The impact of somatic qualities on student learning
01-03-2024
At the end of February, Anne Marleen Olthof, lecturer-researcher at the Digital Life lectorate (FDMCI, HvA), was Liz Wientjes' guest in the studio. Liz is an embodied teacher & facilitator, makes podcasts called 'The Embodied Educator' and is a somatic coach.
An account of the conversation Liz had with Anne Marleen then appeared on LinkedIn. She described it as follows:
'Embodied Educator' and researcher Anne Marleen Olthof takes us into the world of opera music and dance (danceable) in this interview. What if we also approached the classroom as a performative space?"
What if we also approached the classroom as a performative space?
With her PhD research, this 'multipassionate' driven and sensitive teacher looks at the impact of somatic qualities (= internal world of experience) and musical qualities (= external world experience conveyed) on the learning process of students. 'With this, you stay away from labels and judgements.'
'I see the human body as an experience at all times, and what you design (from AI, UX, VR) is a relationship with technology at all times. For that, you have to get outside the traditional bus setup, and let students experience more, hence that performative space.'
'For that, you have to get outside the traditional bus setup, and let students experience more, hence that performative space.
'That deep love for hardware,' says Anne Marleen, 'comes from growing up with a father in a wheelchair; and that wheelchair is actually hardware too'. Which is why she always experienced a certain familiarity with working in tech with teaching VR/ AI/ UX classes.
After all those years in teaching practice and the death of her father, Anne Marleen noticed that, on the one hand, students are taught to design from environment and user (or human) interaction. On the other hand, it still remains a kind of dance around the user of the technology. And that is exactly why Anne Marleen started doing #Danceable, to create a felt-sense-experience of what it is like to DANCE WITH HARDWARE or in other words dance with a disability and without judgements. And I thank her for bringing this deeper view of inclusivity into our education system.
Liz: 'And what I recognise and love is how Anne Marleen brings worlds -that are initially far apart- together so beautifully in her PhD and classes. To then create new playing fields for education.'
'It takes guts, courage and passion to explore and expose new territory! Especially because it is still unknown and raises questions, concerns and doubts. From the Embodied Educator, I recognise that search for: 'when is it time to come out?' and 'where can I land this?', continues Liz.
Together Anne Marleen and Liz searched for appropriate words and connections in their conversation. With great admiration and respect, she then shared this interview on LinkedIn to bring Anne Marleen's take on #EmbodiedDesign to the world.