An interesting phenomenon I’ve been hearing about in my teaching circle lately is the idea of “decision fatigue”. Making hundreds of executive decisions each day takes its toll. While draining, this is part of what makes the work so rewarding and responsive. The reflective nature keeps teachers agile, able to respond to the nuanced push-pull of the teacher-student relationship. Taylor (1996) points out that with the advent of open learning, teachers and students have lost opportunities to make or to influence decisions. The structure in which teaching and learning take place is important, as it exerts an undue influence on the dynamic between parties on either end of the medium. A great example of this kind of structure-obstruction is when Delores Umbridge responds quite harshly to Harry, Hermoine, and Dean on their learning methodologies for the class ( Rowling, 2003). Her reasoning is that much smarter wizards have devised the program. She has locked herself into a syllabus that doesn’t allow any room for wavering from “the plan”.
Walcott (1993) found that teachers who were considered to be excellent in the classroom, when moved to distance-learning instruction, focused more on what to teach rather than how. Lack of consideration for methodology and teaching as an extension of a syllabus reinforces learning that doesn’t allow for interaction and intra-action between people, artifacts, or matter. No room for reciprocity. This again cuts across the grain of what I believe constitutes good teaching and the conditions for great learning.
The pandemic that has strained much of the world has led to a shift toward online learning for safety reasons, and there are few who would debate the merits of this. But Taylor describes “high tech” open learning environments as “impoverished virtual worlds” stripped of the social and cultural support provided through body-to-body interactions and of opportunities for learning. Lave and Wegner (1991) describe these opportunities as “legitimate peripheral participation”, which is to say that individuals share a space and implicitly share and co-model how to be a student, a teacher, and an educated person.
My pursuit of a Master’s degree through UBC has been fascinating on a number of fronts. It’s a story of intense learning and opportunities, and also one of loss. Full-time work and family life have been taxing, to say the least. In addition to losing time with my closest friends, studying virtually has left me wanting. I don’t get to connect on a deep level with colleagues. I long to sit around a table and really gnaw on the meat, fat, and gristle of a paper. I know that’s how I learn best, and in fact, it’s how I teach best as well. I’ve lost out on those experiences but like so many attitudes during the pandemic, it’s an optimal scenario given context, circumstances, and limitations.
References
Lave, J. and Wegner, E.1991. Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Rowling, J. K. (2003). Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Vancouver: Raincoast Books.
Taylor, Peter G. (1996). Pedagogical challenges of open learning: Looking to borderline issues. In E. McWilliam & P.G. Taylor (eds) Pedagogy, Technology and the Body. New York: Peter Lang.