Rediscovering the wheel

Technology has become such a living, breathing necessity for everyday life. It forces us to ask the question: Who is in control, the user or the very tool used?

In order to rediscover the power of the instructional technologies which has become second nature for so many pedagogues, we have to rediscover the value of the wheel being round. To take a leap forward in the revolutionary power of digital pedagogy we need to take a step back. The power of the wheel has so much more significance now that we know what it is capable of and how it shaped society. The wheel as innovation has already been connected in our mindsets as extraordinary. We know of the application prowess and the endless creative potential, yet we have degraded it into merely a useful tool.

The true power and potential of how the wheel can enhance society as well as the way in which we think, can be established only if we take it away. It will force us to think of all its functionalities and add to it a vast range of possibilities.

The same concept is true in a classroom making use of digital pedagogy. Before teachers and learners alike can benefit from instructional technologies, they should understand the concept of hacking. To adapt, manipulate and make productive use of given technology. One of the tragedies of the digital age is that technology is used to make life easier, but then takes away the desire and the need to be innovative and creative. That is why the “Teaching Naked” concept, elaborated on by Paul Fyfe is such a powerful one. It forces us to think about the creative and innovative potential to engage, present, exhibit, or visualize relations between concepts and one another.

There is more information available than ever before. We do not just want to teach our children how to access it. They should be able to critically think about information and data and how it can be used to further develop society. This need is larger than ever before. So much information can be a disincentive to engage with it, if you do not know how to deconstruct and manipulate it.

Let’s thus take away the wheel for now. We can visualize the true flowing nature of it and dream of innovations which will replace it. Once we know how it can enhance society on various levels, then we rule and control the technology once more.