Today I’m curious about teaching methods in this new world in which we live. As I mentioned in previous posts, I’m teaching a course about the “body” with my philosopher friend Andy. We’ve been working through Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenology of Perception in the class. Before COVID-19 shut down our campus, we had plans to finish up with the book before moving on to other texts. The idea was to show how the insights in the book might be applied to say, short fiction or different historical texts.
Maurice Merleau-Ponty
But the move to online instruction forced us to scrap those broad ambitions. Instead, we scaled things back because we realized how difficult reasonably responsible online teaching could be. I have newfound respect for what people do in these formats for a few reasons. First, designing a course on these lines requires genuine facility with different kinds of media, and courseware can be tricky. I do have a courseware presence in all my courses anyway, but this new reality is remarkably challenging. When students aren’t in front of you and you can’t gauge their reactions to what goes on, figuring out how to respond to things like discussion boards while still reaching them poses new problems.
There’s an honesty in keeping up with what students do online, but it’s a vastly different way of being-in-the-world, especially when classroom discussion occupies so much of what makes up a course about a pretty involved text like The Phenomenology of Perception.
Our “solution,” which developed on-the-fly somewhat as we got into this new world of teaching, has been to post podcasts or videos where we talk about the text. Initially, we had them do online discussion boards only to post audio or video for them at the end of the week. Then we tried something else, which we’re doing now, which is post audio or video where Andy I and talk about the section of the book according to the discussion questions we’ve formulated. Then, at the end of the week, one of us (we divide the labor) then posts another video where we deal directly with the content of the discussions that transpired online. So, video to start, students read and discuss the questions, then another video about the questions and problems raised in the discussion for the week.
“Zoom” of course, now has a cultural significance and significations of a kind no one could have anticipated, so I shudder to do this (God, not another “Zoom”) but here’s one on “Temporality” that we recently did, which is the second-to-last chapter in Merleau-Ponty’s text. This is just part of it, because, well, that’s enough for anybody, even if I suspect some of us find this kind of discussion enjoyable to listen to. I tried to get the video uploaded, but the server didn’t play ball, so my apologies for the audio quality.
We’re getting better at the format, so it’s a little looser for us. In this chapter on “Temporality” Merleau-Ponty ties many of the consistent themes in the book together. I think what he have here speaks for itself. It also connects with my previous posts on this book in interesting ways. Once things slow down a little (it’s remarkable how busy this has made so many of us), I’ll get back to my work on William James and his father considered through the insights of this text.
So, make these biscuits, eat some, and the listen to the philosophy: (my colleague Sue in the English Department is doing easy recipes for students under these conditions). So, biscuits, then philosophy. It’s a good order.
One Thought on this Post
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It can’t hurt to have a few biscuits with your philosophy! That said, I usually need some milk or coffee with my biscuits, even when they’re not dry. But maybe you’re saying that philosophy is the lubrication we all need? …I digress.
I love your idea of doing something of a podcast to help generate discussion (or maybe you were saying that your podcast was offered in place of poor discussion?). Anyway, I’ve found that I have to do *something* to catalyze discussion. Zoom only helps with engagement, I think, when students allow their cameras to engage. Most don’t. I’m sort of surprised at how camera-shy my students are. Anyway, if the students are not using the technology to its fullest capacity, Zoom won’t save us in higher ed with any approximation of what we’ve lost courtesy of stay-at-home orders.
As I’ve slowly and haltingly and begrudgingly allowed myself to engage the literature about online learning, I think there’s been a fetishization of synchronization that has harmed us. Zoom is a friend to the sychronized teaching crowd, but in a pandemic we need fewer time-schedule pressures and hence more *asynchronous* teaching. So if I’m teaching in the fall, I’m going to set up more discussion boards and other means of garnering discussion and participation.
Finally, your aside about our time losses and pressures is deeply felt here. I’ve been *so* busy the spring—exhaustingly “engaged” in constructing contingent structures to control the damage. We’ve been teaching under duress, and hence our students have been “learning” under circumstances that are far from the ideal. I suspect both teachers and learners will be making big adjustments this summer for the fall.
Thanks for this thoughtful piece. As you can see, it got my writing juices flowing. – TL