Pedagogical flexibility via Technology: Reflection

In the last couples of weeks we have read articles and had have lectures on flexibility, pedagogical approach and the use of technology to be more flexible as well as to blend technology in pedagogical approaches. I have got a lot of experiences and reviewed literatures on flexibility. I had had a preconception that flexibility is related with distance learning however, after reading different articles and the lecture given by my teacher, I came to understand that  there are different issues that one can be flexible in the teaching learning process beyond distance learning. The following are flexibility areas in teaching; flexibility in time like finishing and starting a course, flexibility in content (like content sequencing), flexibility in entry requirements, flexibility in  instructional approach and resources and flexibility in delivery and logistics. Among the flexibility options pedagogical flexibility is the very important one. Pedagogical approach is the knowledge and skills that practitioners of the profession of teaching employ in performing their duties of facilitating desired learning in others. There are lots of methods of pedagogical approach teachers can use in their teaching/learning process. However, using the pedagogical approaches in “traditional way” are not seem no more accepted. Technology is becoming the crucial component in implementing these pedagogical approach in flexible way and beyond traditional approach since pedagogical approaches are not technology driven. There is a high demand from students to introduce technology in education for reshaping of teaching and pedagogical approach.

Hence, I have gained a better understanding in the last sections how pedagogical approaches (like problem based learning, collaborative learning, project based learning etc) are blended with technology to make my teaching more flexible and gear learners interests. I can see that there are three critical issues that one has know in last sections discussion: Pedagogy, Technology, and the content to be taught. Therefore, there is a need from the teacher be aware of these components.

I thought the following video is a good example how one could be flexible in his pedagogical approach using technology. Universal design for learning (UDL) Part - one and Part - two

 

I like the videos really, it helps to understand how technology address different types of learners (the technology helps special needs students).