Digital Spaces and Physical Places
When we use digital devices, we use our senses, we physically interact with them…
The internet is a material thing. It uses lots of energy; data centres require cooling and digital devices make use of finite resources. Digital learning is also a physical experience, that uses material things. When we use digital devices, we use our senses, we physically interact with them. Our eyes get tired and often our backs hunch. The physical place we are in influences our participation and interaction. Digital learning is a physical as well as cognitive experience. It’s also emotional but we’ll come to that in another post.
As part of a small research study last year we developed a set of webinar activities which involved students making things; they were given free reign to be creative, using what they had to hand. The thinking behind this was that we wanted to utilise the physical space students were in, connect the online aspect of learning with the context they were joining from. The physical objects they made connected what was on the screen with what was in the room, or space, they were joining the webinar from. As we examined theoretical concepts students created collages, models, diagrams, poems and even a song, to articulate their learning. What we found was that this connected the concepts to their own professional experiences. It supported reflection by moving the learning off the screen and into the physical environment. Now, this was a very small study and requires more work but the idea of considering the physical environment, as well as the digital, is important for digital learning.
When teaching online we need consider where our participants are, the physical spaces they are connecting from, whether they are on a phone, a tablet or a laptop. How is their interaction with the content, with the facilitator, with their peers, influenced by the physical space they are in, how can we use that physical space to support the learning? The same considerations are true of working online, facilitating meetings or setting expectations for workers. The physical spaces we are in matter. The experience of digital learning – or work – goes well beyond the screen, it happens in a physical place.