In recent years, digital pedagogy has been more and more popular. In my opinion, digital pedagogy refers to any kinds of learning online. For example, many famous universities in the world have opened massive open online courses(MOOC) which are accessible for everyone online. This kind of courses are convenient for students to take because you can take the courses whenever you want. Also, MOOC has improved the communication between universities and the circulation of knowledge. Apart from that, there are all kinds of online courses published in different platform such as YouTube. I have ever watched a series of video which teaches us about a programming language-python; there are totally 500 episodes in that series. I found digital pedagogy very helpful.

However, in “LEARNING IS NOT A MECHANISM”, Stommel raises his concern about digital pedagogy. He worries that this kind of learning pattern will make the process of learning too mechanic.(Stommel 2018) For example, under the control of the system, all the students will do the same things arranged by the system, and they will finish the assignments one by one as scheduled. The outcomes of their learning will be presented in the grade book. In this learning pattern, the students seem to be machines which are finishing the tasks one by one. I was impressive when Stommel argues that learning should be subjective, but the grading process seeks to be more and more objective.(Stommel 2018) I totally agree with Stommel, learning should be a subjective process because everyone has different perspectives about a certain thing, and everyone has their unique experience during their learning. As Stommel mentions in the article, “My response was simple and encouraging, ‘sounds good, stay lost.'” It is quite normal that students feel confused in the journey of learning, and they need time to figure things out and then move on.  There is no need for them to follow the same schedule of learning. Moreover, in “Teaching in blended learning environments: Creating and sustaining communities of inquiry”, Vaughan also examines the role of online learning. He argues that the key of blended learning is to integrate face-to-face and online learning activities. (Vaughan 2013) In other words, online learning should support the students rather than control the students.

But I do not quite understand when Stommel mentions “interchangeable” in the article. Does he mean that every student is unique and can not be replaced?

Reference:

Stommel, J. (2018). An urgency of teachers: The work of critical digital pedagogy. Hybrid Pedagogy.
Vaughan, N. D., Garrison, D. R., & Cleveland-Innes, M. (2013). Teaching in blended learning environments: Creating and sustaining communities of inquiry. AU Press. [Chapter 1]
Regan, P., & Jesse, J. (2019). Ethical challenges of edtech, big data and personalized learning: Twenty-first century student sorting and tracking. Ethics and Information Technology, 21(3), 167-179. DOI: 10.1007/s10676-018-9492-2