Prof Thiru Vandeyar, Associate Professor in UP’s Department of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, writes about how the rapid pace of change in technology innovation must be viewed as an opportunity for teachers.

While teaching is a “calling” and a career that is driven ideally by an intrinsic passion, it is a challenging profession. It is a profession that discerns between mere “teaching” and “pedagogy”, which is a careful and thoughtful practice.

Teaching may be defined as an education ideal that is conceptualised as being rich, complex and sophisticated. It is rich because of the emotional labour one brings to the classroom context, attending to a smorgasbord of diverse learners and learning styles. The complex nature of teaching as pedagogical practice should be understood as being a “problematic” thinking process when teachers must make informed decisions about their classroom practice. The complexity also lies in the integration of unique learning theories, subject content, specific and generic methodologies, and appropriate technology to enhance learning.

Teaching is also a sophisticated art that is constantly evolving, requiring teachers to learn, unlearn and relearn teaching methods to meet the needs of 21^st-century learners. 

In light of the above, teachers should not and must not lose the momentum gained as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which catapulted the urgency and need for using technology to pursue educational goals. Previously, teachers were slow to react to the affordances that technology brings to teaching. Now hybrid learning, blended learning and hyflex learning, to name a few, bring with them new technology-infused methodologies for teachers to reconfigure the way they are facilitating learning. 

The rapid pace of change in technology innovation has created a world of “complexity” and overwhelming challenges for teachers. However, teachers must view these as opportunities to reconceptualise their teaching and become transformative technology agents of change.