Pedagodzilla: Exploring the Realm of Pedagogy

Have you ever wondered whether Yoda makes a good supply teacher? Or why the von Trapp children so effectively learn to sing? Or how the Council of Elrond does such a good job of working out what to do with The One Ring?
Well wonder no more because here are all the answers to those questions and more.

The aim of the Pedagodzilla podcast is to take a learning theory, or approach, or a practice that’s useful to educators and explain it in terms simple enough for us to understand, using examples taken from whatever film, TV show or social media furore takes our fancy. Star Wars, the Muppets, Come Dine with Me, the Predator and the Matrix movies - all have fallen under our spotlight. We take a pointless question that combines pedagogy with something from pop culture, talk about one, talk about the other, then mash them together. It’s a formula that’s established Pedagodzilla as one of the favourite podcasts discussing practice in Higher Education.

And now, the podcast has become a book! For this first volume we’ve taken the episodes that discuss the key learning theories and formed them into a journey through the ideas that inform teaching. There’s a section where we discuss the underlying philosophies behind the different approaches, and where we create a map of the domains, a section where we look at the behaviourist and constructivist models of learning and where they clash, and a final section where we look at social and contextual approaches to learning.

Join our fellowship on our path of discovery. If you do you’ll cover most of the basics of educational theory, see how to apply these to some practical examples for teaching, get to grips with some of the controversies, and maybe uncover some useless trivia about some of your favourite media things.

And if you want to listen to some of the podcasts on which these episodes are based, you can find them all at pedagodzilla.com

‘Pedagodzilla is a refreshingly playful mash-up of learning theories and popular culture. Drawing on movies, tv shows, and video games, it exemplifies alternate perspectives of learning in a way that is accessible and fun as well as being academically rigorous. There are also many drawings of dinosaurs and at least three references to towels. What’s not to love?’
~ Prof. Nic Whitton, Professor of Digital Learning and Play, Northumbria University

‘This book lured me in with promises of Buffy and now I know the difference between ontology and epistemology! Shiny’
~ Daisy Abbott, Research Developer, Glasgow School of Art

'The clue to this book’s magic is reflected in the name Pedagozilla. If you have some curiosity about learning and teaching plus a passing interest in science/ fiction and fantasy, then you will love this book ... Key theories and their real-world applications are presented accurately and painlessly. You don’t feel the theories going in. The balance and range of ideas is well -judged and the Tips for Practice are insightful and useful ... This is a highly original and insightful book that I greatly enjoyed reading, and will be recommending to friends, colleagues, and strangers at bus stops.'
~ Kieron Sheehy, Professor of Innovation Pedagogies, Open University