Multimodality and the Affordances of Co-Presence for Inclusion in Higher Education

This discussion paper reflects on the affordances of face-to-face interaction and copresence in the light of increasingly digitized learning spaces in higher education. Especially in inequitable contexts, heightened dependence on digital platforms for teaching and learning can exacerbate inequalities in terms of student access and inclusion. This ‘digital divide’ (Van Dijk 2020) manifests in several ways, such as unequal access to laptops, lack of Wi-Fi, the high cost of data, and even basic issues such as quiet spaces to work. It is in this context that this paper considers the affordances of physical face-to-face environments in higher education. It looks at a range of higher education spaces and focuses on the way in which co-presence manifests in types of engagement and modes of representation. It begins by considering the affordances of the large-scale lecture. It then focuses on the way in which co-presence manifests in various types of engagement and modes of representation in various smaller-scale contexts (including design studios, service-learning courses and informal writing groups). It ends by reflecting on the function and importance of humour and laughter in face-to-face pedagogies, as well as the value of silence in co-presence. The aim here is clearly not to compare or to promote face-to-face pedagogies over online interactions, but rather to reflect on the importance of contextual factors as well as the gains and losses of different modes of engagement for teaching and learning. Through this discussion, the paper contends that opening up the semiotic space of face-to-face interaction through multimodal designs for learning can work towards inclusion and can address issues of diversity in interesting ways.