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Pedagogy before technology#

See also: design, entangled-pedagogy

Numerous authors (Ascough, 2002; Leijen et al, 2008; Glover et al, 2016; Cowling & Birt, 2018; Sankey et al, 2020) suggest that thinking of the "pedagogy before the technology" is a good approach to designing learning and teaching experiences.

aka

  • Put the pedagogy horse before the technology cart
  • pedagogy is the driver and technology is the accelerator (Tsui and Tavares, 2021)

Challenges#

Other work challenges this idea (Dron, 2012; Tsui & Tavares, 2021; Fawns, 2022).

Play with your materials#

The following is from a book (Fleer, 2023) intended to help school teachers teaching the Technologies learning area from the Oz curriculum. It is a poster a teacher had on her wall explaining a production processes used in her class.

The first step in this process is to "collaboratively play (investigate) with the materials". I take this as playing with a technology to understand its affordances and constraints. If you design without having such an understanding your ultimate design will be constrained.

References#

Ascough, R. S. (2002). Designing for Online Distance Education: Putting Pedagogy Before Technology. Teaching Theology & Religion, 5(1), 17--29. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9647.00114

Cowling, M., & Birt, J. (2018). Pedagogy before Technology: A Design-Based Research Approach to Enhancing Skills Development in Paramedic Science Using Mixed Reality. Information, 9(2), 29. https://doi.org/10.3390/info9020029

Dron, J. (2012). The pedagogical-technological divide and the elephant in the room. 11(1), 23--38. https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/33288/

Fleer, M. (2023). Technologies for Children. Cambridge University Press.

Glover, I., Hepplestone, S., Parkin, H. J., Rodger, H., & Irwin, B. (2016). Pedagogy first: Realising technology enhanced learning by focusing on teaching practice. British Journal of Educational Technology, 47(5), 993--1002. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.12425

Leijen, Ä., Admiraal, W. F., Wildschut, L., & Robert-Jan Simons, P. (2008). Pedagogy before technology: What should an ICT intervention facilitate in practical dance classes? Teaching in Higher Education, 13(2), 219--231. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562510801923351

Sankey, M., Zhang, Y., & Xiao, J. (2020). Putting the pedagogic horse in front of the technology cart. Journal of Distance Education in China, 5, 46-53+77.

Tsui, A. B. M., & Tavares, N. J. (2021). The Technology Cart and the Pedagogy Horse in Online Teaching. English Teaching & Learning, 45(1), 109--118. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42321-020-00073-z

Watson, D. M. (2001). Pedagogy before Technology: Re-thinking the Relationship between ICT and Teaching. Education and Information Technologies, 6(4), 251--266. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1012976702296