Pedagogies That Offer Presence

Especially today, “The hypermediated self is a network of affiliations, which are constantly shifting. It is the self of newsgroups and email, which may sometimes threaten to overwhelm the user by their sheer numbers but do not exactly immerse her” (Remediation 231). Though the sense of remediation and hypermediation of self has remediated over the past decade—especially with the influence of Web 2.0—its essence remains: Instructors and students alike continue to realize new selves in the many ways remediation in technology offers outlets for personal remediation. The phrase “discovering oneself” has been remediated to hold a more sophisticated, faster evolving meaning. The terms World Wide Web and Internet have always suggested a connectedness capable of spreading to every wired corner of the world. By connecting servers and computers we are also connecting our still-remediating selves. As educators in this connected digital age we must offer students the chance to remediate identity via classroom pedagogy; with every intention that this identity will filter its way into life outside the classroom. Though it is not our duty to hold a student’s hand until he realizes who he is, we should accept the responsibility that through our pedagogies that pay attention to technology we have an opportunity to afford him a newfound, remediated sense of presence.