It is well known that learning outcomes are influenced profoundly by personal interactions between teachers and students. As Oakeshott’s view of dramatic friendship suggests, these relatings are central to conveying the intellectual and emotional resources with which late-modern students need to be familiar in order to deal with a rapidly-globalising world. Yet many contemporary schools, vocational colleges and universities are adopting teaching processes that are hostile to affective pedagogy. A plethora of laptops will not deliver a good education if the intention is to use them to replace close relatings—dramatic friendships—between teachers and students. The fad for replacing real teachers with technology can only result in an increasingly dehumanised pedagogy and the vandalising of the very art of teaching as a form of loving. (Patience A. – The Art Of Loving In The Classroom: A Defence Of Affective Pedagogy.)
I feel like there is a lot of anxiety from educators to adopt new technologies etc. It’s not exclusively computer-related; unfortunately, I came across anti-technological/technical attitudes on different occasions. Teachers who confide in me that they have no idea how to operate a projector and yet don’t show any enthusiasm in learning about it. It’s commonly acceptable to dismissively talk about ‘cables and all that’, ‘technology, eh?’ It’s a strange attitude to come across in an art/design environment, which I would intuitively associate with values such as curiosity, love of experimentation and can-do attitude.
When the pandemic emerged, we all had to engage with technology, learn basic operations such as using video conference software, share links, maybe even record a video and upload it. Whilst we were/are all isolated in our homes, and the outside seemed like a dangerous and hostile place, to my surprise, again, most of the comments that were made about technology were negative: it’s exhausting, it’s not the same as face to face experience etc. Rather than being amazed by the fact that we can communicate in real time around the world, we can ‘jump from continent to continent’ with seconds, resentments against videocalls surfaced. I feel like I can read a lot of the same attitude in the text above. Rather than seeing techne as part of praxis, educators feel in competition to it. While I understand that in a world in which automation looms, there is an uncertainty on how to position yourself towards technological developments, I don’t find cultural pessimism particularly constructive. As educators, we need to take agency in the conversations around what teaching in the Information Age means, and online teaching could be an opportunity to continue with the mode of ‘affective friendship’ in new circumstances. Hence why I was really interested in hearing how colleagues are adapting their sessions to the online classroom.
The documentary series ‘Dopamine’ mentions ‘Zoom fatigue’ and the psychological explanation behind it: ‘Zoom fatigue: It’s a particular uncomfortable feeling caused by your brain’s constant analysis of your audience’s body language but on zoom it’s mission impossible because zoom glitches, the image is small, the sound lags and no one looks you into the eye. This is called cognitive dissonance. You think you understand those speaking to you, but in fact your brain is incapable of understanding them.’
In our breakout room, we were exchanging experiences about how to connect with students online (and probably overcoming ‘cognitive dissonance’) while applying ‘affective pedagogy’. I mentioned a class in which I have been, in which an educator asked every student to stretch their arms in the space. This was a pleasant experience, because it acknowledged that we are not confined to the size of our screen. This experience almost reversed the usual video-call spatial hierarchy: rather than me trying to shrink physically and ‘fit inside’ my laptop screen, the laptop, and participants of the video call became part of the physical environment in which I was existing. It was astonishing to see how relaxed students were after this little exercise, that didn’t take more than 1 minute.
In the breakout room, another colleague mentioned how at the beginning of each session they ask each student to say one happy emotion. This is a such a creative way of not only acknowledging every person in the space, but also set a positive mood for the rest of the session. I will definitely try it out in my next online group sessions.
Patience, A. (2008). The Art Of Loving In The Classroom: A Defence Of Affective Pedagogy.. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 33(2).
Dopamine – Lockdown Special. (2020). Arte.tv/en, 09.09.2020