Dialogical Process: Critical Dialogue and Creative Process via the Internet

Abstract:

Critical thinking in art education often occurs as authoritarian pedagogy, with teachers neglecting open-ended dialogue (Duncum, 2008). Strong arguments have been made already regarding critical pedagogy (Ellsworth, 1989; Cary, 2007), particularly how dialogue can create an illusion of equality between teacher and students. This paper argues for art educators to adopt a Bakhtinian understanding of dialogue in which the self is thought to emerge within dialogue; a pedagogy that embraces incompleteness and a non-linear creative process. I will address the notion of planned enculturation and the need for teachers to allow their own subjectivity to emerge in the dialogical process (Osberg & Biesta, 2008). Central to this paper will be a proposal for online forums, and other decentralized web-based technologies, as a place/space for dialogue and artistic process. Examples will be shown in which this theory has been applied to foundation level courses at the university level. 

Cary, L. J. (2006). Curriculum spaces: Discourse, postmodern theory and educational research. New York: Peter Lang.

Duncum, P. (2008). Thinking critically about critical thinking: Towards a post-critical dialogic pedagogy for popular visual culture.

International Journal of Education through Art, 4(3), 247-257.

Ellsworth, E. (1998) Why Doesn’t This Feel Empowering? Working Through the Repressive Myths of Critical Pedagogy.

Harvard Educational Review, 59(3), 297-323.

Osberg, D. & Biesta, G. (2008). The emergent curriculum: Navigating a complex course between unguided learning and

planned enculturation. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 40(3), 313-328.