Enforced independence: The responsibility, ethics, and architecture

I have felt this deep-seated academic guilt about only participating on the surface level in this course. And of course as I write this I receive a link to a feedback form for #rhiz14 where the first question is “how engaged are you?” (Big brother is watching).  But even though this week’s topic is about enforcing independence, there is still some part of me (damn you residual grad school angst, shakes fist) that says independence is not anarchy, you have to do the #rhizo14 work you are supposed to do Dr. G.

Furthermore Dr. G has been reflecting on her level of engagement when she does engage with course material. There has been a lot of talk and some blogs about the use of terms and definitions. What is a rhizome? Are we only scratching the surface? See this great blog by @telliowkuwp here: 

This promises to be a bit of long post in my attempt to get past the surface and truly engage so I hope you all bear with me. I will even include sub-titles but I promise it all fits together as the rhizome should.

Enforced independence and Pedagogical Responsibility

  I really strive to give my students space to have independence of thought in class. I actively let them know that what they discuss, do, think in relation to the course material (this semester I am teaching a college diploma level women’s literature course, as I have done for many semesters now, and it is wonderful!) is fair game- as long as they are respectful of each other.  However, old habits die hard and students often look to the instructor for what they should do or think. Responsibility is two-fold. I want them to be responsible for their education, I always bring up lemmings in class. I tell them not to be lemmings, don’t wear UGGs, don’t wear pants that say “juicy” on the rear. Strive to be original. And most of them do yet some of them are genuinely scared of this concept. Following the leader is so much easier.  

The second part of this responsibility lies with me. I need to actively enforce that independence in my students. It isn’t easy and it manifests itself in many ways. I think saying “no” when they ask for help is not the way to enforce independence. It has the opposite effect of alienating them from the learning process and the classroom space (in-class or online).  My role is to guide them to independence. It is through that guiding process that enforcement can be achieved. Lead a horse to water…etc. I have already written about this previously here.  If you equip students with the tools to succeed and be independent learners then enforcement happens naturally, like a rhizome.  I know self-assessment is a tool many instructors use to enforce independence but I really struggle with how that would fit in my classroom. I often think this is a student demographic thing, but my ideas on this are not completely fleshed out.

Enforced Independence and Ethical/Civic Responsibility

What I do know is that I have an ethical and civic responsibility to foster independent thinking and learning as an educator. Why? Because these student are going to be the leaders of tomorrow and we need leaders who can think for themselves. If students are incapable of independence now, it is very unlikely they will magically gain this skill set in the next few years. If we do not do this the result is again have this sort of rhizomatic trickle-down effect where in any workplace 5% of the employees do 90% of the work because the other 95% lack the work ethic, critical and independent thought to get stuff done.  I want to go bed with a clear conscience knowing I have done my best to impart the skills and give the support these students needed in order to succeed and not be a weight on any system.

Where We Work: Can I be Independent in a Collaborative Space

Today a tangential but very much related thought came to mind in relation to this. This thought had to do with the architecture of our learning and working places (brought about by my Tumblr found here). All new places of learning are being built to foster collaboration, communication. Walls are literally being torn down so students can sit in open “commons” type areas and thus be common together I suppose. But what does this architecture do for the idea of independence? Can we find enforced independence in open spaces?

What about where we work? Those of us in administration tend to live or die productively by the layout of our offices. Where does the program assistant sit? Can I easily speak to the chair or the dean? We want to have the veneer of open availability when the students come into the office and want to speak to us, but what does that do for independent work? And at the same time do traditional work spaces actually enforce the possibility for 95% of the people to shun their work responsibilities- giving someone the space to hide behind a door and 4 walls? Do open collaborative spaces create a paradox of sorts by discouraging independent work in an educational environment while simultaneously encouraging independent work and responsibility in other work environments? As with the rhizome, everything is always already connected.