Presence in the Online World: A Contemplative Perspective and Practice Guide for Educators

(Hardback)

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Presence in the Online World: A Contemplative Perspective and Practice Guide for Educators is an edited collection that addresses the question of how we can bring the insights of contemplative pedagogy into the space of online learning. While the digital space can be one of distraction and disconnection, contemplative pedagogy offers time-honored practices that focus on cultivating mindful presence, awareness, transformative growth, and deep connection. These practices can help learners and educators tune into both their inner and outer worlds at a variety of levels: emotional, physical, intellectual, and spiritual. The volumes contributors, who come from diverse disciplines, offer their reflections on their experiences bringing the contemplative and the online together during the tumultuous pandemic years of emergency remote, blended, and online teaching. They provide both practical guidance in introducing contemplative practices in the online or blended classroom and insights into the meaning of presence and the possibilities for deep connection in an online world. Together, their contributions demonstrate how students and teachers can cultivate a holistic presence with each other and to their shared human conditions as they navigate the virtual classroom.

Reviews

In the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic there has been continued growth in blended and online learning. Unfortunately, many students report a sense of isolation and anxiety in these types of courses and programs. This book provides timely strategies and advice for how to be present in the online environment. I highly recommend this book for anyone involved with online courses such as learners, educators, and administrators. -- Norman Vaughan, Professor, Department of Education, Mount Royal University
This important volume offers much-needed guidance for those teaching in online environments. In the face of the many challenges these environments present, not least the potential for distraction and disconnection, the authors offer practical methods and theoretical insights to help both instructors and students cultivate more mindful, embodied, and heartfelt engagement with themselves, with others, with the content they are exploring, and with today's great existential challenges. -- David Levy, Professor, Information School, University of Washington

Author Bio

Leslie Ann Jeffrey is professor of Political science at the University of New Brunswick Saint John. She specializes in human rights, gender politics and Global North/South relations.

Agnieszka (Aga) Palalas is associate professor of open, digital, and distance education (ODDE) at Athabasca University and Director of the MEd and EdD Programs.

Karen Robert is associate professor of history at St. Thomas University, where she teaches courses on Latin American history, world history, research methods, and global automobility

Yuk-Lin Renita Wong is professor at the School of Social Work at York University.