Abstract
The literature on space in higher education has arguably been dominated by the concept of ‘learning spaces’. In this paper, I will argue that this construct, while appearing student-focused and creative, is ideologically circumscribed by an underlying social constructivism. Following Bayne et al. (2014), I draw on science and technology studies to consider social topologies, in particular regional space, network space, and their proposed fluid space, and the work of Law and colleagues on the category of fire space, derived from Bachelard’s (The Psychoanalysis of Fire, 1964) disquisition on the nature of fire. I work with this construct in an analysis of postdigital education, in particular looking at synchronous interaction via video conferencing software such as Zoom. Linking this analysis to the work of Goffman and his concept of the lecturer selves (Goffman in Forms of Talk, 1981), I argue that the concept of fire space may allow for a more nuanced and accurate account of the flickering, contingent nature of (co) presence, absence, and alterity, allowing for a more immanent account of digital interaction in ‘distance’ or ‘online’ education.
Highlights
The literature on space in relation to postdigital higher education, and higher education more broadly, has arguably been dominated by the concept of ‘learning spaces’
I will attempt to work with this construct in an analysis of postdigital education, in particular looking at synchronous interactions via video conferencing software such as Zoom
I have argued that the construct of ‘learning space’, when applied to the physical campus, is inadequate as a theorisation of the sociomaterial complexities of student engagement, and is reproductive of a very particular discourse of performative and observable interaction, underpinned by implicit notions of Biesta’s ‘learnification’, and of the student as customer
Summary
The literature on space in relation to postdigital higher education, and higher education more broadly, has arguably been dominated by the concept of ‘learning spaces’. I will argue that the concept of fire space may allow for a more nuanced and accurate account of the flickering, contingent nature of (co) presence, absence and alterity, allowing for a more immanent account of digital interaction in ‘distance’ or ‘online’ education, in what Law and Mol characterise as ‘...patterns of conjoined alterity’ (loc cit) This will be linked to the notion of selves in terms of verbal and textual performance as Goffman sets out, and in terms of presence, absence, and alterity of the embodied self, image, representation and voice, in an attempt to extend Goffman’s analysis to address the nature of self and presence in postdigital settings. I seek to build on this work by drawing on the same set of theoretical resources, in order to relate this to questions around the complex and multifaceted nature of space and presence in digital education
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