A student teaching a teacher?

This is not entirely what the article on critical digital pedagogy, written by Sam Hamilton suggests, but it might be what educators think when we speak about teaching digital pedagogy in such a way that students teach themselves and use digital technologies in such a way as to be able to add on to what they are learning in class.

We live in a world where technology is all around us and where the teacher does not fulfill the same role as he/she did a few years ago. In the olden days the teacher was the one who knew everything and the student was the one who knew nothing. There was merely a transfer of knowledge from the teacher to the student; whereas in today’s life we get students who question our teachers and question the topics covered in their subjects. It is important to note that students are not trying to be disrespectful by questioning everything; they are just trying to enhance their learning and are doing so by reading up on the subject on the internet. 

I remember one of my lecturers told us that we must exploit the knowledge of our learners when we teach them. It is true that a teacher can’t know everything in the world and sometimes it is necessary to turn to our learners for answers as they are one of our most valuable resources, together with textbooks and the internet. In some cases learners are faster in accessing the internet then you would ever be.

Also, in most cases, it is better for the learners to discover something on their own and to be faced with problems, since this is how long-term learning takes place. In today’s life, learners should focus their attention on their own education as they have the power, together with the online world, to develop and shape their own learning.

A final point to state is that we should not exclude learners when we decide on which digital technology to use in the classroom as we shut off the most important element in our classroom- the learners! We should let them choose what works best for them and if we don’t limit them, we might see new technologies developing as they are shaping their learning is such a way as to get the very best learning experience out of their time in class.