On pedagogy: I of II

I'm gradually working through Matt Bower's Design oftechnology-enhanced learning. I'd have read it by now but for the desire to take it reflectively and to blog my thoughts and impressions, which is actually a solid endorsement for Matt's work! It's given me the opportunity to consider my own perspectives of TEL based on the ideas of someone who's clearly given it a lot of thought, and who has a broad, coherent view as to its effective practice.

This is post 1 of 2; this first sets out my own perspective of pedagogy as a step toward consideration of Matt's chapter called "Pedagogy and Technology-Enhanced Learning".  The next post will consider the -isms Matt discusses in his third chapter. 

So, in his third chapter, Bower confronts the spectre of pedagogy. I say spectre, because it's a word with mixed reviews in my experience; people either assume they know enough about what it is, or else have never heard of it. When it comes to pedagogy, you're either an expert or someone new to the term. Unfortunately pedagogy is a rather bruised, taken-for-granted term. Consider these responses that I've encountered: 

• "Oh, what you really mean is andragogy."
• "We need to move away from behaviourism, because people construct their own knowledge - so I'm a social constructivist." 
• "Effective pedagogy means…
• …having people learn for themselves." 
• …freeing the minds of the oppressed." 
• …connecting people with one another." 
• …learning at the feet of experts." 
• "Oh, that. Every academic knows about that." 
• "Huh?" 

All of these responses came from very intelligent people! Yet often, once the surface is scratched, it's difficult to explore their understanding at any deeper level. 

Part of my background is evangelical theology. One of the first things you learn in theology 101 is that everyone is a theologian. Everyone has a series of beliefs about God. Few people have ever written a systematic theology detailing their beliefs, but everyone is a theologian in that everyone has an opinion about theology. In the same way, everyone with opinions about teaching is a pedagogue. Everyone has assumptions around what makes for good teaching and learning, but many of these actually rest on the surface. Part of the problem is that we do not have a good vocabulary for discussing pedagogy among practitioners.

The Oxford dictionary defines pedagogy as "the method and practice of teaching, especially as an academic subject or theoretical concept". Drawing from this it's clear that pedagogy is certainly a method and practice - yet it is also an academic subject in itself. Pedagogy is both practice and theory, and we tend to emphasise the practice and ignore the theory. There is a breadth and depth to pedagogy as a theoretical concept that goes far beyond what might be summed up in a blog post - or a book chapter, for that matter! So, by necessity, in chapter three Matt picks up on one particular aspect of pedagogy - learning theory. And, I reckon he does a pretty good job. More on that next post. For now, I want to explore some issues that occur to me based on my previous encounters with the term pedagogy.

Is pedagogy optional?

In the same way that everyone is a theologian regardless of what one thinks about God, the answer to the question "is pedagogy optional?" in any teaching and learning activity is no. When you consider the existence or character of God, you are applying theological thought; likewise, whenever you engage with teaching, you express pedagogy. Unfortunately, the likes of the Wikipedia rendition of pedagogy as "the discipline that deals with the theory and practice of teaching and how these influence student learning", which "informs teacher actions, judgments, and teaching strategies…" is rather misleading in this regard. Any teacher action and teaching strategy is an expression of pedagogy, whether that pedagogy is deliberately constructed or is simply left to chance. Pedagogy does not need to inform teacher actions, but it is certainly reflected in them. Applying a thoughtful, deliberate and critical approach to pedagogy in a particular teaching and learning situation is optional; applying pedagogy is not.

Is there a perfect pedagogy?

The answer to this must be no. There are simply too many situational variables to what constitutes effective learning and how learning might be made available to provide an affirmative answer. By way of example, the perfect pedagogy for learning English might be growing up in a country where English is the spoken language; clearly this is not terrifically helpful as a pedagogical solution for those having grown up elsewhere wanting to learn English. Likewise, what might be perfect for learning engineering may not be perfect for learning social sciences. Yet, even within these disciplines, multiple approaches might work best. And, as Knowles rightly identifies in his work on the adult learner, adults benefit from different, err, pedagogical approaches than do children… 

How do we best determine what pedagogy we might apply?

Through reflection, conversation, research, debate and - perhaps most importantly - collaboration. In my previous post on TPACK I explore what this might resemble in ODE TEL. Pedagogy deserves far more thought and engagement than we tend to give it in teaching and learning. Spoiler alert for the next post, learning outcomes - rather than learning theory preference - provide the best filter for thinking about which pedagogies might best serve a given teaching intervention. 

What are the various elements of pedagogy?

There are many… as mentioned above learning theory is the element pedagogy is most identified with, and it is this that Bower turns to in his third chapter. But curriculum design, political theory, power dynamics and educational philosophy all add important dimensions to the study of pedagogy as an academic discipline. Many disciplines or subject areas also claim to have their own particular pedagogy.