Postmodern Possibilities in Electronic Conversations

Cooper, Marilyn. “Postmodern Possibilities in Electronic Conversations.” Passions, Pedagogies, and 21st Century Technologies. Gail E. Hawisher and Cynthia L. Selfe, eds. Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, 1999. 140-60.


Marilyn Cooper’s “Postmodern Possibilities in Electronic Conversations” is a mediation on Lester Faigley’s discussion of pedagogy as it relates to “the use of electronic discussions in writing classrooms” (140). Cooper tells us that Faigley believes such a pedagogy lends itself to a postmodern pedagogy. In this article, Cooper attempts to pick up here where Faigley leaves off, suggesting that postmodern pedagogy fits well with an electronic pedagogy and that we should consider postmodern pedagogy in terms of its possibilities for the student and teacher in electronic conversations. Instead of fixating on the nihilistic (a characteristic of which postmodernism is often accused), we should focus on possibilities: “…postmodernist theory has a positive, progressive face—possibilities that open up when we jettison those things that are ‘lost’—and it is those possibilities that I want to examine as they emerge in a pedagogy that employs electronic conversations” (140). Cooper discusses not only the problems teachers encounter in electronic conversations, but also the problems students encounter and the possibility of using these as sites of opportunity for the liberation of both student and teacher, the emergence of a new, electronic pedagogy.

I find Cooper’s article incredibly enlightening and well-written. There are, however, opportunities for the incorporation of more research (especially empirical) and additional information on practical application. In terms of the enlightening aspects of Cooper’s text, I find most useful the revelation that electronic conversations in the classroom (whether an online classroom or a web-enhanced classroom) necessarily shift and alter the dynamic of teacher and student in a way that is at once postmodern and consistent with collaborative, feminist, critical, and social-epistemic pedagogies. As a feminist, collaborative, and social-epistemic pedagogue, I look for ways to approach the teacher/student binary in a way that is, well, less binary. It is difficult in any type of classroom, online or on-ground, to de-center oneself as an authority figure, but, I many ways, the dynamics of the student-teacher relationship are skewed in favor of the teacher, compromising the authenticity of student communications with all members of the class. This is problematic and seemingly impossible to rectify, particularly as female instructors are on shakier ground when it comes to the question of authority. Cooper’s article allows me to see that in electronic conversations, teachers are automatically de-centered as authority figures, their roles taking on a more postmodern position virtually independent of their own actions, something I find exciting. While Cooper’s discussion of the roles of teachers and students in this article is very insightful and persuasive, I would be interested to see more statistics related to this shift. The essay is highly theoretical and is arguably a pedagogical as well. For these reasons, I would appreciate more pragmatic discussion of applicable assignments that support electronic pedagogy. I am very interested in the notion of electronic pedagogy and look forward to exploring and hopefully contributing to this discussion.