Critical digital pedagogy & my experience with MOOCs

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 “To speak a true word is to transform the world”

(Freire, 1970).

For our critical inquiry team assignment, my team explores the topic of the massive open online course(s) (MOOCs) and, specifically, barriers to access and participation inequities often widely present in MOOCs despite the claim to be “open” and “massive”, i.e. accessible to everyone. The learning event we have decided to explore is a course by Coursera: Mind Control: Managing Your Mental Health During COVID-19, as a lot of people struggle with different mental health issues during the isolation.

In my personal experience with MOOCs, I have had a chance to experiment with a few different types of MOOCs, such as Coursera, Canvas, EdX. In fact, I am registered in a few courses: Research Data Management for Librarians, Introduction to Digital Humanities course, as well as a course on systematic review and meta-analysis. I guess I can characterize myself as a “learning hobbyist”, even though these courses often fall on the back burner in my busy life. I feel grateful for having a privilege to have access to these courses, however many others might not.  My experience with these MOOCs, made me question the role of students in the process and what pedagogical approaches individual MOOCs propagate, as “MOOC has become an engine for poorly considered pedagogy”  which unfortunately fell into “capitalization of education and its dialogues” (Morris, & Stommel, 2017).

Following this thinking, I decided to explore the topic of critical digital pedagogy for my critical inquiry and its application in the Information Literacy programs.  Critical pedagogy, based on the work of Paulo Freire (1970), Pedagogy of the oppressed, is focused on a problem-solving education, and thus, the empowerment of a student, rather than the banking model of education. In the digital culture, critical pedagogy is seeking human connectivity through digital agency and democratic participation (Morris & Stommel, 2018).

When applied to information literacy instruction, critical information literacy, which draws on critical pedagogy framework, seeks “to raise the critical consciousness of learners” (Branch, 2019). Thus, in my critical inquiry, I want to explore the concept of critical information literacy in the digital setting and understand its implication to the way librarians teach information literacy and what student-centred approaches can facilitate this teaching.

 


References:

Branch, N. A. (2019). Illuminating social justice in the Framework: Transformative methodology, concept mapping, and learning outcomes development for Critical Information Literacy. Communications in Information Literacy, 13(1), 4–22. https://doi.org/10.15760/comminfolit.2019.13.1.2
Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed . New York: Seabury Press.Retrieved from http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon2/pedagogy/pedagogychapter3.html
Morris, S. M., & Stommel, J. (2017). Open education as resistance: MOOCs and critical digital pedagogy. In MOOCs and Their Afterlives. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. doi:10.7208/chicago/9780226469591.003.0012
Morris, S. M., & Stommel, J. (2018). An Urgency of teachers. Hybrid Pedagogy Inc. Retrieved from https://criticaldigitalpedagogy.pressbooks.com/

2 thoughts on “Critical digital pedagogy & my experience with MOOCs

  1. Marta in your individual topic you’re getting at the core of critical inquiry, building from Friere and writings of Morris and Stommel and others as you extend your research. While it includes such approaches as “critical thinking” and information literacy techniques, it also seeks to activate a deeper awareness of justice and agency in relation to digital environments. Connecting this thinking to where MOOCs have evolved over the past decade will help shine a light on the limitations of “access” as a sole goal of MOOCs, and librarians are in key positions to both promote and enable such critical digital literacies.

  2. Hi Marta, what an interesting topic you’ve chosen! It’s inspiring to see that you’ve gotten to experience so many MOOCs. Based on your blog, it’s clearly evident that you are able to combine your interests along with your curiosity to better understand how to better assist your students better when it comes to information literacy. With technology being an accelerating factor, people can easily produce and share information at such rapid speeds. As a result, teaching critical thinking and analysis to students is more important than ever. Thanks for sharing and good luck with the rest of your research! – Eunice

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