Digital Affairs of Academic Teaching from Home: A Feminist Exploration

• In Event: Poster Session: Class and Inequality & Political Science Education
  In Poster Session: Poster Session: Class and Inequality

Abstract

In this qualitative narrative, I present the findings on the relationship between digital educational platforms and term faculty working from home.

Using intersectionality and standpoint theory as a framework and semi-structured interviews as the primary data collection, the findings are discussed in the context of Berlant’s (2011) notion of ‘cruel optimism’: “[a] relation … when something you desire is actually an obstacle to your flourishing” (p. 1). More specifically, the findings point to the challenges and experiences that potentially hindered the academics’ full engagement in teaching remotely from home. The findings, presented in this study offer nuanced perspectives on academic work from home with digital education platforms while acknowledging the materialist dimension of the digital work arrangements shaped by cultural and structural contexts.

To ensure digital equity in online spaces, institutions must think not only about innovations in remote learning experiences but look beyond the application of digital technology in education in order to develop an understanding of the differentiated effects of the accelerated “digital turn” (Laufer et al., 2021) on the very humans who deliver the learning experiences—the faculty.

Author

• Iwona Sadowska, Georgetown University