Power sharing

In my last post I discussed Daniel S Christian's three trends of an emerging pedagogy. I speculated on whether a new social divide might also emerge as a result of the new pedagogy he outlines. Christian argues that much of the change we are currently witnessing in teaching methods is driven by new technologies. His second trend reflects the changing roles of some teachers and professors. He identifies...

"...an increased sharing of power between the professor and the learner. This is manifest as a changing professorial role, towards more support and negotiation over content and methods, and a focus on developing and supporting learner autonomy. On the student side, this can mean an emphasis on learners supporting each other through new social media, peer assessment, discussion groups, even online study groups but with guidance, support and feedback from content experts."

Clearly, Christian bases his argument on the premise that teachers and students are mutually comfortable in power sharing. For the lecturer, this means voluntarily relinquishing their traditional position as the sole arbiter of 'truth' in the classroom, to embrace the position of co-learner. For many, this would be a radical departure from their expected roles. For the students, it would require them to assume a greater responsibility for their own learning, and becoming more pro-active in knowledge creation, and self determination of learning pathways. Students will also need to be more willing to share their ideas and work with each other, and to collaborate more closely in the learning process.

In some sectors of education this may be more easily achieved than it is in others. Will professors in higher education be willing to let go of their relative positions of power. After all, they have worked hard all their academic careers to establish themselves in positions of respect and authority. They have spent a lot of time and energy carving out niches for themselves in very specialised and focused areas of scientific research. How willing will they be to take on a less central role in this new pedagogy? Conversely, students entering higher education are faced with increased tuition fees. Will they expect their professors to continue to take the lead in delivering knowledge, or will they readily adopt the role of co-creators of knowledge? Universities around the world are built on their reputations for high quality teaching and research. They are also identified by their status as centres of knowledge production, where traditionally, professors have been the intellectual capital of the institution. Some would therefore feel justified in jealously protecting their positions as acknowledged experts and resist any calls to take a sideways step and let their students lead. Knowledge is power, and holding that position of power can be seductive.

Many agree that technology has a role to play in this shift in pedagogical emphasis. Students now bring their own devices into the traditional learning environment, creating their own personal networks and learning environments. They are intimately familiar with the functionality of their devices, knowing how to use them to connect to, create and organise content. They are adept at connecting to their friends and peers too, but will they be willing to power share with their professors, take on greater autonomy and assume more responsibility to direct their own learning in the future?

Photo by Sophia Hussain


Power sharing by Steve Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.