Abstract
Educators have reacted differently to moving university teaching online; some have struggled with digital literacy and getting technology to work, while others have enjoyed the possibilities digital technologies offer for teaching (Piotrowski and King 2020). While the pandemic has been hard for most, the disruption of teaching-as-usual can serve as an occasion to re-think what education is all about. After the dust has settled, such a situation can make us (re)ask fundamental questions of education; what is it we are trying to do? What are we doing it for? Put differently: what are the aims and purposes of our teaching? Tanggaard et al. (2014) argues that such questions should precede questions of methods and means though this split is not clear-cut in praxis.
Asking fundamental questions on ends/means in education is pertinent in times of ’learnification’ (Biesta 2010) and an abundance of available teaching methods – both analogue and digital – where many of these promise to ’enhance student learning’, ’maximise interaction and engagement’ or ’provide efficient learning’ (see e.g. Avery et al. 2020). Drawing on Biesta, a dominant focus on methods and learning, risks omitting questions of purpose; what we are educating for. Also, Dewey’s inquiry-based philosophy (1916) can offer some help here, as he was arguing for aims and methods to be intelligent meaning they were based on observation and judgment in concrete teaching situations and developed in collaboration between teacher and students.
In this paper, I offer conceptual explorations – through Biesta and Dewey - on the aims and purposes of education that might help and provoke us as educators to reflect pedagogically on means/ends in education. The disruption of teaching is an occasion to stop and think, but the question is what it makes us think – about technology? About methods? Pedagogy? How has the unsettling of teaching-as-usual made you think?
Literature:
Dewey, J. (1916). Democracy and Education (2012th ed.). Createspace.
Biesta, G. (2010). Good education in an age of measurement: Ethics, politics, democracy (2016th ed.). Routledge.
Tanggaard, L., Rømer, T. A., & Brinkmann, S. (2014). Indledning: uren pædagogik til debat. In L. Tanggaard, T. A. Rømer, & S. Brinkmann (Eds.), Uren pædagogik 2. Klim.
Avery, T., Makos, A., Sarguroh, W., Raman, P., & Brett, C. (2020). This is why we do it: Using a Design Based Approach to Optimize Student Learning in anOnline Discussion Based Course. International Journal of E-Learning & Distance Education, 35(1), 1–35.
Piotrowski, C., & King, C. (2020). COVID-19 Pandemic : Challenges and Implications for Higher Education. Education, 141(2), 61–66.
Asking fundamental questions on ends/means in education is pertinent in times of ’learnification’ (Biesta 2010) and an abundance of available teaching methods – both analogue and digital – where many of these promise to ’enhance student learning’, ’maximise interaction and engagement’ or ’provide efficient learning’ (see e.g. Avery et al. 2020). Drawing on Biesta, a dominant focus on methods and learning, risks omitting questions of purpose; what we are educating for. Also, Dewey’s inquiry-based philosophy (1916) can offer some help here, as he was arguing for aims and methods to be intelligent meaning they were based on observation and judgment in concrete teaching situations and developed in collaboration between teacher and students.
In this paper, I offer conceptual explorations – through Biesta and Dewey - on the aims and purposes of education that might help and provoke us as educators to reflect pedagogically on means/ends in education. The disruption of teaching is an occasion to stop and think, but the question is what it makes us think – about technology? About methods? Pedagogy? How has the unsettling of teaching-as-usual made you think?
Literature:
Dewey, J. (1916). Democracy and Education (2012th ed.). Createspace.
Biesta, G. (2010). Good education in an age of measurement: Ethics, politics, democracy (2016th ed.). Routledge.
Tanggaard, L., Rømer, T. A., & Brinkmann, S. (2014). Indledning: uren pædagogik til debat. In L. Tanggaard, T. A. Rømer, & S. Brinkmann (Eds.), Uren pædagogik 2. Klim.
Avery, T., Makos, A., Sarguroh, W., Raman, P., & Brett, C. (2020). This is why we do it: Using a Design Based Approach to Optimize Student Learning in anOnline Discussion Based Course. International Journal of E-Learning & Distance Education, 35(1), 1–35.
Piotrowski, C., & King, C. (2020). COVID-19 Pandemic : Challenges and Implications for Higher Education. Education, 141(2), 61–66.
| Originalsprog | Engelsk |
|---|---|
| Publikationsdato | 7 okt. 2021 |
| Status | Udgivet - 7 okt. 2021 |
| Begivenhed | Dansk Universitetspædagogisk Netværk Konference 2021: Nærhed og Nysgerrighed - Varighed: 7 okt. 2021 → 8 okt. 2021 https://dun-net.dk/aktiviteter/2021/dun-konferencen-2021-naerhed-og-nysgerrighed/ |
Konference
| Konference | Dansk Universitetspædagogisk Netværk Konference 2021 |
|---|---|
| Periode | 07/10/2021 → 08/10/2021 |
| Andet | Nærhed og Nysgerrighed<br/>Forholdet mellem digitale og analoge undervisningsformer<br/><br/>På bagkanten af en pandemisk præget hverdag kan vi konstatere, at vi har lært en masse. Organisationer er blevet omstillingsagile, menneskers realkompetencer inden for digitale løsninger er øget markant, og i en periode gik vi fra at være Campus-universiteter til Online-universiteter. Alt imens den verden, som vi kendte, stormede fremad ind i ukendte territorier, blev der også plads til at bemærke vigtigheden af det, som vi kunne kalde de blødere værdier. Helt elementære betingelser for god undervisning, nemlig nærhed og nysgerrighed, er udfordret.<br/><br/>I en undervisningsverden, hvor kridt på tøjet og duften af kaffe var en vant del af hverdagen, blev rutinerne brudt af lyset fra computeren og oplevelsen af at se sig selv på video. Dette rutinebrud opfattes af nogle som et kærkomment opgør med klassiske undervisningsmetoder, mens andre blot ønsker den vante undervisningspraksis tilbage. Uafhængigt af hvor vi befinder os på dette kontinuum, skal vi forholde os til, hvad vi finder vigtigt, essentielt eller uvæsentligt i en undervisningssituation. Ydermere, når undervisningen bevæger sig mellem det analoge og det digitale, kan det have en betydning for de studerendes nærhed og nysgerrighed i forhold til det faglige stof, deres fælles studiemiljø og deres individuelle læring. Spørgsmålet er: hvordan præger rutinebruddet vores pædagogiske rammesætning af den analoge og den digitale undervisning her og nu og fremadrettet?<br/><br/>Undervisning er dét undervisere og studerende er sammen om, men i det forgangne år har samværet i højere grad end før været medieret af digitale platforme, som på forskellig vis har udfordret nærheden mellem undervisere og studerende. Nærvær i form af fysisk tilstedeværelse i samme rum er byttet ud med et nærbillede på Zoom. Betyder fraværet af fysisk nærhed, at vi mister den mentale og sociale nærhed? Har nærhed en betydning for undervisernes motivation, engagement og professionelle identitet? Og hvad betyder det for dig?<br/><br/>DUNK 2021 vil udforske, hvad der sker med nærhed og nysgerrighed, når digitale og analoge undervisningsformer bytter plads. Vi glæder os til at høre, hvordan du oplever det. |
| Internetadresse |
Emneord
- Means and ends
- Philosophy of education
- Problem-oriented Project Learning
- Dewey