The idea that good pedagogy is good pedagogy
regardless of the method of delivery really resonated with me. A successful
teacher, using good pedagogy, should still be able to teach effectively if all
they have is blackboard and chalk, whereas a teacher with unlimited ICT
resources is not guaranteed to succeed. It is important to understand there are
circumstances in which digital tools are not available, appropriate or effective.
With this in mind I hope to ensure that the only reason I employ any teaching
method digital or otherwise is pedagogical.
Investigating the individual capabilities of digital
tools has been informative, educational and eye-opening to say the least, but
for me the pivotal idea is: Digital tools do not automatically equal good
digital pedagogy. That requires intelligent task design. This was illustrated
by the de bono’s hats activity. Without the scaffold of the hats, the activity
was merely a use of digital tool which most would have likely resulted in
heated arguments instead of plethora of perspectives.
Many of the ideas I came up with while completing
the embedded tasks would never occurred to me without keeping in mind, Bloom’s
taxonomy, SAMR and the hallmarks of good digital pedagogy. These concepts
provided me with a gauge to help assess the bewildering array of digital tools
and possibilities against, and provided me with a process that informed and
will continue to inform my digital design task process.
Without that focused design process I would have
easily been distracted by all the figurative shiny buttons of the digital world
as almost every digital tool we have investigated over the last seven weeks was
new to me. I was completely amazed at how much I could do with a basic laptop. What
was frightening, however, was the realisation that those are the tip of the
iceberg and are probably already somewhat out of date. Therefore researching up-to-date
relevant digital tools for use in the classroom will need to become an integral
part of my lesson planning process and something that I constantly review.
My biggest concern with introducing digital
pedagogies into the classroom is safety, specifically from inappropriate content,
cyber-bullying and digital footprint. For instance, I was searching for images
on Google and entered the word “one” into the search window. Scrolling down I was dumbfounded to come
across multiple images of male genitalia!!! That was the last thing I expected
to see, as I considered that search word to be completely innocuous. I have no restrictions other than antivirus
software on my personal laptop so I am unsure if a net nanny or similar would
have screened it out.
Regardless the incident highlighted that all aspects
of cyber safety are essential to consider seriously before introducing tasks
where students are likely to have unrestricted access to the internet. There is
no way to completely remove this risk, unless you avoid digital tools which
will disadvantage students. Restricting the
interactivity of tools, or removing the audience, limits the transformative aspects
and again will disadvantage and disengage students. Teachers can really only
mitigate the risk by ensuring age appropriate content and assess each tool and
task on a case by case basis that takes into consideration; school policy, the
opinions and wishes of caregivers and the benefit to students.
Bullying is a perennial problem in schools and now
cyber bullying is also an issue. (1) This is concerning because one of the
aspects I most enjoyed of digital pedagogy is the ability to create relevance
by providing students with a legitimate audience via the internet. However as
anyone who has ever read a trail of Face book comments will know, that feedback
can be uplifting or soul destroying. I feel that this is a dangerous atmosphere
to carelessly expose adolescent students who are still forming their identity. I’m particularly concerned about the “body
shaming” that is happening at the moment, so I will be particularly cautious when
designing tasks that include images or videos of students.
Social media and the associated problem of a digital
footprint aren’t going anywhere and in all probability will get even more complicated
in the future. My plan is to mitigate the risk to students through relevant current
information and awareness. This does not mean that I won’t include digital
tools in my teaching; it will simply mean adding another facet of planning to implement
them.
I’ll admit referencing is the bane of my academic
life as the sheer amount of detail required and information to assimilate is overwhelming
and the internet is particularly difficult to correctly reference depending on
which referencing system you are using. I think the important idea to convey to
students regarding ethical use of the internet is acknowledging where they
found information or ideas. I would much rather students put in a simple
website source reference rather than give up in disgust because they can’t
figure out where all the commas are supposed to go. This is why, in order to
model correct practices for students to copy, knowledge of what can and can’t
use in lessons is essential. It’s also useful to know that playing resources
such as TeacherTube or embedded YouTube videos don’t contravene copyright.
On a side note I think it’s wonderful to see that digital
age has created the need for the creative commons license under which people
can take an original idea and build on it. Many well known classical
compositions wouldn’t be around today under the current copyright laws! This
would also be an interesting idea to introduce as part of a scaffolded discussion
among students on the topic of referencing and copyright.
There are unlimited types of and ways to use digital
tools in the classroom which is a matter of personal preference, however use of
contemporary relevant digital tools, combined with good task design , emphasis
on safety and copyright awareness is a matter of necessity. These ideas form
the basis of my evolving personal digital pedagogical framework.
1.
http://www.cybersmart.gov.au/Schools/Cyber%20issues/Cyberbullying.aspx
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