Page 126 - Teaching Innovation for the 21st Century

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Teaching Innovation for the 21st Century | Showcasing UJ Teaching and Learning 2021
Adhering to a constructivist philosophy, I believe that an authentic and collaborative learning experience is enabled by drawing from a mix of pedagogies, which I apply to a lesser or greater degree, depending on
the class in front of me, the situated context or the platform I use for teaching
Introduction
Play and playfulness are founded on constructivist pedagogies assuming that we learn by engaging with
the environment to create our own knowledge and understanding (Ogunyemi & Henning 2020). Not only does play and playfulness remove barriers to learning (Forbes 2021), but also enhance shared pleasure and creativity (Singer 2015) and therefore promote feelings of wellbeing (Koeners & Francis 2020; Shen 2020), relatedness and engagement (Lockwood & O’Connor 2017).
To this end, the playful constructivist teaching personas that I adopt are practised within the discipline of strategic communication. In anticipation of the disruptive impact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) on customer relationships, stakeholder engagement and brand reputation, the Department of Strategic Communication graduates are being prepared to embrace a future transformed by artificial intelligence. In our discipline, my contribution is to nurture tomorrow’s digital marketing managers, social media marketing strategists, online advertising planners, events planners, company spokespersons and digital public relations executives for the complex demands of an emerging post-work economy in a fragmented post-Covid-19, post-colonial, post-apartheid marketplace.
My constructivist teaching and learning philosophy
My teaching and learning philosophy is to enable a student-centred learning environment, situated in activity and embedded in diverse contexts, cultures, identities, backgrounds, predispositions and social environments. Adhering to a constructivist philosophy, I believe that an authentic and collaborative learning experience is enabled by drawing from a mix of pedagogies, which I apply to a lesser or greater degree, depending on the class in front of me, the situated context or the platform I use for teaching.
In essence, a constructivist view assumes that learning is an active process constructed within an authentic social context where understanding comes from within and involves participation in collaborative problem-solving learning communities (Tam 2000). As the next section explains, I play different constructivist pedagogical roles to achieve these goals and practice my teaching philosophy.