Last week, while most North Texans were cooped up in their homes (whether by choice or not), Kim Knight’s (@purplekimchi) graduate Digital Textuality (EMAC 6374) class was having class as scheduled – not in the room designated, but online. The university was closed that day because of an unusually icy storm, and it would remain closed for days afterward.

The scheduled readings to be discussed were selections from Image-Music-Text by Roland Barthes, specifically sections on the structure of narrative and the death of the author. Then it came: the official notice that UTD would be closed. Kim sprang into action:

Since it was apparent no one would be able to physically (and safely) make it to any alternative meeting place that night, the choice was obvious: EMAC 6374 took it online. According to Kim, “it seemed appropriate since the class is about Digital Textuality. Could we enact, in a scholarly manner, some of the very paradigm shifts that we are studying? It seemed very appropriate with our readings on Barthes and the death of the author to use the chat structure to further remove me from the center of the classroom.”

Eventually TodaysMeet.com was chosen because there is no user limit per room and no sign-up. After an initial meet-up and check-in in a “Main” room, five other rooms were created for discussion of specific aspects of the text: Author, Medium, Characters, Adaptation, and What is Narrative. One student who had previously expressed an interest in one of the categories was assigned to each room, and the rest were encouraged to pick a few rooms to participate in. Kim explains, “In some cases these were students who don’t always get a chance to speak up in class and they did a great job of taking charge of the aspects of the text that most interested them.”

Overall, Kim was pleased with the result; “It was a little bit chaotic, but I really liked having so many active streams of discussion and the way it empowered the students to take charge of their understanding of the text. I think part of the reason it worked well is that we had met in person a few times and so there was already a bit of classroom community in place. Plus our students are comfortable with online communication.” Transcripts were saved at the end, so students who wished to review the transcripts later could do so.

It appears that even treacherous conditions can’t keep EMAC from doing what they do. But then, if EMAC can’t use emerging media to communicate effectively, who can?

Note: as an alternative to participating in this online discussion, students were offered both a scheduled meeting with Kim and others on campus and office hours to make up the class.