Pedagogy before technology

how (not) to sketch a graphSomewhat of a mantra for the learning technologist but is it true? And what does it mean? In practice, do learning technologists always put pedagogy first? At the risk of sounding lousy at my job, hand on heart, I have to say that pedagogy doesn’t always lead the way in my work. Not because I don’t think it should but just on a practical day-to-day basis my work is more technology-focused than pedagogically-focused.

If I’m in a conversation with a teacher about how to implement a particular teaching activity then sure, I will always try to get them to think about the activity and its purpose first.

However, in the everyday work of this learning technologist those conversations are fairly limited (and restricted to a handful of enthusiasts I work with regularly). Most learning technology users (primarily VLE users) are off the radar just getting on with it. And for those i do work with, I spend much more time helping with technical how-tos. Equally in my researchy exploratory work I tend to focus on getting to grips with new technologies rather than pedagogy. But perhaps I’m being unfair, the p-word is always there at the back of my mind.

Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/leonardlow/1667114083/

Reader Comments

  1. I came across a phrase rcently “technology should be an enabler rather than a drive”

    Too often we hear about technology as a drivign force – instead let’s think about what we want to do first and then see if we need technology and if we do what it shoul dbe

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