Teaching and it's tools

It is amazing how much I've learnt about teaching in my first two weeks of doing PGCE. The meaning of pedagogy is one of those things. Used in every lecture (more than once) it involves both the practice and theory of teaching. Fyfe states that "Digital pedagogy is often presumed to be just something that uses electronic tools or computers. This is unsatisfying as it often limits the teaching to the extent of its tools" That statement is what I believe relates the essence of teaching to us - the relationship and interaction between the student and teacher.

It's all well and good to have exciting tools to work with, but the effectiveness of teaching is minimized when they are not used effectively. I can remember listening to a teacher of mine and thinking "I can read off slides too, teaching is easy". But in order to become a dynamic teacher, engagement is the key, regardless of the resources available in the school.

With the progress of technology and its use in education, the tools we use can easily become a crutch when the essence of teaching is forgotten. Digital pedagogy is supposed to assist in teaching, not take the place of it. While digital may not only refer to electronic devices, books and notes and also be highly ineffective when the teaching element is removed. "If you try to cut a steak with a spoon you're going to have a very hard time". Its all about how you use your tools.

Another thing technology does is feed on our need for instant gratification. We want what we want, without having to wait or work too hard for it. This may be destructive to learning in a sense that learning requires us to engage and grapple with the content, not just instantly discover the answer. This is reiterated in Fyfe (2011), which speaks of how easy it is to search of needed terms while reading, without understanding the context thereof.

This blog shouldn't scare us away from technology in the classroom, but rather make us think about the most effective ways of using it. Let us not forget the ultimate goal of teaching is learning, both for teachers and students.