The Teacher as Designer: Pedagogy in the New Media Age

Abstract

This article outlines a learning intervention which the authors call Learning by Design. The goal of this intervention is classroom and curriculum transformation, and the professional learning of teachers. The experiment involves the practical application of the learning theory to everyday classroom practice. Its ideas are grounded in pedagogical principles originally articulated in the Multiliteracies project, an approach to teaching and learning that addresses literacy and learning in the context of new media and the globalizing knowledge economy. The need for a new approach to learning arises from a complex range of factors -among them, changes in society and the economy; the potential for new forms of communication made possible by emerging technologies; and rising expectations amongst learners that education will maximize their potential for personal fulfillment, civic participation and access to work. The authors first brought together the Learning by Design team of researchers and teachers in 2003 in order to reflect upon and create new and dynamic learning environments. A series of research and development activities were embarked upon in Australia and, more recently, in the United States, exploring the potentials of new pedagogical approaches, assisted by digital technologies, to transform today's learning environments and create learning for the futurelearning environments which could be more relevant to a changing world, more effective in meeting community expectations and which manage educational resources more efficiently. One of the key challenges was to create learning environments which engaged the sensibilities of learners who are increasingly immersed in digital and global lifestyles -from the entertainment sources they choose to the way they work and learn. It was also about enabling teachers to explicitly track and be aware of the relationship between their pedagogical choices and their students' learning outcomes.Background: the social conditions for the emergence of a transformative paradigm of learning

A Social Practice Approach to Understanding Teachers' Learning to Use Technology and Digital Literacies in the Classroom

“…We invite teachers to create activities for their classrooms that use ICD-T and to use social media to collaborate with each other, with us and eventually with their students (NLG, 1996;Kress, 2003;Albion, 2008;Kalantzis & Cope, 2010). Our emphasis is on the social and communicative aspects of technology, rather than on the operative ones.…”

Advantages of WEB resources use in learning process

“…Learning designs can be created by teachers or negotiated with learners …. [5]. These computer programs are Microsoft Power Point, Windows Movie Maker, on-line resource Prezi [12], computer-based training program.…”

Learner differences in theory and practice†

“…It must allow for alternative forms of engagement -the varied experiences that need to be brought to bear on the learning, the different conceptual bents of learners, the different analytical perspectives the learner may have on the nature of cause, effect and human interest, and the different settings in which they may apply or enact their knowledge (Kalantzis & Cope, 2010). It must cater to different learning orientations -preferences, for instance, for particular emphases in knowledge making and patterns of engagement.…”