Failing at the help desk: performing online teacher

ABSTRACT

Performing failure presents radical opportunities for reimagining the world. Drawing from critical autoethnographic accounts, I utilize performance as a method to examine individual and structural failures in the online classroom from my perspective as a contingent faculty member. I contend that online education structurally compels teachers into “help desk” positions. Drawing from staged conspicuous aesthetic performance, I examine how these positions perpetuate systemic inequity and foreclose opportunities to engage in critical communication pedagogy. Not only is performance a meaningful way to explore and analyze pedagogical failure, but it is significant for critical communication pedagogy as a way of extending reflexive practices and devising alternative educational possibilities.

KEYWORDS:

• failure
• performance
• critical autoethnography
• critical communication pedagogy

Notes on contributor

Dr. Huber is an Assistant Professor and Director of Public Speaking in the Department of Communication at the University of South Florida. She does research at the intersections of pedagogy and performance. She would like to thank Chris McRae, Keith Berry, Deanna Dannels, and the anonymous reviewers for their feedback in the development of this essay.

Notes

1 By “individual,” I mean action attributable to a single person, whereas “institutional” refers to structural actions, expectations, procedures, or policies that are attributable to larger group, organization, or system.

2 Synchronous communication is communication that happens in real time. This means that the speaker(s) and listeners are all present to engage simultaneously. Asynchronous communication refers to communication that has a delay. For example, e-mail is asynchronous, whereas cloud-based team collaboration software, like Microsoft Teams or Zoom, is synchronous and allows for back-and-forth discussion.