Teaching Naked in a Technological World

Digital humanities is a term that gets used loosely and is not quite defined, but with all that we can gather from it one thing is certain. You don't need electronics to subscribe to digital humanities. One thing digital humanities has allowed for is that hacking can now be considered a discipline. A discipline in which the question can now be posed, is it possible for education be hacked to expose ways of non-technological digital teaching?

What seems to be holding back the full educational benefits of teaching is the inability to comprehensibly identify with digital and non-digital as two parts to a whole and not two completely separate ideas, which are interchangeable and mixable.  Educators should not be limiting themselves by thinking technology is a mere tool or that digital education must involve a computer. By doing this, the educator cuts off a wealth of resources which may be of great use in the classroom. If digital learning is treated as a tool then it is only as useful as the task placed in front of it, to paraphrase Paul Fyfe, if you have a hammer, your problems would look like nails. This amazing form of education which has potential to be so much more than we allow it to be has resulted in a more narrow view on education due to the ease at which things may be accomplished.

The goal is to get involved in “naked teaching”, being stripped of the technologies that may hinder the learning process. To teach “naked” does not mean free of any form of technology, it merely means removing the electronic part of the digital learning.

Methods of implementation of such teaching could be as simple as a high lighter and a book. Involving two main reading types, intensive and distant. Each of these allows or a different type of learning.

A form of attentiveness in key when doing reading for one to pick up on the subtle and somewhat unannounced themes of a book. This is why any form of learning exercise is crucial to better learning especially in this digital age we find ourselves in.

In some instances it is important to allow for creative flow from students and to realize that the lecturer or teacher is merely a facilitator for the exchange of knowledge. Offering a hands on option to learners who are able to all work through something together which each of them only encounters for the first time in the classroom can allow for amazing results.

Digital humanists should ultimately be an individual capable of multi-faceted teaching and learning. While the world moves forward digitally, it would be to one’s own detriment as well of those being taught, to attempt to teach without digital technology.

Naked teaching is a thing, a fully clothed thing, which should be implemented in more educational institutes.