The Importance of Striving for a Bigger Picture in Education
With the increased discussion of how to best implement traditional pedagogical techniques with the ever expanding educational technology tools available, curriculum designers and course designers must always strive for a bigger picture. Most educators and designers say that this involves a type of technological fortune telling that is somewhat impossible. Yet, we all have a conceptual picture of what an "ideal" learning environment would/could be even if the ed tech isn't quite there yet, or has let us down.
I hate to wax philosophical with this post but thinking about pedagogical strategies in relation to the larger academic milestones,like dissertation writing, thesis defense (viva), publication, tenure, etc. has led me to think of issues of interconnectivity and collaborative (or student generated) learning that do not necessarily involve ed tech. The bigger picture can be distilled to the fact that each day has a discrete set of pedagogical outcomes. This again is not necessarily related to the courses one teaches but rather the way that we conceptualize what we do in our daily lives. Thus, even the most mundane tasks, like laundry, and washing dishes relate to the interconnectivity of your daily pedagogical outcomes. We often prioritize our daily tasks in terms learning outcomes without even knowing it. I will let the sink fill up with dishes because in the end washing dishes is rather disconnected to other activities, like reading, writing articles, updating blogs, keeping current with trends via new media etc. All those other activities are connected to a larger pedagogical outcome, they build on each other, they help you be a better teacher, help with career opportunities. Washing dishes can be seen as an extended learning outcome within that module, one that reinforces the importance of organization for example.
Therefore, to think of every day as giving a discrete set of pedagogical outcomes, you need to create a paradigm shift. If you ask yourself each day not necessarily what will I learn today, but rather what will I teach today, you will find yourself surrounded by teachable moments which can be infinitely fulfilling. In an uber-connected society where information literacy is an absolute necessary skill in order to prevent information overload, stress related to managing this information is also all too common. By looking at our lives as various shades of teachable and learning moments the ability to manage this stress is increased.
Below I have inserted a diagram which I call "Pedagogical Outcomes of Dissertation Defense" to demonstrate how every day and every task works as a discrete set of pedagogical outcomes. Though this is a concept that I am still working through, especially as I address my own academic milestones, the underlying theory is one that we have heard both in pragmatic and spiritual contexts. Interconnectivity of ideas, concepts, spaces, allows us to strive for a bigger picture in education but also in our daily lives, if only because it gives us yet another reason to make time to wash the dishes!
I hate to wax philosophical with this post but thinking about pedagogical strategies in relation to the larger academic milestones,like dissertation writing, thesis defense (viva), publication, tenure, etc. has led me to think of issues of interconnectivity and collaborative (or student generated) learning that do not necessarily involve ed tech. The bigger picture can be distilled to the fact that each day has a discrete set of pedagogical outcomes. This again is not necessarily related to the courses one teaches but rather the way that we conceptualize what we do in our daily lives. Thus, even the most mundane tasks, like laundry, and washing dishes relate to the interconnectivity of your daily pedagogical outcomes. We often prioritize our daily tasks in terms learning outcomes without even knowing it. I will let the sink fill up with dishes because in the end washing dishes is rather disconnected to other activities, like reading, writing articles, updating blogs, keeping current with trends via new media etc. All those other activities are connected to a larger pedagogical outcome, they build on each other, they help you be a better teacher, help with career opportunities. Washing dishes can be seen as an extended learning outcome within that module, one that reinforces the importance of organization for example.
Therefore, to think of every day as giving a discrete set of pedagogical outcomes, you need to create a paradigm shift. If you ask yourself each day not necessarily what will I learn today, but rather what will I teach today, you will find yourself surrounded by teachable moments which can be infinitely fulfilling. In an uber-connected society where information literacy is an absolute necessary skill in order to prevent information overload, stress related to managing this information is also all too common. By looking at our lives as various shades of teachable and learning moments the ability to manage this stress is increased.
Below I have inserted a diagram which I call "Pedagogical Outcomes of Dissertation Defense" to demonstrate how every day and every task works as a discrete set of pedagogical outcomes. Though this is a concept that I am still working through, especially as I address my own academic milestones, the underlying theory is one that we have heard both in pragmatic and spiritual contexts. Interconnectivity of ideas, concepts, spaces, allows us to strive for a bigger picture in education but also in our daily lives, if only because it gives us yet another reason to make time to wash the dishes!
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