It’s such a cool word, isn’t it? If you start throwing the word “pedagogy” around in a conversation with your friends, they’ll either think you know what you’re talking about or their eyes will start to glaze over. I’ll be honest, I had no idea there was such a word a couple of years ago! But simply put, pedagogy is the practice of a method of education, or theory of education and how people learn to teach.
There are tons of buzzwords in academia these days: student success, academic engagement, gamification, material retention — all of these are influenced by the philosophies we follow to teach. Take a moment to consider the present form of your class’s next project and, in a perfect world, how the integration of technology could be used to make the learning experience more engaging. Sure, planning time is always at a premium, but if you could change one thing, what would it be?
Think about that for a minute…
At the time of writing, I’m halfway through my Master’s of Instructional Technology program at Fort Hays State University. I’ve spent well over 20 years in the information technology field, primarily doing software engineering and web development. My Bachelor’s is in Information, Networking, and Telecommunications, but I’ve taught music at the high school level, and computer science in higher education. And that’s the thing… I’ve always considered myself an educator.
Being a computer geek, I know technology, I know gaming, and I know social media. This is the focus I want to bring into education.
It’s a fact that most careers will contain some integration of technology. This is completely understandable, and even to be expected considering that most children in America are using computers on a daily basis. Whether it’s their cell phone, an iPad, or a desktop, kids and technology are an everyday occurrence, and they view it as entertainment.
This is part of what my research revolves around — teaching kids using tools they identify as entertainment to make the process of learning fun. While the knee-jerk reaction may not be positive, studies are showing an increased level of participation where technology is being utilized in the classroom.
Before I asked what you might change in your next project. For the research, consider having your students follow an industry leader on Twitter and quoting their tweets in the paper. Create a community in Google+ for your project teams to provide them with the means to collaborate more effectively. Integrate the digital curation and sharing of resources using Pinterest.
What did you come up with? Leave a comment below and share your ideas!