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Pedagogical Shift from Text to Hypertext

 

Pedagogical Shift from Text to Hypertext: Language & Literature to the Digital Natives

Introduction

This blog reflects on my learning experiences from the Faculty Development Programme “A Pedagogical Shift from Text to Hypertext: Language & Literature to the Digital Natives.” It combines my personal experience of the Moral Machine activity with key insights from the presentation and keynote video session by Professor Dilip Barad. The goal is to show how digital pedagogy not only changes the tools we use but also transforms the very relationship between teachers, learners, and content.


My Experience and Learning Outcome of Moral Machine Activity

The Moral Machine simulation placed me in ethically charged scenarios involving passengers, pedestrians, humans, and animals. My results showed:

  • Most killed characters: Women

  • Most saved character: A dog (pet)

  • Preferences: Saving younger, fit, and socially valued people over others (Click Here)

At first, I treated the choices as a game, but the final results disturbed me. They revealed unconscious biases: I valued a pet over multiple human lives, leaned toward saving youth and fitness, and overlooked the fact that most of my victims were women.

Screenshots

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Learning Outcomes

  1. Self-reflection: The activity exposed subconscious biases in my moral reasoning.

  2. Fragmentation of subjectivity: My values appeared unstable and fragmented, echoing Silvio Gaggi’s argument about hypertext decentering the subject.

  3. Pedagogical relevance: Such activities embody digital pedagogy by being interactive, immersive, and reflective, pushing learners to confront their own assumptions.


Video Recording of the Session


The session by Professor Dilip Barad, delivered during the International Faculty Development Programme on “A Pedagogical Shift from Text to Hypertext: Language & Literature to the Digital Natives”, is a thoughtful exploration of how pedagogy is being reshaped by the digital age.

He begins by reflecting on how the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the use of digital platforms. A faculty survey revealed that while many teachers adopted tools like Google Meet, Classroom, and WhatsApp, very few maintained blogs or personal websites. This gap highlights the need for sustainable digital literacy.

The heart of the lecture is the concept of hypertext pedagogy. Unlike static, linear text, hypertext is networked, interactive, and non-linear. It destabilizes the traditional triangle of teacher–learner–content, making knowledge construction more participatory and learner-driven.

Professor Barad also offers practical solutions: using a glass board to simulate classroom interaction, implementing flipped classrooms and blended learning, and employing collaborative tools like Google Docs for interactive exercises. He addresses challenges in language and literature teaching  from pronunciation issues to cultural barriers  showing how digital tools like captions, multimedia references, and Google Arts & Culture can bridge gaps.

One of the most provocative sections discusses generative literature created by AI. Here, questions of authorship, creativity, and literary value are reconsidered. Finally, he advocates for digital portfolios as authentic assessments, allowing students to curate and showcase their work over time.

The video ultimately urges educators to embrace hypertext pedagogy not just as a necessity but as an opportunity to make teaching more dynamic, interactive, and meaningful for digital natives.

Summary of the Presentation in Three Parts

 Part 1: From Text to Hypertext

The first part explained the fundamental shift from linear text to hypertext. Traditional pedagogy centered on static, printed material, but hypertext offers dynamic, multimedia-rich content. This empowers learners to navigate their own paths, moving away from passive reception toward active knowledge construction.

Part 2: Decentering of Teacher, Learner, and Content

 

The second part emphasized how digital pedagogy fragments and decentralizes authority. The teacher is no longer the sole source of knowledge but a facilitator. Content itself is no longer “fixed” but open, layered, and interconnected. Learners become co-creators of meaning through interaction and exploration.

Part 3: Implications for Language and Literature Teaching 

The final part highlighted practical implications:

  • Adoption of tools like glass boards, flipped classrooms, and blended learning to enhance engagement.

  • Use of collaborative platforms for interactive language activities.

  • Integration of hypertext resources (art, myth, culture) to contextualize English literature.

  • Addressing the rise of AI-generated literature, urging teachers to rethink creativity, authorship, and critical literacy.

  • Emphasizing digital portfolios as authentic, process-oriented assessment strategies.

Reflection: Connecting Moral Machine & Hypertext Pedagogy

Both the Moral Machine activity and the FDP session reveal the decentering effects of digital pedagogy. In the simulation, my moral reasoning fractured under pressure, exposing hidden biases. In the FDP session, Professor Barad showed how hypertext disrupts stable roles of teacher, learner, and content. Together, they illustrate that digital learning is not about consuming fixed knowledge but about participating in meaning-making processes where authority, values, and narratives are constantly negotiated.


Conclusion

The shift from text to hypertext represents more than a technological upgrade; it is a transformation in how we perceive knowledge and teaching. My Moral Machine experience highlighted the instability of human decision-making, while the FDP demonstrated how hypertext pedagogy decentralizes authority and empowers learners. For digital natives, education must embrace interactivity, reflection, and collaboration. The challenge for educators is to not resist but to harness the digital shift, making teaching and learning in language and literature richer, more engaging, and deeply relevant to our times. 

Thank you. 

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