Pedagogy trumps Technology - again!

Figure 1

In my own teaching practice, I’ve used Koehler and Mishra’s TPACK framework as a basis to examine and question my own teaching, as well as providing a graphic for my students to help contextualize their experience in my course (figure 1). 

I’ve held for some time now that, at least for me, Pedagogy is the biggest, most important piece of the framework, with Technology and Content trailing in a tie for second place.  In other words, knowing how to engage students in the process of learning (the core of effective pedagogy) is more important than what technologies you bring to bear when teaching them, and also more important than the content of the material (figure 2).

Figure 2

Reading through “Deep Work”, which analyzes ways in which going deep and working for long periods of time without distraction on complex, difficult cognitive tasks (something we educational researchers and academics are wont to do) can help increase both the quality and quantity of our work (yay, publish or perish!), it occurred to me: are we missing the metaphorical boat in this regard with youth?

It’s no surprise that with the rate of change we’re experiencing due, in part, to technology’s influence on society, that we really have very little idea of where we’re heading economically.  I don’t mean this is terms of “up or down”, but rather, in the sense that we don’t have a crystal ball to peer into the future and know what job skills, or even what sorts of products or markets will be the next big thing.  Adding to this conundrum is that with technology moving so fast, learning a specific skill today means it might be completely useless within a few years – and tech-related skills are difficult and complex (go ahead and try to intuitively divine how to use Photoshop, if you want but one example).  If teaching K-12 kids tech skills is likely a dead end, educationally and pragmatically speaking, what can we do?  Maybe part of that answer is to teach them about deep learning and deep work?

Certainly, there are cognitive development limits on what young kids can do in this regard; the younger they are, the less true it is that they’re just short adults.  Nonetheless, if the move into a knowledge economy is one that schools are to address, then the inclusion of a deep learning ethic seems to be sensible since it helps learners learn best how to learn.