Is Tech-Savvy even a thing?

When mentioning 'social media' and 'the classroom' in one sentence - it is as if the whole world has stopped and together took a moment to *gasp*.

Vicki Davis mentions in her blog, Edutopia: A Guidebook for Social Media in the Classroom: 

 The myth about social media in the classroom is that if you use it, kids will be Tweeting, Facebooking and Snapchatting while you're trying to teach. We still have to focus on the task at hand. Don't mistake social media for socializing. They're different -- just as kids talking as they work in groups or talking while hanging out are different.

This is a concept soon to be understood (hopefully) by many teachers within the current technologically-driven era. In order to understand and engage the learners of this generation, it is essential for educators to not have the learners adapt to the school environment, but rather themselves adapt to the environment of what is becoming the norm - the technological environment. Because of this new and exciting environment, being 'tech-savvy' is not a thing (so 2002 *rolls eyes*).

For instance, by allowing tablets and smartphones in the classroom, Twitter can be used in Life Orientation to create a safe environment. A specific hashtag can be created together with pseudo accounts - of which only the teacher knows the identities - and questions can be asked through this medium which might not necessarily be comfortable to ask in front of a whole class.

English can become a fun environment where, also on Twitter, the word of the day should be used to comment on a trending topic.

The point is that social media has a place, and should have a place, within the modern classroom. In fact, writing a letter really is not that much of a thing compared to the formalities or informalities of an e-mail. How we communicate and portray ourselves online has become crucial in terms of job opportunities and references. Why are we so hesitant to teach these necessary life skills? It's an uncomfortable comfort-zone thing.

Prematurely Screwing Around

It seems as if every week I have to quickly remind myself what pedagogy is. If you were wondering:

ped·a·go·gy

ˈpedəˌɡäjē/

noun

noun: pedagogy; plural noun: pedagogies

the method and practice of teaching, especially as an academic subject or theoretical concept

How does one, within a generation that was not allowed to have their phone on during class - or dared to bring a tablet along -  come to understand and practice digital pedagogy? Is our generation not, to a certain degree, too premature with regards to using technology within the classroom because of our groomed classroom manners and rituals? How do we get rid of those preconceived ideas of teaching and learning to enter a context of digital pedagogy?

Sean Michael Morris explains in his writing, Decoding Digital Pedagogy, PT 2: (Un)Mapping the Terrain, that digital pedagogy is "less a field and more an active present participle, a way of engaging the world, not a world itself, a way of approaching the not-at-all-discrete acts of teaching and learning.

He further states that digital pedagogy "calls for screwing around (and here my inner creative starts to throw glitter in the air and do all kinds of wild dance moves) more than it does systematic study, and in fact screwing around is the more difficult scholarly work". The thing about being a digital pedagogue is that it is less about knowing and more about a rampant process of unlearning, play, and rediscovery. In fact, (and I quote) ''expert digital pedagogues learn best by forgetting - through continuous encounters with what is novel, tentative, unmastered, and unresolved".

The answer to the above mentioned questions is quite simple then, isn't it? Let's get screwing. Academically.

On Naked Teaching

Paul Fyfe discusses the many critiques and praises of technology in the classroom in his article Digital Pedagogy Unplugged.

Living in the 21st century, one does not simply wake up and, without any thought, stumble to the bathroom. No. One (without any thought) checks one's many social media profiles - whether it be Instagram, Twitter, Facebook or Snapchat - first.

We live in a day and age where Facebook and Twitter is not solely used to connect with friends or post photos of last weekend's events. These platforms have become sources of current events - whether these events are social or political. These are platforms that we check on a daily basis, if not hourly, to ensure that we are up to date and on the pulse of all the latest events, disasters, gossip and political debates.

Teaching completely naked is not something I can support in an era of constant technological connection. I am the first to argue that the smell and touch of a book will always be better than the electronic version on my tablet, but I need to question why I feel this way in terms of the context I grew up in and how the current generation of learners would react if asked the same question.

I believe there is a space in the classroom for naked teaching. But the fact of the matter is that teachers are stuck in the comfort zones of how they were taught at school. As educators it is our responsibility to constantly move away from this zone and explore boldly what it is that triggers passion and debate within our learners. Technology has become the source of conversations. We thus need to learn the language and incorporate it in the classroom a responsible and creative way.