symploke

The sites of pedagogy are the locations of pedagogical address. They are the spaces in which interactions between teacher and student occur. Without a pedagogical site, pedagogical address is unrealizable; without a pedagogical address, pedagogical sites are empty. The meeting point of pedagogical address and pedagogical site is the absolute horizon of learning.

Education in America today demands a radical rethinking of the sites of pedagogy. While it may be obvious that pedagogical processes are affected by the setting in which they occur, we understand far too little about this relationship to be able to maximize its learning potential. Gaining a better understanding of the dynamics of sites in which we teach and learn is critical to improving education.

While the pedagogical sites of the past may have been dominated by blackboards, desks, and lecterns, the sites of the present and future are not. With more and more students juggling work and school, there is now a growing population of students who seldom set foot in a classroom. Their pedagogical sites center on computer screens, tele-visions, and printed study guides. Given that education in America has increasingly become a consumer-oriented industry, we can assume that as the demand grows for courses that accommodate a wide range of schedules, the use of alternative sites of pedagogy will only increase.

To leave teachers unprepared for changes in pedagogical sites resulting from technological, economic and political developments in American society is to risk educational failure. As new sites of pedagogy are introduced, we allow our teachers to venture into these areas without training and without asking how these changes in site affect student [End Page 7] performance. This situation puts our students’ education at risk and exposes our teachers to pedagogical disappointment and failure.

We must consider how site of address affects differences in the styles of both teachers and learners. As pedagogical theory becomes increasingly aware of differences in student learning styles, we must be sensitive to how students will react to new sites of pedagogy. How does an entirely text-based form of address affect the performance of a student who reads slowly and relies on spoken word to reinforce learning? Similarly, we must consider how successful teachers will adapt their proven teaching practices to new sites of pedagogy. How will teachers who are accustomed to addressing students in person in a classroom adapt their style to sites outside of the university campus?

Pedagogical theory premised upon the classroom as a constant is no longer acceptable. It cannot be doubted that the sites of pedagogy are becoming increasingly multifarious. We must learn how to adjust our pedagogy to account for the changing nature of the classroom. A student watching a teacher present a lecture on a computer screen has a qualitatively different experience than a student who is face to face with a teacher. Pedagogical theorists must account for how these and related qualitatively different experiences affect learning. If pedagogical theory does not consider sites of pedagogy, then it must be rejected.

Just as we think carefully about the materials we bring into the classroom, so too must we consider what the site of instruction brings to the subject matter of our classes. Critical theory has shown us how the medium in which messages are addressed affects the contents of those messages. These media form receiver expectations—we might even go so far as to say construct receiver expectations. As an educational community, we need to place a premium on scholarship that works to articulate the relationship between pedagogical site and pedagogical address. It is not enough to simply say that the context or medium in which pedagogical addresses occur affects the content of those messages; we must understand how it does this and privilege scholarship which works towards an understanding of this issue.

Educators must be encouraged to think of the sites of pedagogy as potentially as important to learning as the materials that they bring into the classroom. We should not assume that teachers will recognize the variables associated with using various pedagogical sites. Educators assume far too often that what...