Digital Pedagogy: At the Heart of the Pandemic Response

DIGITAL PEDAGOGY:

AT THE HEART OF THE PANDEMIC RESPONSE

By Robert Grégoire // Executive Director, REFAD

The somewhat mysterious expression “digital pedagogy” has become part of everyday vocabulary with the introduction, in 2018, of the Digital Action Plan for Education and Higher Education in Quebec. In the past, we spoke more simply about online teaching and learning, and educational technologies.

The Réseau d’enseignement francophone à distance (REFAD [French only]) is a nationwide organization that brings together institutions, businesses and professionals from all levels of education and training. Its mission is to facilitate cooperation among stakeholders and to encourage the development of innovative practices for distance learning and peda gogical approaches.

The REFAD’s mission statement tasks it with being a constant presence among its members and stakeholders through the pooling of expertise, the sharing of knowledge and practices, professional development, networking and monitoring activities. The REFAD brings together more than 30 Canadian Francophone educational institutions in seven provinces and three levels of education.

When it was founded in 1988, members of the REFAD worked on best practices for correspondence courses, that is, services offered to distance learners, for which the primary method of involvement consisted of exchanging educational material, feedback and occasionally evaluations by mail. This was only thirty years ago. We've come a long way since then!

TERMS FOR DISTANCE LEARNING

As a result of the pandemic, the terms synchronous/ asynchronous, facetoface/online, and hybrid have become part of popular jargon, creating healthy scepticism among some. These terms are used to describe how a course is delivered and how students learn remotely. Thus, when a student registers for an online course, they connect to the course through a learning content management platform, where they identify themselves and progress through various learning sections. This method is in contrast to traditional classroombased courses, which are often characterized as in-person courses (or sometimes referent to as “face-toface” courses).

When online (i.e., from a remote location), students can log in at any time to pursue their learning. This type of learning is considered asynchronous because students progress at their own pace, regardless of how their peers are advancing in their own learning at their own convenience. For most online courses, in which learning topics are by definition taught through a learning content management platform, the instructor also schedules some time for discussions to ensure that the course is running smoothly. Any scheduled time, when all students log in at once with the instructor, is called synchronous.

Prior to the pandemic, the minority of institutions offering online programs did so in a hybrid mode. This meant that students enrolled in an online course could learn at any time and from anywhere, but had to be present at regular times with their instructor and classmates in synchronous mode. Such hybridity occurred because students generally progressed asynchronously, at their own pace, while also being present synchronously at specific times.

While it is still too early to generalize, the pivotal shift to online courses as a result of the pandemic has frequently required delivering socalled synchronous remote courses as a quick solution, with little or no pedagogical design to steer the students’ progress with online activities structured in a more pedagogical way. While synchronous teaching is a legitimate approach, and one that most might think of as occurring through Zoom meetings or webinars, it should be noted that

DIGITAL PEDAGOGY:

AT THE HEART OF THE PANDEMIC RESPONSE

for a teacher with little experience with remote delivery, this approach can be strongly criticized precisely because the “pedagogical” dimension is absent from the “digital” component, which may mean looking at a dull talking head on the screen … for hours on end. This is anything but "digital pedagogy."

PIVOT TOWARDS DIGITAL PEDAGOGY AND PARADIGM SHIFT

Many people are right in saying that there is no going back to how things were prepandemic. The new normal will likely include more opportunities for teleworking and allow many professionals to interact with their colleagues and fulfill their responsibilities from wherever is most convenient to them. This is evidenced in the significant increase in rural property sale prices.

The situation is quite different, however, for basic education where two undeniable realities exist. First, students’ ability to learn online is conversely proportional to their level of independence. In other words, younger students will require additional supervision, support and guidance. In contrast, Grade 12 students, for example, may find it easier to study online, as they are becoming increasingly independent. The second reality that cannot be ignored with respect to online learning is that schools are not primarily places of learning, but rather living environments where future adults are learning to interact with their peers and society. This learning process, which is essential to the human being and gregarious by definition, represents the main purpose of school, helping kids to strengthen, among other things, the social fabric that democratic, liberal and progressive regimes consider essential in becoming competent and educated citizens. This ensures the wellbeing of all, regardless of individual social circumstances.

TOWARDS A RENEWED SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT

No one can predict what education will be like in the future. However, some very clear signs are pointing towards a major education system renewal.

First, the ubiquity of technological devices, or the “digital” realm, predicts an entire revolution in learning. Today’s youth are immersed in a world where technology is omnipresent. One of the unique features of the online world is that it provides for knowledge to be freely accessible to all, provided we live in a connected democratic system. Second, educators are now realizing that the focus in education should be on skills development. Under this model, students tackle authentic and complex problems and thus become key players in their educational journey as future citizens. And educators are therefore shifting towards a role of accompaniment and facilitation. This is why the development of digital skills is a key challenge for the renewal of the school environment. t