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Problematising e-pedagogies
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Type
Book Chapter
Citation
Lim, F. V. (2022). Problematising e-pedagogies. In J. K. H. Pun, S. Curle, & D. Yuksel (Eds.), The use of technology in English medium education (pp. 177-189). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-99622-2_12
Abstract
This chapter challenges the notion of e-pedagogies and explores what it means for language learning in the Singapore secondary school context. It discusses the reflection of a Singapore English Language teacher in implementing digitally-mediated teaching during the ‘home-based learning’ period amid the pandemic and explores the implications of the experience on the understanding of what e-pedagogies are. During the period of home-based learning, teaching and learning activities were conducted through video-conferencing, learning platforms, and multimedia resources to digitalise the delivery of the lessons. It has been well-recognised that the effectiveness of digitally-mediated learning is not the technologies but how they are used by the teachers as designers of learning. In the Singapore context, some teachers have found it challenging to design effective home-based learning experiences for their students given the lack of training and limited opportunities for teachers to design digitally-mediated learning previously. The experience with home-based learning has highlighted the importance of preparing teachers to design for effective digitally-mediated learning experiences. I problematise the notion of e-pedagogies as a new set of pedagogical practices by highlighting the shared fundamentals of teaching in both the physical classroom and online space. Pedagogies are based on the learning theories of behaviourism and social constructivism, albeit with different pedagogical expressions shaped by the affordances of the medium. This is exemplified with pedagogical approaches, such as the conversational framework and the reflexive pedagogy, which, while promoted by the affordances of teaching in a digital environment, is equally relevant in their application for classroom instruction. Rather than advancing the notion of a unique set of pedagogies for online teaching, understanding the materiality in which the practice is situated and thinking of the entire interaction scenario in which the technologies are embedded can be more productive in drawing out the commonalities in pedagogical principles across media. Such an orientation can allay the teachers’ anxieties towards online teaching and build on, rather than ignore, their deep reservoirs of pedagogical knowledge accumulated from years of experience in classroom instruction.
Date Issued
2022
ISBN
9783030996215 (print)
9783030996222 (online)
Publisher
Springer
DOI
10.1007/978-3-030-99622-2_12
Project
DEV 01/18 VL
Funding Agency
Ministry of Education, Singapore