Bridging the affective gap in online classes: Teaching public memory through embodied learning

Abstract

This article offers an example of how to use embodied learning effectively in online education. The discussed assignment is designed for classes in rhetoric, visual communication, or public memory, and places pedagogical research in conversation with scholarship in visual, aesthetic, and rhetorical communication. This type of digital aesthetic pedagogy embraces the notion that ways of seeing and sensing are fundamental to the production of knowledge and subjectivity in digital spaces. Instructors who use these types of assignments can bridge what is termed the “affective gap” in online education by increasing student self-efficacy, helping students value course content, and embedding learning into their everyday lives. Course(s) Online classes in rhetorical theory, rhetorical criticism, visual communication, and public memory. Objectives By the end of this activity, students will be able to (1) describe the concept of public memory, (2) analyze the rhetoric of memory places, and (3) recognize how affective learning can increase the sense of efficacy in online courses.