Teaching Methodologies
Your current studies will have introduced you to a number of different teaching methodologies to support the teaching of your subject. Two popular methodologies often used by teachers include Didacticism and Constructivism. You might want to revise these two methods by reviewing the following two Wikipedia articles:
“Didacticism is an artistic philosophy that emphasizes instructional and informative qualities in literature and other types of art. The word 'Didacticism' finds its origin in the Greek 'didaktikos' or 'διδακτικός'; the meaning of the Greek word is 'related to education/teaching'. The primary intention of didactic art is not to entertain, but to teach. Didactic plays, for instance, teach the audience through the use of a moral or a theme. … The term 'didactic' is also used as a criticism for work that appears to be overly burdened with instructive, factual, or otherwise educational information, to the detriment of the enjoyment of the reader. Edgar Allan Poe called didacticism the worst of "heresies" in his essay The Poetic Principle.” [Read more… Didacticism (Wikipedia CC: BY SA)]
“Constructivist teaching is based on constructivist learning theory. This theoretical framework holds that learning always builds upon knowledge that a student already knows. Because all learning is filtered through pre-existing knowledge, constructivists suggest that learning is more effective when a student is actively engaged in the learning process rather than attempting to receive knowledge passively. A wide variety of methods claim to be based on constructivist learning theory. Most of these methods rely on some form of guided discovery where the teacher avoids most direct instruction and attempts to lead the student through questions and activities.
Information & Communication Technology (ICT) can support either methodology but in different ways. The purpose of this lesson is to investigate specifically how ICT can support a teacher-led instructional approach to teaching and learning, namely, the Didactic approach. In the next section, Knowledge Deepening, we will investigate how ICT supports other methodologies. However, it needs to be acknowledged at this point that a typical teacher will ‘mix and match’ methodologies and is rarely an advocate of one method exclusively. Issues of time, complexity of the subject matter, objectives, assessment requirements and student preparedness will all impact on a teacher’s decision to adopt a particular method for a section of work.