I think it may be fair to say that, like many, I found Block 3: Cyborg learners – critical perspectives on digital culture to be the toughest of all the blocks and the one I least enjoyed. I think I find the whole idea of cyborgs and the posthuman to be a bit, well, silly.

Week 8: 9 November – cyborgs and the posthuman

There’s a 10-day period of inactivity at the start of this block. In part, it was work-related (lots going on) but also I think I was guilty of a certain amount of reading avoidance and a certain reluctance to properly engage with the content.

Unlike Blocks 1 and 2, there was no requirement to produce something – other than reflections on the set readings. I felt this led to a blunting of intellectual appetite. There was something about the tasks in the earlier two blocks – a visual artefact and a study of virtual community – that brought the theory to life. In contrast, the theory in Block 3 felt rather disconnected. I also felt a bit disconnected from my fellow students (ok, this is partly about the ten-day vacation) but think that not having a task to share with others may have had a role to play.

Week 9: 16 November – cyborgs and the posthuman

By the 19th November, I’ve returned to the course and blogging about my resistance to the idea of the posthuman. I’m easing my way into readings I want to leave unread by starting with those that take a critical position on the posthuman (I am drawn to Muri). However, Shields turns me on to Haraway and, having read Haraway I’m totally blown away. I still feel unsure where this block is taking me conceptually. Where does Haraway fit for example?  I’m much less interested in the posthuman than what cyberspace means for the development of ‘oppositional consciousness’ and new forms of affinity that are no longer based on fixed notions of identity (e.g. class, race, gender).

Week 10: 23 November – cyborg pedagogy

This week seemed to be mainly filled with reflections on Sian’s paper on uncanny pedagogy. As with Kress and Prezi, I find myself not agreeing with Sian’s position but learn a lot while articulating why. I come away from this block with less of a feeling of acheivement and engagement than with Blocks 1 and 2 though.