Disembodied teachers, Disembodied learners and Power Struggles
Early in my journey into the world of online education I came across the concept of disembodiment, disembodied teachers, disembodied learners and interaction in virtual spaces. The TEALEAF (Teacher Embodiment and LEarning Affordance Framework) provided by Sheehy et al. (2014) introduces the different ways in which technology can be used to provide educational experiences with out the need for a teacher to be physically present in the room with the learners. Little did I realise that within a year of reading about this framework I would be living the reality of that experience.
("Setting up a fully online classroom" by Globalism Pictures is licensed under CC BY 2.0)
Now that coronavirus restrictions are beginning to ease, I've become much more aware of how my physical presence with learners makes a difference. I hadn't considered at all that for the past year and a half, for most of my students I have been little more than a face on a screen, or a voice in their ear with no physical presence in their lives. Similarly, I have encountered hundreds of similarly disembodied students who have been little more than polkadots on my screen whereby I can see their initials and very little else.
I hadn't considered how much I relied on having a physical presence in my students learning until I reflected on the work of Michael Foucault in relation to power and embodiment.
Now I'm no philosopher, but I understood that for some people,
"...the body is understood as the container for your personality, identity, feelings, thoughts and the vehicle for your actions and relationships."
(Psychosomatic Education, 2017).
("Disembodied Hand? Ain't Nobody Got Time for That" by KROCKY MESHKIN is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Therefore, by extension, having a body is part of what makes us human. We express many of our thoughts, feelings and emotions through our bodies. Even writing this article I've become quite conscious of how I'm using my hands to type and my eyes to read as I create this blog entry. So, in a sense, having a body is part of what makes us human. I'm sure most of you can relate to the idea of expressing your thoughts, feelings and emotions in writing too... emojis can be a big help!
But in the face-to-face classroom setting it having a physical presence also gives us power. Reflecting on my own practice I will often move around a room and observe what's happening. Perhaps because of relaxations in Covid-19 restrictions I'm finding myself more conscious of my ability to engage with this form of observation. Similarly I find myself simply positioning myself beside disruptive students relying on my physical proximity and social norms/pressure to alter or change their behaviour. I regularly look over learners shoulders to observe what's happening on the screens of their devices to see what they're doing. Hardy (N.D.) in citing the work of Foucault (1977) makes similar observations as a fellow maths graduate and educator in how learners seem to learn more when they are watched. But in her writing Hardy makes connections which have taken me aback somewhat.
It's worrying when you realise that Bentham would likely support this panooptic approach to education.
I remember back to the early months of the pandemic and I remember the resistance that so many educators expressed about the switch to online learning. If embodiment and physical presence gives us power as teachers, does that mean that technological disembodiment dis-empowers educators? Did the switch to online learning dis-empower teachers, or was power simply redistributed to the learner? Remember back to those polkadots on our screens, the faceless entities that we came to know as our learners. How else can we interpret a learners refusal to switch on their camera if not as a semiotic display of power, the agentic resistance of individuals exercising their right to not be placed under surveillance? In this is a manifestation of online disinhibition then does it mean that in traditional face to face settings we use our physical presence to inhibit our students?
A chance conversation with a family member recently reminded me that rights are balanced out by responsibilities. Have we become a society that expects our rights to be safeguarded without assuming the responsibilities that go along with it? Now, I'm by no means advocating that teachers should move to undermine the rights and decisions of their students. However, if we as educators choose to support our learners in exorcising their right to privacy by not switching on their cameras or microphones during class time, do we also not also assume the responsibility to educate our learners about the additional responsibilities that they will assume in doing so?
This year I dedicated a full 6 weeks of learning to a course that I created which I entitled, "Getting Started with Blended Learning". And, now that I've gone through that period of work, the feedback I have got from students has been really positive. They've developed good habits and are engaged in the social constructivism approaches that have become such a large part of my teaching. But I find myself wondering now whether they are ready to assume the additional responsibility that ensues in taking greater responsibility for their own learning? Working for an institution that places great value on student centred learning I find myself wondering whether or not the students are ready to assume the power and responsibility that such an approach entails.
References
Sheehy, Kieron (2010).
Psychosomatic Education (2017) Embodiment: philosophy [Online]. Available at: https://medium.com/@psychosomatic.education/embodiment-philosophy-7aaaa6df8b89 (Accessed 22nd October 2021).
Hardy, T. (N.D.) Tales of Power: Foucault in the mathematics classroom [Online]. Available at: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/csme/meas/papers/hardy.html (Accessed 22nd October 2021)
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