Validating the Spaces of Our Lives in Geography Education: A Response to the Pandemic

Abstract

Space is the product of spatial and social relations (Massey 2005). As educators, we are constantly moving in and out of physical or virtual spaces in classrooms. In geography education particularly, space is integral to teaching and learning. For example, students situate spatial knowledge within social contexts to make sense of geographical concepts (Wee et al. 2013). Classrooms are also spaces where knowledge production and meaning-making occur. The COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally altered these spaces and, in doing so, dramatically shifted how geography is taught and learned. While online courses were not a new instructional mode, the rapid transition to fully online and remote instruction in March 2020 meant that student learning—which largely occurred in shared spaces on a campus—had now shifted to personal spaces, surrounded by all the distractions and trappings of real life. For many of us, especially those new to online/remote learning, these spaces simultaneously served as classroom, work cubicle, and social hub, and the formerly stark partitions among academic, professional, and personal worlds dissolved. Instructors also had to cope with altered modes of instruction and consequent curricular changes from their newly homebound spaces, which often included children in need of their own instructional support and other teleworking family members. Without the commute that typically accompanies the transition among educational, professional, and social spaces, there were few opportunities for students and instructors to retool their minds in preparation for the next Zoom call. In addition, the lack of a physical classroom space confounded the notion of student connection, community, and inclusion, which is all the more important when students are struggling with isolation and potentially volatile homes. Now over two years onward, the convolution of norms in these different spaces have exacted a substantial toll on students and instructors alike. In the Department of Geography & Environmental Sciences (GES) at the University of Colorado Denver (CU Denver), we recognize the importance of not only adapting to this new instructional landscape but also validating the diverse realities that all of us face in (and out of) online/remote classrooms. For example, how do geography instructors nurture classroom communities through a computer screen, how do we engage and also support our students, and how does always being in the same “place” shape our understanding of self and the broader partitioning of our lives into work, school, and/or personal time? These questions are central to advancing an inclusive education, which we define as attending to the different spaces where teaching and learning occur and the opportunities/challenges that accompany them. Acknowledging the importance of spaces in these contexts can offer insights into how we enrich geography education for all.