The Somatechnics of Emergency Online Education|

Abstract

This thesis provides an analysis of synchronous online lectures at Dutch universities during the COVID-19 pandemic, using the posthumanist, new-materialist philosophy, and two social scientific models (CoI-framework and TPACK-model). Lectures are a traditional one-to-many approach to education. Unfortunately, this approach has proven to be unconducive and restrictive to learning, both on-site and online education. Using the concept of somatechnics, this thesis highlights why this is the case. Moreover, it provides suggestions for a more somatechnically aware pedagogy for online lectures. Firstly, the dispositif of the students partaking in emergency online education will be discussed. Secondly, attention will be paid to the cybernetic processes within and between the participants, technologies, and informatters in online education. Lastly, suggestions will be provided somatechnical analytical sensitivities to consider in educational design in current online and on-site courses in HEI’s.