Online teachers/Digital Pedagogues- same difference?

As a PGCE student -a teacher in the making, I am introduced to various  new concepts, methodologies, tools and practices which are used in education. One of these is digital pedagogy. I must admit that it is very easy to get confused with exactly what digital pedagogy is and what the difference between digital pedagogy and online teaching is. Are all online teachers digital pedagogues?

A Learning Management System (LMS), also known as E-Learning is a software application for the administration, documentation, tracking and delivery of electronic educational technology courses or training programs. Many researches feel that LMSs are limiting structures and that their interface and functionalities control how teaches teach online. Morris claims that LMSs are not pushing the capabilities of the internet and is settling for the least innovative classroom practice and re-positioning that digitally.
How does this differ from what digital pedagogy does, many may ask. Sean Morris defines pedagogy as a study of learning and the many ways it is fueled at any space where learning is poised to occur. He states that pedagogy concerns itself with the instantaneous, momentary, vital exchange that takes place in order for learning to happen. Therefore, pedagogy is not limited to classroom practice, nor is it limited to institutions of learning. 

Jesse states that pedagogy is "the place where philosophy and practice meet". In the light of what pedagogy means and what digital pedagogy is, it is very important to note that not all teaching happens in the same way and not all teachers are digital pedagogues, nor need they be. There is a place for all styles of classroom practice, just as there is a place for learners of all capabilities and approaches. 

Morris ends off by making a powerful statement that "the LMS largely erased mindfully aware teaching and made excuses for unconscionable practice." He also states that digital pedagogy is different because it it willing to improvise, respond to a new environment and experiment. Therefore digital pedagogues are not the same as online teachers. Digital pedagogues allow learners to participate and share their understanding of the content through conversation, creating, networked learning. This motivates learners to think, create problems and ask questions. This way learning takes place more effectively. 

So the answer is no, not all online teachers are digital pedagogues.

NB: Sean Michael Morris- Decoding Digital Pedagogy, Pt 1: Beyond the LMS- Hybrid Pedagogy

Jesse Stommel- Decoding Digital Pedagogy, Pt 2: (Un) Mapping the Terrain

Digital Pedagogy- The Future of Education

 Digital Pedagogy

Digital Pedagogy- the Future of Education. Why does this statement make so many people uncomfortable? Why is everybody so resistant to change? I would like to quote John Dewey who says: “If we teach today’s students as we taught yesterday’s, we rob them of tomorrow.” As true as this may be, its very difficult to let go of our set ways because we believe that we are doing what is best for our learners. But are we really? Is learning about us (teachers) or about our learners?

Learning can be improved by using technology to create a highly interactive digital learning experience, hence digital pedagogy. Majority of learning happens with color, sound, visuals, action because when learners are having fun- they tend to learn the most. In our schools, learners are given all the information in the format of fully structured problems, where they can just plug in the correct information in the formula and get the correct answer. Also learners are bombarded with a lot of information which they have to learn somehow and parrot it back to us. and if they can do that, we think that learning has taken place.

Albert Einstein states that "The formulation of a problem is often more essential than its solution, which may be merely a matter of mathematical or exponential skill." This can only happen if we as teachers create a safe environment, which encourages questioning, deconstruction of concepts and formulation of problems. Most teachers may refer to this as chaos. Indeed it is chaos! But a necessary chaos because it encourages thinking and provokes conversation. 

We need to move from content to conversation, consumption to creation, correct to correcting and from control to chaos.  This is where learning takes place, in the chat, more than in the content where its the teacher who is doing all the talking and the learners are bored to death and even falling asleep during the lesson. When learners make videos and compose songs about the content, they learn better and remember the concepts, hence creation. Learners can help each other learn by using social media, ChatRooms, Google Docs, Wikis, YouTube videos, etc. This is learning through chaos! Chaos is not necessarily the opposite of order, instead it is giving the learners an opportunity to reorganize the content by themselves. "The teacher must intentionally cause enough chaos to motivate the student to reorganize."- Doll, 1986: p15

The Future is now!