Designing for Learning: The Pursuit of Well Structured Pedagogy

This article breaks up well structured pedagogy into three categories. First it says that in order to structure content well it must be put together well in the framework of its semantics. This means that when it is being taught to the students through lecture or other routes it can be easily understood. Our author named this portion of well structured pedagogy “teaching.” Second the “learner” is looked at more indepth. The lesson or pedagogy must be able to cater to a specific learner at any given time. This can be generalized to a group of learners but in many situation a teacher must be able to present the information in any given lesson to a specific student in a specific manner in order to increase the students understanding of the material. Last, “Content must correspond with the ‘environmental’ component of the learning experience.” The content must mesh well with the digital world. Organization and structure within the digital format must be taken into consideration when we think about how students may browse through the content and access the information. The article goes on to state that due to the amount of information available to us at any given time we as a society have changed the way we access this information. We must adapt our teaching structure to be inclusive of this technology thus making it more accessible to our students. The structure within the digital world may not be the same as the analog world. Thus, structuring the information accordingly will be of the utmost importance when trying to get students to access and retain it effectively.

I will most likely review the way I present information and lessons if I choose to place them in a digital format or post them on the internet. Children and adults have come to expect certain patterns or layouts in the programs and sites they navigate. To deviate from this norm would be to create a situation in which they could not gain access to the knowledge that was intended for them. To create a digital format for information or a lesson and not be sensitive to the way it is set up would be irresponsible. As a teacher you would be best served by avoiding the digital formats until you are proficient in the structure and language.