Teaching Naked: How Moving Technology Out of Your College Classroom Will Improve Student Learning by José Antonio Bowen (review)

“Out with the old, in with the new.” Or, in the case of José Antonio Bowen’s penetrating, thought-provoking study of pedagogical practice in higher education, “out with the new and in with the old (spiced up with a bit of the new).” Though he painstakingly parses out its implications over the course of three hundred pages, Bowen’s main argument is straightforward: the best way to harness the potential of technology in the digital age, while facing the challenges it presents to traditional models of education, is to utilize it to a greater extent outside the classroom in order to free up time and space for face-to-face, interactive pedagogy (or “naked” teaching) inside the classroom. Bowen, who at the time of the book’s publication was a dean and music professor at Southern Methodist University (but, since July 2014, has been president of Goucher College), is an ideally suited to write a book designed to help both faculty and administrators rethink how they approach higher education in the 21^st century. Teaching Naked opens (and closes) with a citation from Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address,” specifically the lines: “The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present . . . . As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew” (ix). Bowen makes the compelling case that if traditional American higher education institutions do not adapt to rapid technological change, it may face a threat similar to that of the Union in 1863. In the past large universities had a relative monopoly on cutting-edge information and learning with their vast libraries and stage-walking sages. Now, Bowen argues, the traditional model of higher education is “challenged by changes in demographics and college preparation, for-profit institutions, hybrid class schedules . . . [and] free online learning” (ix). If colleges and universities are to survive, they must move away from merely delivering content and prioritize the “application, integration, and personalization of content” to justify their price tags (xviii).

Teaching Naked is neatly divided into three sections. The first section, “The New Digital Landscape,” outlines the expansion and attractiveness of e-learning and the lessons that higher education can learn from gaming (including customization, high-expectations with low-stakes learning, experiential learning, and interaction). Part II, “Designing 21^st Century Courses,” is the heart of the book. Addressed primarily to faculty, it unpacks the connection between “naked” pedagogy and technology. Here Bowen delineates practical ways to use new media to deliver information and engage with students outside of class (ch. 5), as well as motivating students outside and inside class. The third and final section, “Strategies for Universities of the Future,” is targeted primarily to university administrators. Though there are practical suggestions, this is the most speculative part of the book, addressing potential changes that could be made at the institutional level to facilitate interactive learning. Bowen is necessarily visionary and hypothetical here, though he builds his case on the solid research contained in the previous two sections. Though he carefully outlines the threats that face the American higher education system, his overall tone is hopeful, and not characterized by doom and gloom. He clearly embraces the gadgetry of the digital age, asserting that higher education is inextricably linked to technology whether we like it or not. At the same time Bowen does not fetishize technology – it is not an end but a means to an end, providing tools for facilitating higher-level learning.

Overall, Bowen makes a compelling case for thoughtful pedagogical experimentation and innovation in the digital age, for a hybrid approach that simultaneously embraces a selective use of technology outside and inside the classroom. The implementation sections are particularly invaluable, providing a treasure-trove of ideas and suggestions for enhancing “naked” pedagogy, from how to provide useful introductions to assigned readings (via email or podcasts) to posting course information on Facebook and Twitter...