Two of the articles below make a case for androgyny as an ideal for education and training. The ability to be androgynous in an online environment removes any bias from the instructor and frees the student from any self-limitation based on their own gender expectations. SL gives learners an opportunity to change their gender or choose and avatar identity that is gender-neutral, but there are still gender differences among other students. Students seem tied to their avatar’s gender and some of the expectaions people have for that gender. So, I don’t believe SL is truly androgynous. However, the fact that anyone can look like any gender does seem to buffer any bias. For example you are less likely to attribute stereotypical behaviors to SL avatars because in the back of your mind you know there’s a chance that the avatar’s gender does not reflect the students gender. This is an advantage and I believe it may transcend the SL environment once people start recognizing someones appearance as a skin vs the sum of their thoughts and contributions.
Gibbons, H. & Wentworth, G. (2001). Andrological and pedagogical training differences for online instructors. Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, Volume IV, Number III. As retrieved from http://www.emich.edu/cfid/PDFs/Andrological-Pedagogical-Training.pdf.
Creating Social Presence in Online Environments. Steven R. Aragon; from New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, Winter, 2003http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/106566818/PDFSTART
1 response so far ↓
1
Lisa
// Nov 3, 2007 at 11:35 am
I think you may have a misunderstanding of androgogy (not the same as androgony!). Taken from the article you cited:
“Pedagogy describes the traditional instructional approach based on teacher-directed learning theory. Androgogy describes the approach based on self-directed learning theory.”
Although one of our weeks, Sarah Robbins did discuss the implications of appearance, androgogy is the study of adult learning theory, and not necessarily related to appearance.
Leave a Comment