Acts of articulation

The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines articulation as

• a joint or juncture between bones or cartilages in the skeleton of a vertebrate
• the action or manner of jointing or interrelating
• the act of giving utterance or expression

Articulation in medicine generally refers to joints; bones articulate with each other in different ways. For instance a hinge joint provides a linear movement such as the ulna with humerus at the elbow, while a ball and socket joint such as the femur and pelvis at the hip provides constrained movement in many directions. Perhaps this can be useful when moving from binary approaches in pedagogy to postconstructionism where multiplicity matters.

The multiple roles and perspectives in real-life events contribute to authentic classroom learning according to Herrington, Reeves, and Oliver (2010). The learning environment embraces the complexity of real-world practices rather than working in a simplified version. Another one of the nine elements that are recognized in authentic tasks is articulation in terms of the expression of thoughts and feelings.

In pedagogical practices, articulation “enable[s] tacit knowledge to be made explicit” (Herrington & Kervin 2007:3). In my project articulation seems to be a strong thread that is pulled through the practice and pedagogy and in the research. Students going into their Obstetrics rotation converse with each other during the block and in preparing for their interactive workshop. Articulation occurs across several layers of interactions. In the introductory session, students glimpse into the real world of Obstetrics in Cape Town clinics where their taken-for-granted expectations are questioned. By engaging online and face-to-face at the different stages during the rotation, students can take a standpoint or question others’ perspectives.

My role is to create a safe and supportive space to foster honest articulation. The “responsibility for learning rests with the learner” rather than the teacher (Herrington, Reeves & Oliver’s 2010:190). Recently the introduction of drawings in the classroom and in the research focus group has created a multimodal approach that is enhancing the process and leading to new insights through sociomaterialism. While articulation assists students to express their feelings and to share their difficult experiences in maternal obstetrics facilities, it also acts as a channel to vent feelings of anger, disgust and helplessness.

Images have become a tool to engage with the needs of the diversity of our students. These drawings are connecting the discursive with the material providing an alternative avenue for expression. Barad (2007:267) asserts that “matter and meaning are mutually articulated”. Barad (2007:152) explains this intertwined and co-constitutive relationship: ‘Neither discursive practices nor material phenomena are ontologically or epistemologically prior. Neither can be explained in terms of the other. Neither is reducible to the other. Neither has privileged status in determining the other. Neither is articulated or articulable in the absence of the other; matter and meaning are mutually articulated’.

In a recent focus group a student explained that a classroom invitation to draw had left her powerless. However in the new space of our focus group, a large sheet of paper with markers enabled her to enthusiastically engage with a symbolic representation of her observations from a clinical encounter where a 15 year old girl in labour was treated with disrespect.

In the image above drawn using iSketchbook on my iPad I have tried to illustrate the jointing and interrelationships that occur in the different forms of articulation.

Barad, K. 2007. Meeting the universe halfway: Quantum physics and the entanglement of

matter and meaning. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

Herrington, J & Kervin, L, Authentic learning supported by technology: 10 suggestions and cases of integration in classrooms. Educational Media International, 44(3), 219-236.

Herrington, J., Reeves, T. & Oliver, R. 2010. A guide to authentic e-learning. Routledge. London.