My last blog was about how the use of avatars might avoid bias in a classroom. If a teacher knew nothing about the demographics of the students (their ages, sexes, races, ethnicity, etc.), the interaction might tend to be more bias-free. I was talking about this idea with the Director of our department and he put a different -- and very interesting -- spin on the topic.
We were talking about how we are the type of people who can change the way we interact with others, based on who are the people we are interacting with. He suggested to me that, while this may sometimes cause a negative bias, it is also the earmark of a good teacher. A good teacher is able to respond differently to different students by responding to individual needs. This is certainly something I need to think about!
Liz
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Liz,
ReplyDeleteThere can be a negative impact in using avatars that do not accurately represent the real person: that is, others (instructors included) may end up responding to the traits of the avatar, and the actual personal needs the real learner has may go unconsidered.
- Hap Aziz
Hi Liz,
ReplyDeleteYou are correct when you stated that a good teacher is able to respond to different learning styles. Avatars can create a false bias of an individual as well.
I think I referred previously to one of your posts about a student in our class that is using Julia Roberts as her avatar. (Is that a true avatar?) Regardless, we're back to intrepreting and responding to the current bias we have based on age, sex, race, ethnicity, etc...simply based on one picture of an individual.
If we can't respond individually we might as well replace teachers with robots that just deliver the material.
Just food for thought. Thanks for an interesting post!
--Debbie
Liz,
ReplyDeleteThat's something I've never thought of either. It's true though that sometimes knowing about different cultures, changes the way you interact with people for the better. An example of this is that it is a sign of disrespect in some Asian cultures to look someone in the eye. In the American culture, we expect someone to look us in the eye (especially a student), when we are talking to them. Knowing about different cultures' beliefs and modifying our behavior accordingly can be positive. Now this example wouldn't apply to distance learning but I'm sure there are many that would.