Digital Pedagogy or a slave to it?

“Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. “A quote by Albert Einstein. As we all know we learn when we are interested in something and we want to know more about it. Now the question is how do we use the digital pedagogy in the classroom to ensure optimal success for our students? The article points to it by saying that the student should be central to our teaching and not technology. How can technology serve the student in facilitating learning and peek his interest in a subject. Now that we have powerful search engines such as google much of the authoritative power, where knowledge is concerned, is taken away from the teacher. Knowledge is a click of a button away.

We should do away with an old system that no longer serves the greater good for young minds in this day and age. It might have worked well before but, today we see that change everywhere is more apparent life has become more risky and uncertain. Giving standardised tests and hoping as a student that your teacher has prepared you well enough so that there is no surprises but, life is full of surprises. How does this prepare our students for life? Failure has gotten such a bad reputation in our society, it is like one of the most feared words in our dictionary. What if students stop trying? Should we not encourage kids when they fall down to get back up instead? “I have not failed, I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work. “Thomas Edison the inventor of the light bulb.

A students mind is like sponge but, we have to keep that spark alive in him to want to know more. How do we do this? Engage with your students, let them participate, question them and let them find the answer. You as a teacher merely serves as a guide, guiding the students through you questioning them. Let the students collaborate with each other and use technology to find the answer. A student far better retains the knowledge he discovered for himself than that what was given to him. This was not the way I was taught at school but, seeing how the lectures in this classroom has become such an effective engagement in learning, I am left to question most of the way I was taught. A quote from the movie called The Matrix, “Trinity: Neo… nobody has ever done this before. Neo: I know. That is why it’s going to work. “