The World A.T. Ways

Posted By Kevin Gaugler on March 13, 2010

On March 12th I presented a plenary session at the MAALLT-SEALLT 2010 joint conference, in which I shared my thoughts on the concept of thirdspace, the university and teaching as we know it. I first began thinking about thirdness in the context of Spain’s transition from a dictatorship to a democracy and the fiction it produced from the late sixties to the early eighties. When I began my research about twelve years ago, I noticed a tendency to use theatrical space in fictional works in order to experiment with new social paradigms that often escaped the stage and disrupted the dominant order of things.

Even though I had been thinking about thirdspace in literature and culture for quite some time, not until recently did I consider the thirdspaces of the traditional university system. Institutions of higher education have typically constructed their spaces into teaching spaces (the classroom), living/studying spaces ( the dorm/the library) and community spaces such as labs, theaters and eateries.

In my session I spoke about the rich learning experience that occurs in between these spaces that are often ignored by instructors. Study abroad and internships exemplify just two of these third places. Language faculty not only encourage students to study abroad or participate in an internship, but also suggest that a student’s education remains incomplete without such experiences. In fact, one might be hard pressed to find faculty who would not agree that time abroad constitutes a more rich learning experience than classroom instruction. Since we know learning takes place in thirdspace, should we then be teaching there as well or does teaching in thirdspace inhibit learning?

In the talk I explained the process of thirdness and disruption in politics, business and education. I also provided the audience with examples of the latest disruptive technologies and ways in which a space-time shift in the role of the teacher has already produced positive learning outcomes in higher education. I make my audiovisual material available here for your consideration and I look forward to your comments and ideas about thirdness and education.

Categories: Teaching, Teaching and Learning
Tags: Gaugler, Kevin, MAALLT, SEALLT, third space