Course Schedule

Suggested Course Schedule

Module 1:  Introduction to Digital Pedagogy for Yoga Instructors

Objective Welcome! In this first section, we will learn some fundamental concepts of digital pedagogy and relate them to how we understand and teach yoga. We will explore hardware and software technologies and relate them to the yoga space and community as we go along throughout the ‘semester.’

Complete

  • •Google Form intake, read the welcome guide and sign up for a meeting with Allison if you plan to take this course for CEU’s.

Read

  • Wikipedia, “Digital Pedagogy“
  • Conrad, “The Opportunities of Digital Pedagogy” Parts 1, 2, and 3

Listen

Watch

Post

  • Create introduction + goal-setting blog post.
  • (Optional) Join us and introduce yourself on Slack.

Create

What are some of the ways you have created a shared ‘space’ when teaching remotely? What does it mean to apply yogic qualities within our software platforms, internet communications and in our online classes? How do you protect your students online and help them feel safe in your virtual class? Create a mood board in pages, google docs or keynote (or really any free design platform) and use any kind of media to create a virtual yoga ‘space’ or studio, and find a way to integrate the feeing of ‘community’ to it. OR make a short video of you introducing your space and offer some explanation as to how you’ve got it set up for your yoga teaching. Be sure to include why you’ve positioned things in your space as it relates to putting the student’s experience FIRST in your class. 

Module 2:  Mapping and Storytelling

Objective

I would argue that charts and maps are to be found all over yoga pedagogy methods, digitally speaking or not. The learning objective of this section is to get teachers to think outside the box and relate digital mapping and storytelling method to their teaching and think of new ways to bring their teaching to life from behind the screen.

Read

Browse

Watch

Optional

Post

Teaching group yoga classes in a major city as a full-time job means you are likely working across multiple locations. What do you have in place to ensure a good commute from one place to the next aside from google maps? What are some unique ways to understand yoga epistemology when it comes to mapping? Could the use of a digital mapping or storytelling tool in your yoga teacher training support you in a way that an analog tool would not be able to?

Create

For those of you whom were thrust into teaching outdoors due to covid-19, how helpful would some custom maps have been for navigating all of those outdoor classes? Create a map of some kind that is related to your yoga teaching or interests that might tell a story. For example, it could be of a simple yoga sequence using a mood board, a map of a meditation walk in your neighborhood OR a map of your favorite yoga studios using ARCgis. If you want to get really creative, you could draw a body map of yourself and all of your injuries on a piece of paper and pencil or on an iPad. Reflect on how your students may benefit from these tools. 

Module 3:  Remixing and Textual Analysis

Objective

There is a lot of remixing going on when it comes to writing our ‘dharma’ talks, posting our online class schedule to instagram or email and maybe even when we edit our pre-recorded video classes. Don’t you just remix your favorite teachers sequences when you teach? The goal in this section is to learn about and identify all the ways that you are already remixing and integrate digital pedagogy methodologies into it.

Read

Skim

Browse

Watch

Post

  1. Have you recorded any of your own zoom classes and checked the transcript? Has anyone ever told you that you say “um” a lot when you teach or any other repetitive phrases? Or, have you ever tried to dictate your yoga sequence into a word processor and noticed it did not understand Sanskrit?
  2. In what ways does your job involve remixing? Music, sequencing? Have you ever tried remixing your own sequences in a video editing application? 

Create

Use Voyant to analyze any of your writing or any yoga text and reflect on any repetitive words. For example, do you or the text over-use any yoga “keywords”?  Are you surprised at any of the findings? Another option is if you happen to write your sequences down by pose name, use voyant to analyze how often you teach a specific pose. 

Module 4: Gaming and Fitness Technology

Objective

Judging by the ancient philosophical texts that we all seem to have in our yoga libraries, it can strange to think that a yoga class could be reproduced inside of a video game. I am also quite certain that all of us have gotten annoyed with a student checking their Apple Watch at one point or another while we were teaching a class. The learning objective in this section is to get teachers to take gaming concepts into their own classes and to embrace fitness technology as a way for us to continue to engage and connect with our bodies in new ways.

Read

Skim

Watch

Browse

Post

A. Have you ever implemented any gaming strategies or technology into your adult yoga classes? This includes private sessions. Why or why not? What were the games? What are the pros and cons of virtual reality and taking yoga class? Option to reflect on past experiences with any fitness video game.

B. How does wearable fitness technology integrate into the yoga classroom? What agency over their body does it give a student when they take your yoga class? Do you think wearable tech it adds value to the practice of yoga? Research three fitness technology wearables, and weigh the pros and cons. Even better, do a fitness workout with one and reflect on your intimate experience with the device.

