Join Stellenbosch University in the Dropbox Campus Cup

Join the rest of University of Stellenbosch in the Dropbox Campus Cup. By inviting your classmates to join Dropbox, and using Dropbox to share, collaborate, and get work done, you could earn up to 25 GB of free Dropbox space for two years! 

All students are eligible - even if you already have a Dropbox account! Questions? Learn more about the Dropbox Campus Cup.  *This post does not indicate or constitute any official endorsement by Stellenbosch University, it's constituent bodies, or its employees.

Hot Topic: Digital Storytelling

By now you might have heard of Digital Storytelling and it's popularity in corporate communication, and also education. While there is a lot of information out there, I found the following example (from TELIC Stories) rather interesting:

Ian Guest, who completed his MSc in 2011, leads the ICT support team in a school in Sheffield. In this story he talks about how even the smallest of interactions while studying for TELIC can still have significant unanticipated outcomes. Ian explains how his use of social media developed during the course and how it has had an impact on his own professional practice.

A transcript of Ian's video is also available.

Have you come across any interesting examples? Better yet, have you tried it out? Drop us a comment, or share your story on your blog.

UPDATE: The ESRRC '15 committee has accepted the proposal to add a Digital Storytelling workshop to this year's conference proceedings! I'm expecting some really cool and useful work - be sure to be there!

*Educational Students' Regional Research Conference

What are you putting out there?

How important do you think your digital footprint is?

What is Digital Pedagogy?

When defining this concept it is important to break it up and firstly define the different meanings of the two words which make up this fairly new concept.

Digital is related to the use of technology and computers, and how it can be used at any time and any where in the world. "Digit" means finger, so digital could literally be interpreted as meaning "at your fingertips". So, in essence, with the digital world information is at your fingertips.

While pedagogy is the "art of teaching", and according to Mark K Smith, it is "the process of accompanying learners; caring for and about them; and bringing learning into life" [http://infed.org/mobi/what-is-pedagogy/].

http://www.mkoehler.educ.msu.edu

Therefore, Digital Pedagogy is the art of teaching through the digital world - via computers, mobile phones, tablets and the like. It is the incorporation of concepts such as the "flipped classroom", where learners watch clips online, basically teaching themselves beforehand. The learners then come to the class already having prepared questions for the teacher, leaving more time for one-on-one conversation and discussion in class. This is a creative way to get the learners and teacher to communicate and collaborate with one another.

In theory, this concept could take over the world and evolve teaching to new, very interesting heights. It could enhance education to that of a University level, and create free critical thinkers while the adolescent brain is still developing. The effects could be amazing. However, in practice, will this concept really work out? Do learners have the required discipline to not let the digital distract the pedagogy? Only time will tell.

Weekly Question #1

Digital [di-gi-tal]

a.

1 Relating to

computer technology

Pedagogy [ped-uh-go-gi]

n.

1 The profession or theory of teaching

As can be derived from these two definitions, digital pedagogy refers to the use of the digital in the teaching profession. This phenomenon is either used as a substitute for- or in collaboration with- traditional teaching. The aim of using this teaching approach is to promote and sustain knowledge by linking our classrooms with the rest of the world.