¶ What is Digital Pedagogy?

What is Digital Pedagogy?

Digital pedagogy is the deeply considered and conscious incorporation of digital tools, concepts, and methods into teaching and learning. The journal, Hybrid Pedagogy, describes it as being “precisely not about using digital technologies for teaching and, rather, about approaching those tools from a critical pedagogical perspective.”

Digital pedagogy ranges in scope and complexity and can be about the incorporation of digitally-driven class assignments and projects (e.g., students creating a website or interactive online map.) Or, it can be about the creation of teaching materials (e.g., digital learning objects) and the use of digital tools in teaching. The critical components include the selection of the methods and tools used, how they are used, and issues around them (e.g., bias in algorithms).

Why Digital Pedagogy?

As a practice, digital pedagogy fosters multimodal teaching and learning and can provide new and creative ways into class subject matters. Some compelling reasons for the incorporation of digital pedagogy into courses include:

• Digital pedagogy assignments and activities have multiple learning outcomes and prepare students to be critically engaged with technology postgraduation.

• Digital pedagogical approaches give less conventional learners alternative ways to demonstrate their knowledge and abilities otherwise difficult to show in more traditional coursework.

• Digital pedagogy approaches can be used to make online course content more engaging and interactive.