My second year of teaching I was observed teaching my first English 90 class. The class went well—students were engaged, and we had a great class conversation. The class was loud and active, and I was glad—to me it’s a sign of a good day. My observation letter was largely positive, but the veteran instructor noted that in one of the groups, she witnessed the men dominating the conversation while the two women remained fairly quiet. She recommended that I pay attention to these dynamics in the future, so I would be sure to provide equal opportunity for the women to participate. As young as I was in my teaching, I was not ready to wrap my head around that suggestion. At that point, what I didn’t know about teaching far outweighed what I did know—as it does now. I had spent a great deal of time contemplating gender issues, but I had relegated those to a concern about my gender as the instructor. I hadn’t begun to consider the gender dynamics of the class itself. Not that it’s any breaking news that men tend to dominate conversations, but it is breaking news to me that I need to consider ONE MORE THING. I’m afraid of all of the things I’m not considering. This has been one issue that has irked me since—how can I provide adequate opportunity to all of my students (especially when some of them don’t want it)? Well, here it is folks, in honor of launching my first online class today, here’s an article about gender issues and online learning:
Article 11:
Sullivan, Patrick. “Gender and the Online Classroom.” TETYC 26.4 (1999): 361-371. Print.
As I said earlier, it’s no surprise that men often dominate classrooms, as their testosterone, or armpit hair, or Adam’s apples make them. Sullivan remarks that many online teachers praised the level field that online classes offer (or at least seem to). Sullivan warns against this—there are still ways for women and minorities to be marginalized and silenced online. Sullivan admits, though, that there’s certainly the possibility of a more-level field, but it requires great effort on the instructor’s part.
Before I move on to the rest of the article, let’s first discuss the levelness of the online field. I think it’s changing, and perhaps not in a good way. Sullivan’s article came out in 1999 (and, wow—an article about online teaching that long ago—awesome!). All communication at that point would take place in written form, and it can be easy for a skilled writer to hide their identity behind their words. I hide behind mine all the time (I can be super tall and super scary in writing, when I want to be). The technology I’m using in my online class does not allow me to hide, and I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not. I’m using videos that I do voice-overs on, and my voice gives a lot away about me. I’ve decided to embrace that—the benefit of the technology outweighs my need/want to hide. I wonder how hidden my students feel. The online environment offers some anonymity, sometimes too much (case in point: online cajones, when people instantly grow a pair as soon as they log on, leading to being outright jerks). Many students take online classes because they prefer the anonymity of it. I wonder how technology will change all of that. Now back to the article…
Sullivan offers 6 key design features that instructors should incorporate in their online classes to help provide equal opportunity for all. Twelve years after this article was written, the information is not revelatory—but in 1999, I’m sure it was. Sullivan also describes the need to teach netiquette—something we do in our online classes (my students are reading an article about it tomorrow, actually!).
While I didn’t learn anything new from this article, it did bring my awareness back around to this issue—the same as my teaching observation a few years back. If one thing is for certain, gender differences have always influenced our classes, and this is no different online—we need to be aware and work towards equal-opportunity classes. So, again, it’s ONE MORE THING to think about.
Okay, it’s time for me to get back to my online class. First day is going well, so far! I’m sure I’ll prattle on about it more in the upcoming days.
mk
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