Create

How would you outline your own virtual reality yoga class? Using any free software application, create a story board that shares a small story about a persons experience in their virtual reality based yoga class.

Module 5:  Social Justice and Digital Pedagogy

Objective

To be a yoga teacher is to be intersectional. Past and present representations of yoga in the media and by teachers themselves continue to confuse and dilute yoga’s connection with ancient India and maintain unequal structures of power. How can we use digital pedagogy tools to fight against these concerns and any residual systemic racism in our yoga classes, both online and in person? What do we need to be aware of when we take ourselves online, especially when it comes to accessibility?

Read

Watch

Listen

Browse

Post

Watch one of your own class recordings or another teachers. What is accessible and what is not? Whether that be in language, the class itself or the technology used. (If you need access to any yoga class, please ask Allison!) Second, let’s talk about the intersectionality of what it means to be a yoga teacher.  Have you ever been approached for spiritual advise, or worse, teased about being spiritual? Share your tory. 

Create

Type out or use a transcription of your full yoga class and process it through Voyant OR do this one with the text of some of your personal social media posts, or maybe your favorite teacher. Share your observations about repetitive word usage and their relationship to structures of power.

Module 6: OER & Research

Objective

According to the Yoga Is Dead Podcast, yoga was primarily passed on from teacher to student orally and a lot of yoga is still like this today, or at least it was pre-covid. We are searching quite literally for digital yoga materials and for the answers as to why so little digital material exists up until now. And by up until now, we are referring to the covid-19 pandemic and how that transferred much of fitness instruction from in-person to online since March 2020. 

Read

Skim “YOGA” results in the following OER Databases

Listen

Browse

Post

Now that you’ve taken a look at some ‘scholarly’ hosts of OER materials, can you brainstorm about why such a lack of digital, reviewed knowledge exists for teachers specifically? Check the dates that everything was published and reflect on your own timeline/journey of tech integration to your practice/life. What are the ways we as an industry can change this digital information-poor genre into something much greater? Dare I say even peer-review?

Create

Create your own digital syllabus using any free application. This could include photos, drawings, anything that you want and doesn’t have to be professional. Use yourself or your real students as your audience. Also, think about how you might want to incorporate journaling into your teaching strategies.

Module 7: Multimedia Digital Pedagogy

Objective

Have you thought about creating your own podcast or video series as a means to reach more yoga students? You’ve probably heard some of the ones that have popped up over the last couple of years, and you’ve already listened to the Yoga is Dead Podcast episode in our last segment. In this section, we will learn how to be ‘intentional’ with our means of instruction across a two digital mediums: Video and Audio. 

Read

Skim

Browse

Watch

Post

Post Covid, yoga teacher trainings or even classes are unlikely to remain fully analog in the way that they used to be. What tools do you think are important for yoga teachers to learn in order to be dynamic and successful? For example, should teachers learn how to create videos or edit audio as part of learning the business of yoga?

Create

Create a 15-20 minute demo video, audio recording or presentation using any free software that expresses what you have learned since integrating multimedia into your online teaching. There are no limitations to this and feel free to think outside of the box! For example, if you have a video library of your own, feel free to share with us your decision making processes on the tools that you’ve employed etc. 

Module 8:  Assessment, Feedback and LMS

Objective

Although yoga offers a lot of space for self-assessment, the value of an experienced teacher’s feedback is priceless. If we are not giving yoga students a grade or physical adjustments on zoom or even when we are in-person, then what are we assessing them on? How can we track our students progress if we aren’t able to see them 3-dimensionally? Can digital fitness trackers or sensors offer support in areas that teachers are not able to? In this section, we are introduced to some digital ways of sharing feedback and also fruit for thought on yogi-skill levels and live-streaming.

Read

Skim

Post

If you’d could start doing yoga again from the very beginning, what would you want to grade your own practice on? What educational materials do you wish you had been able to access or spend more time with over the years? Why is it important to provide verbal and written feedback to students? How can we make yoga knowledge more accessible to the masses outside of the classroom?

Create

Create your own ‘yoga score card’ or feedback form and reflect on your process. 

Final Project

TBD by student. Please submit a 1 page proposal and schedule a meeting with the teacher before executing the project. Project examples are yoga timelines using X tool, yoga maps using X tool, a podcast episode or outline of a modern digital yoga instruction syllabus, etc. that students will be asked to make as ‘open’ or are invited to at least think through this process.