Online learning is often discussed in relation to what happens on the screen of the computer, tablet, or phone, which students are accessing the learning through. This can be seen to reflect ‘Cartesian approaches that separate mind from body’ (Dourish, 2001: 189), reflective of wider education discourses in the western world. The reality is that online learning is happening in a physical place and experienced bodily as well as cognitively, our eyes get tired from computer screens and our backs sore from spending too long sitting. In this critical re-imagining we draw on research which understands learning to be a socially, culturally, and physically, situated practice. We focus on the webinar, a synchronous online teaching activity, in which geographically distributed groups of lecturers and students participate in learning activities together. We teach on an international Master of Education programme, working with diverse groups of students, and have become increasingly aware of the different physical, social, and cultural locations in which they are situated. We take the pedagogic stance that webinars should provide opportunities for collaborative learning and use two conceptual lens’ to critically examine how this can be facilitated.

We use two conceptual lens’ to examine educational practice in webinars: Mediation and Embodied Cognition. A sociocultural understanding of mediation (Wertsch, 2007) allows us to consider the ways in which digital technology enables and constrains the learning experience. For international students’ digital technology enables connection to the university and to the module content, to the lecturer and to other students. The concept of mediation enables us to examine the way digital technology frames and constrains this learning experience. Embodied cognition (Johnson, 2013, Shapiro, 2014) deepens this examination by allowing us to ‘see’ the student as an embodied individual, experiencing education from a specific place. This enables us to explore further than the boundaries of the digital technology and critically consider the physical and cultural spaces which students inhabit as they engage with online learning. When teaching live sessions on international modules different time zones, geographic areas and cultural expectations are juxtaposed. Some students may have stayed up late, while others have got up early. Students in the same webinar may be experiencing extremes of weather or very different cultural environments. It is this juxtaposition that provides the potential for rich learning in webinars but too often not all students fully participate, or even attend. Drawing on both mediation and embodied cognition we consider the experience of the webinar and then highlight the implications of this conceptual framing for practice.

The conceptual analysis we present is grounded in empirical data, collected during an action research style scoping study which tracked the development of a pedagogic intervention. Physical artefacts were introduced to webinar tasks as a means to value the knowledge structures of the students, enable collaborative practice and support the embodied experience of learning. Our reflections imply that the use of artefacts creates sensorimotor experiences which can support learning. In recognising that cognition is embodied, providing sensorimotor opportunities becomes a necessity in supporting individual learners but more than this, by sharing these activities within a group, there is further potential for broader and deeper thinking through the provision of space to ‘offload’. Offloading supports confidence and the creation of new understandings. Where students are able to sense each others’ sensorimotor activity during the use and production of artefacts, motor equivalence and ‘mirroring’ are enabled, generating empathy amongst the group and allowing students to reflect on and add to their own experiences. This suggests that consideration of the embodied experience of the student is pertinent when reflecting on the development of online pedagogy.

This is a conceptual study which draws on our own practice as lecturers on an International Master of Education programme. Drawing on the concepts of mediation (Wertsch, 2007, Vygotsky, 1987) and embodied cognition (Johnson, 2013, Shapiro, 2014) a pedagogical intervention was designed and delivered in the style of a small action research study. The module is part of an international MEd in Education which attracts students from around the world, with a variety of educational experience; professionally and culturally. Most of our students work in education in professional roles as teachers, school leaders or work-based educators. They are studying at master’s level in the Social Sciences. In the cohort on which we carried out this study we had a group of 10 students who regularly attended live webinars; these students were all experienced professionals working in a range of school settings and based in either Scotland or African countries. The module cohort was made up of 26 students, the other students watched the recorded webinars and completed the activities asynchronously. The small attendance at webinars was one of the factors which stimulated our interest in the webinar element of the module. Some students were unable to attend due to being in different time zones and some worked through the module at a different pace, taking advantage of the affordance of flexibility that online learning provides. This did not account for all students though and so we grew increasingly interested in understanding the value of the webinar element. Before proceeding with the study, we gained consent from our university ethics committee. Information was shared with students before the webinars in which data was generated. Students were given the option to have their data removed before we analysed the webinar recordings but none of the participants who attended the live sessions took this option. The intervention focused on three, out of eight, webinars which were delivered as part of a module entitled ‘Innovation in Education’. It was developed in the style of action study with three distinct research cycles. Reflections on each webinar informed the development of the next. Initial development of the intervention was informed by the conceptual framing of our analysis. All three webinars were developed to recognise the mediating role of digital technology and to acknowledge students’ embodied cognition, using physical artefacts to enhance digital engagement.

We speculate that engaging with both mediation and embodied cognition is important in understanding the experience of students as they engage with learning in webinars. Theory can be an effective tool to inform digital design and the implications of the argument presented draw attention to questions of inclusivity and internationalisation. By considering mediation and embodiment we reimagine online practice, particularly in relation to intercultural groups but also in general. The reflections on mediation highlight how technology is not neutral but reflects social and cultural practices (Baroud and Dharamski, 2020), if we are to develop effective online collaborative learning we need to consider the embodied nature of practice and engage with the diversity of international cultures. Inclusivity may include consideration of knowledge structures and power relations, and to create inclusive learning environments we may need to find new ways to value diversity. The production of physical artefacts may provide a way to do this. Acknowledging the embodied nature of learning allows us to create authentic learning spaces where the creation of artefacts provides a means to create emergence. Consideration of the lecturer and student as embodied individuals, whose participation in and with the world is mediated by tools and signs, is pertinent if education is to provide hope for the future.

Baroud, J. and Dharamshi, P., (2020), “A collaborative self-study of critical digital pedagogies in teacher education”, Studying Teacher Education, 16(2), pp.164-182. Dourish (2001), ‘Where the Action Is: The Foundations of Embodied Interaction’ MIT Press, London: England. Johnson, M. (1987), The body in the mind: The bodily basis of meaning, imagination, and reason. University of Chicago Press Shapiro, L. (Ed.) (2014), The Routledge Handbook of Embodied Cognition. Routledge. Wertsch, J. (2007), “Mediation” in The Cambridge Companion to Vygotsky ed. Daniels, Cole and Wertsch, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge Vygotsky (1987) ‘Thinking and Speech’ from ‘The Collected Works of L.S.