommel says that "....expert digital pedagogues learn best by forgetting - through continuous encounters with what is novel, tentative, unmastered, and unresolved." Because if we are going to get use to one way of doing things and keep doing it that way we are not going to reach the kids of tomorrow. And we might think we are young and hip we can do this digital pedagogy thing, no problem! But think about it, what about in 20 year, heck what about in 10 years, or 5 years! Will you be able to forget and reinvent you pedagogy, improvise, be once again spontaneous? But you JUST learnt how to awesomely incorporate holograms into your teaching practice to engage learners now that is boring to the new generation and you need to change your game, cause the playing field keeps changing. We can't even imagine the awesome tools we will be able to use in a few years time, and that is actually exciting.

Speaking about tools, this also stood out to me: That the best tools to use in digital pedagogy is tools that inspire you to even use it in ways that the designer never even dreamed of. AND it is very important not to become obsessed slaves to our technology/tools/machines or whatever, but at the same time that we should not be worshiping them we can also not just ignore them all together. Balance, balance, balance. We need to also use our noggins, think critically about the tools we use and how we use them, this makes so much sense, I mean it is no use just using a tool cause it is a tool. Why are we using it? For THIS specific lesson? How will it engage the learners? How will it inspire them? We have to think, how is this technological element going to ENHANCE the experience of education for my learners? Is it going to change anything? What if I use THAT tool instead, what would the different impact be?  Oh and remember, tools do not necessarily have to be technology or digital.

To end of, just a few more thoughts. If we are to be true pedagogues, and digital pedagogues at that, we should be ALWAYS adaptable, ready to improvise and respond to a new environment, happy to experiment. No, the only thing about this life is that nothing ever stays the same. Nothing. Everything is constantly moving and evolving and growing and shifting and twisting about, so the only place to be comfortable is in the knowledge that you will experience some discomfort as you witness your surroundings change in front of you with no chance of stopping it, so adapt, grow, change, improvise, be spontaneous. This extract out of Morris' article really speaks to me "The digital pedagogue looks at the options, willing to improvise, respond to a new environment, to experiment. "Her practice is mindful of the landscape". And as Morris says, Digital P is so rad exactly for the reason that is is our reminder that the (always) new landscape of learning IS mysterious and therefore also, (always) worth exploring. Go for it!

I'm going to end of with the the visual image of Pedagogy that Stommel describes, and I urge you all to look for this visual images in the students in front of you (and in yourself!) when you do your Glaskas,  "...a teacher or learner puzzled, hands-at-the-ready, mouth-agape, pausing just as they're about to speak or take action. It looks like careful planning without attachment to or fetishizing of outcomes. It looks like failure. And wonder."

Okay, we are beginners at this but hey, Challenge Accepted.

My thoughts on Digital Pedagogy Unplugged, by Paul Fyfe.

Okay so for those who don’t know, I am doing my PGCE (Post Graduate Certificate of Education) with the aim of becoming the most awesomest art teacher. I can go on and on about how this decision came to existence and how I ended up on this path and how magical I think creative expression is and how I think all kids should have a space where they can express themselves and so on it is just unbelievably good for them (young and old!)(maybe in another post!) if you’ve read my blog before, or my bio, you know! But this post is for my subject Digital Pedagogy, we were tasked with reading THIS article and write a blog post on it. SO here goes (and expect more to come, as we are receiving one once a week!)

In Digital Pedagogy Unplugged, Fyfe argues for a ‘digital pedagogy’ on a whole new level and it really makes you think.

From here.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I completely agree with Fyfe that we will be (severely) limited if we keep “digital pedagogy synonymous with tools to utilize”, there is no going around the facts that there will not and cannot always be the technological tools available to every school and every child, at least in the foreseeable future, agreed? But, on the other hand, there is also this:

From here.

Yes, we can definitely not just ignore technology/social media/the existence of digital devices, either! SO what do we do? What are our roles as the next generation of teachers (Oh, yeah!). Not only is there a definite inequality in digital/technological resources in schools but our dearest Eskom ensures that we can NEVER ([fading gradually]…Never…never…) truly trust that our technology will actually be able to come through for us. So as teachers, we SHOULD be prepared and we SHOULD be equipped to practice digital pedagogy, unplugged. I love this concept.

In class last Thursday Mr. Knoetze demonstrated this concept (without us even fully grasping the concept yet), when he had us compose short messages on posted notes, AKA tweets, and stuck them up all over the walls or wherever, in a public space where anyone could read them. It got us active and buzzing and out of our seats and engaged in the learning process. Fyfe also touches on some examples, like the text mining and the ‘No-Reading Fridays’. What else can we do to practice a digital pedagogy without technology, and what does it mean? 

From here.

I understand it to some extent as the concept of using the same strategies or processes as you would with some technological devices, just, without those devices, to engage learners with a subject matter in a manner where they can touch base with it and perhaps in some way find it relatable and perhaps also more understandable. Especially if it is the start of a difficult or complex new concept it could be a good way to introduce it in an easier manner or kick-start a curiosity about it within the kids. I think this forms part of the idea of what Fyfe calls ‘edu-hacking’? I have only ever mostly heard of the word ‘hacking’ in a negative context. The idea of ‘hacking education’ is just brilliant.

I think we will be better teachers and better human beings, for that matter, if we work on acquiring the skills (current skills, future skills, always working on acquiring new skills) of ALWAYS preparing/being prepared for the expected unexpected. I also think that sometimes this might seem impossible, or unattainable. I also think we should keep trying. We might fail sometimes. (Life happens!) But we definitely need to keep thinking of new ways we can achieve this (sometimes seemingly unachievable) aspiration. Would it not be our duty as teachers? 

I really like the idea we were given in Curriculum Studies: Life Orientation (Psychology) of always having a little booky with you and jotting down whenever you get some inspiration for an awesome activity that will help your learners grasp the concepts you are trying to teach them in class. Now just like that maybe we could try keep a book of interesting, innovative and new ways we can be unplugged ‘digital humanists’. Always keep it on-hand so when inspiration hits, when you see, hear or think of something you can quickly make a note of it and explore your ideas. Maybe work out lesson plan ideas for using technology and digital devices and media (with digital pedagogy!) and alongside it an unplugged version (or two or three) (am I being too optimistic?)

From here.

Oh, oh, and and, let’s not forget you can have a COMPLETELY boring and unengaging class with technology and what Fyfe says about it being “irresponsible to teach with technology without a digital pedagogy” just makes it so clear you can have technology without actually having a pedagogy, so you aren’t even teaching really. (JUST reading from a PowerPoint, anybody?) And how true is it that if we pull the plug we can go back to basics of engaging learners in the act of learning? And blessed are we in an age of technology and strategies teachers to generations before us could only ever have dreamed of. The buzz about creativity is growing stronger and stronger and I think teachers of ALL subject fields will have to tap (nurture and grow) their own creative banks for ways to engage learners with a pedagogy that speaks to them in this age we live in today. Whilst always keeping in mind, tomorrow will, inevitably, be different.

From here.

What do you think?

Love and sparkles,

San-Marí

xOXo