Soundscaping Learning Spaces: Online Synchronicity and Composing Multiple Sonic Worlds

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic has occasioned many epistemic shifts in our lives and work practices, not the least of which has changed the contours of the field of education and learning. While this special issue explores constructions of the postdigital in relation to learning spaces my focus will be exclusively on ‘soundscaping’ nonverbal sounds. Nonverbal sound may include any category of sound removed from speech or lyrics, such as the sound of a voice, instrumental music, or the beeps, buzzes, screams, and silences of human, animal, machine, object, or environmental sound. Soundscaping will refer to intentionally ‘planting,’ designing, or intervening within a landscape of sound. By returning to a framework for evaluating physical classroom spaces, I consider here how planting sound within synchronous video meetings for online learners can offer productive potentials. Furthermore, I argue that to overly rely on the ‘mute’ button or ignore those productive potentials is not only a missed opportunity, but could unintentionally do harm to learners. Finally, I offer some concrete suggestions for ‘planting’ nonverbal sound.