Education and the Economy of Attention in Times of (Post-) Pandemic

Abstract

With the Coronavirus crisis, online teaching seems to have become a norm in Higher Education. The essay argues that, although this new pedagogical practice is totally acceptable in times of social distancing, it can lead to something more radical, especially with the strong will of HE institutions to continue this mode of teaching beyond the period of crisis. The normalisation of dematerialised teaching comes as a challenge to academics: it is imbedded in a new form of economy, where attention is a key source of value and labour. The omnipresence of virtual interfaces questions the very fabric of their practice as teachers, especially in humanities, where it can lead to an intensification of the pauperization of teaching staffs, due to forced redundancy. To understand how the normalisation of online teaching after the crisis can be potentially noxious, the essay proceeds by looking at the change of agency of digital tools in teaching contexts, through the concept of pharmakon, developed by Bernard Stiegler, that offers the chance for a critique of this new pedagogical strategy which can be positive during the crisis, but potentially destructive after. This concept leads to a new criteria of judgment of the digital (mode of teaching), which has to be understood as a third way between the optimism of managerial perspectives, always keen to consider information technologies as the perfect catalyst for neo-liberal reforms in education; and the traditional technophobia, proper to a philosophical tradition that, from the Frankfurt School to Giorgio Agamben, apprehends the mediation of technology essentially as a critical regression and a modern form of rationalisation that engenders an immense social and psychic alienation.

On the digitalisation of higher education in times of the pandemic crisis: techno-philic and techno-sceptic attitudes of social science students in Crete (Greece)

“…They often discursively construct comparisons between traditional campus-based education and online learning, strongly expressing, their preference to the former. Their attitude seems to be in line with the argument that online teaching is totally acceptable in dystopic times of social distancing, but it can be potentially destructive in the post-COVID era (Bakhtiar 2020 ). It is certainly a solution of necessity, but I do not think that can replace, in any case, the lively contact and interaction both with the teacher and with the whole process of attending a class in the amphitheate r , the interaction with our classmates, the exchanging of views and the feeling that one is actively involved in the learning process.…”

“…Drawing on Citton’s analysis of education, Bakhtiar stresses two fundamental features essential to in-classroom education: the imitation of gesture, which requires that students must be able to observe and possibly repeat the instructor’s action and the need of a corporal presence that allows the affective/sensory/bodily dimension of the constitution of our individuation. Without underestimating the embodied learning dimension, the author points out the need to avoid a technophobic perspective by commenting that attention and communication is not a given natural skill that needs to be protected, but something that is composed et decomposed with interaction with other entities, human and non-humans (Bakhtiar 2020 , pp. 7–8).…”

“…Techno-enthusiastic perspectives in education tend to treat information technology as a neutral tool for expediting teaching objectives and goals and a perfect catalyst for neoliberal reforms in education, often hiding social processes, power plays and beliefs that are put into play around it (Lee 2011 , p. 514; Bakhtiar 2020 ). Scholars express skepticism and, in Foucauldian terms, problematise the digitalisation of higher education by raising questions about what we have taken for granted in the intersection of technology with education (Foucault 1984 ).…”

“…Questioning the undiscerning acceptance of the rapid digitalisation of higher education along with the normalisation of the dematerialised teaching methods in the post-COVID era, techno-sceptic approaches offer fruitful ideas for further discussion. What is important here is to avoid resorting to a traditional technophobia “that, apprehends the mediation of technology essentially as a critical regression and a modern form of r ationalisation that engenders an immense social and psychic alienation” (Bakhtiar 2020 , p. 1). Often techno-sceptic views underestimate the challenge of integral pedagogy in the digital era.…”

Whatsapp Como Recurso Didático Na Educação Superior Nas Licenciaturas De Letras E Pedagogia

“…Este estudo de cunho qualitativo propôs investigar como o WhatsApp é usado como um recurso tecnológico na educação superior, bem como entender Em outra perspectiva, os "tecnoentusiastas" da educação tendem a tratar as TICs como meios para acelerar objetivos e metas de ensino como um catalisador perfeito para reformas neoliberais na educação, muitas vezes, ocultando processos sociais, jogos de poder e crenças (LEE, 2011;BAKHTIAR, 2020). Nessa perspectiva, os pesquisadores expressam ceticismo e, em termos foucaultianos, problematizam a educação remota no ensino superior, levantando questões sobre o que tomamos como certo na intersecção da tecnologia com a educação (FOUCAULT, 1984).…”