Just Another Resource

Having been to secondary school (no social media) and 3 years at university (with social media) I have a fairly good understanding of both the use of social media as a tool and the lack there of. To be frank it’s helped me out on more than one occasion, although aware of the concerns raised by Vicki Davis, I have to agree with the premise of Social Media Myth.

There are so many dangers associated with social media these days it’s ridiculous we have hacking, predators, sending letters to the wrong person, generating enemies through inaccurate or inappropriate posts and comments online and generating “ammunition” that could be used against you in whichever career you choose (politics, teaching, cooperate….). This begs the questions that Vicki Davis used in her blog “Should we teach letter-writing in the classroom?”, “Should we teach email in the classroom?” and “Should we teach social media in the classroom?”.  It is precisely because of the dangers that I would encourage the use and education about email and social media in the classroom.

Social networking is ever growing (diary sites, blogs, and chat sites) which provides places for teens to stay in touch, communicate about recent events or meet new and interesting people. This turns a single edged knife to a double edged sword, as often students post and young children share personal information like full names, addresses (home and schools) and photos (binge drinking and revealing) that in effect provides a virtual shopping ground for predators. Educating students on the appropriate use of social media will help them to not only recognize these dangers and protect themselves (and their freedom on the internet), but also how to communicate with people in a professional capacity, which is useful throughout their lives.

Teachers and parents are afraid though that the students will become distracted and therefore lose out on their education (Social Media Myth). Personally when one is in varsity there is no time to social network in class besides the odd “Happy birthday!!!!” on Facebook. Teachers are now using social networking to better engage the students in the theme of the subject content, through email/ discussions, asking questions, connecting class rooms, keeping students and parents updated to school events. The networking is not limited to tearcher-students but also provides a format for student-students interaction, like group chats on whatsapp, where students can support each other through inspirational messages or the ever popular “Guys the projects due tomorrow! or Please can you send me your notes?”. Personally I find Google Docs share application a very useful application that allows many students, busy on a project, to access and edit a shared document from anywhere at anytime (especially useful to those groups that find it difficult to get together at a specific time and place). Social media and networking like Twitter, Blogs and Instagram are all useful in that it allows students to share thoughts and ideas, helping each other to understand different concepts and engage in academic and cultural matters.

Digital Pedagogy vs Online Teaching

Recently online teaching has become a very large field on the World Wide Web, but how does it relate to the digital pedagogy. Both use digital tools to convey information to the learners but pedagogy is not synonymous with teaching. Teaching is pedagogy in the sense that when a teacher explains content on a subject to a learner in a format that invokes a learning response/interest in them which allows the learners to retain the knowledge and employ it in their daily lives. Teaching online can be pedagogical but extensive investigation, practice and research need to be employed to develop study material that will facilitate learning, especially when the classroom atmosphere is not present. The lack of which would result in a program that students will become complacent and disinterested in. The Learning Management System (LMS), is a prime example of a poorly constructed online learning system according to Sean Michael Morris.

LMS is a software system used by educational institutes to manage record, distribute educational material for online courses, administration and assess student’s progress towards training goals. Proving very popular in the business context by providing a format that allows it to train employees in a fast and inexpensive manner (to increase productivity and grow the business).

Sean Michael Morris argued that the LMS is a premature system that didn’t challenge the internet and was made with the least innovative classroom practice, augmented by the perception that one can easily upload the materials (assignments, lecture notes, video and audio)onto a network and online learning will occur. This is not pedagogical, as it does not provide a meaningful or sustained learning environment. The lack of these two aspects and proper classroom interactions negatively impacts the development of learner to a state of meta-cognitive reflection (defined by Swartz and Perkins as “becoming aware of your thought processes in order to then control them when appropriate”).

 This is where the digital pedagogue surpasses the limitations of LMS in this regard, as it still provides an atmosphere for communication and dialog not attained by most online teaching methods (Jesse Stommel said “it’s a way of engaging the world not the world itself”). These exceptions to the format that allows online teaching as Sugata Mitra (a professional educator) demonstrated with the “granny cloud” program (so called by the learners) in India, where teachers use media to educate impoverished community school. Digital pedagogy is not something that can be copied pasted and instantly have the same effect; it is a momentary, meaningful exchange between teachers, teachers-students and between students in order for learning to happen.

Digital Pedagogy in Schools

Starting the PGCE program this year has introduced me to many new concepts. One of the instrumental concepts is pedagogy, which is a method of teaching in the classroom.

Based on the text (http://digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/5/3/000106/000106.html) people have the preconceived notion that “digital pedagogy” is strictly associated with the use of computers but this is not the case. Digital pedagogy is a method of teaching that uses modern technologies or techniques to educate learners, an example of which is the digital humanities. The digital humanities is an area of teaching that incorporates both the humanities (study of culture through academic subjects) and the use of digital media (not always), as an additional tool in teaching methods, to invoke alternative or alien perspectives on a particular concept (Edu-hacking). 

I believe that hybrid pedagogical perspective on teaching is well suited to modern education purposes in our society, considering the influx of technology into our lives. Digital tools should used in moderation. Jerome McGann described computers as interpretive machines that are a means to carry out his current and future projects but not as the creator of the research ideas. It is a tool that allows the classroom to remain up to date on current events and developments in the subject at that point in time but not to distract leaners or cause them to become "lazy". There are a number of other issues being debated such as of how computers affect learner’s literacy and cognitive development.

Sean Latham explained that “The digital text seemingly makes reading too easy, allowing one to search out specific terms without the labour required to place them in their proper context", after he found that his students weren’t actually reading the prescribed book in the proper context but rather referring to the digital notes they were given and using search engines. Therefore application needs to be put in place that prevents this abuse of technology and stimulate the students to engage in class with each other. Brad Pasaneks applied a method of instructing the students to read the material first and during the class before making the digital notes available in class which stimulated the students to answer and discuss the content. The non-digital tools should continue to be utilized as many concepts require a translation of the subject language into a format the students can relate to and form their own opinions on. The non-digital tools bring a social dynamic that allows students to put forward their opinions for discussion and generally stimulate each other’s learning potential through public dialogue.