Freirean dialogue in a digitalised learning environment
Effective dialogue must extend beyond student-student relationships to include the teacher if they are to be brought to an ‘ever closer partnership in the naming of the world’. As students at the University of Oxford – an elite higher education institution reputed for its exclusive and often hegemonic practices – we reflect on the presence and absence of different types of pedagogical dialogues, exploring the extent to which a climate of mutual trust has been fostered over the course of a year of emergency hybrid learning. This is a dialogue between two students from quite different backgrounds – one, a middle-class white Brit (TGF) and the other, a middle-class brown woman from the majority world (MSW) – reflecting on a year where they shared the same learning spaces. As such, it is both an introspective narrative from two students and a commentary on the ways in which hybrid learning spaces are experienced by those with varying degrees of power.
“I have read and agreed to the terms and conditions”: Informed consent in the age of social media
Sri Lankan women are having fun on the internet, and Sachini Perera and I were happy to talk about it at the Imagine a Feminist Internet Conference. After studying and talking about oppression, harassment, and discrimination faced by women on the internet (and elsewhere; after all, the internet is but another manifestation of our reality) it was refreshing to be able to talk about something positive. Yet, I was uncomfortable, a voice whispering in my head that this is not right. Our work had followed established ethical protocol, and it was revealing a side of this realm that allows women to act with not just agency, but pleasure. Yet, the feeling of discomfort persists even now, forcing myself to question: do the ethics of internet research based on social media platforms sufficiently address this many-faced entity?
Minoli Wijetunga 