This article detailed the experiences of Leeann Hunter, a professor at Washington State University. She studied the role that nonverbal learning can play in a classroom, and how students have been conditioned to not engage in class because of a variety of societal factors. In modern day, many students stare at their laptop screens instead of focusing on the professor during class. At the same time, other students stare blankly at the professor, and do not engage with the lesson. Hunter goes into depth at her own experience with a nonverbal lesson.
To be more specific, this nonverbal communication is purely with our bodies. ASL would fall under this type of communication, but not signed letters. You would be surprised how intuitively people can use gestures and familiar situations to convey an idea. Hunter incorporated many nonverbal lessons into her curriculum. Students would exchange gifts and photographs in one lesson.
Her students also adapted nonverbal practices into their projects. For one advertisement, a student incorporated facial expressions in place of text. This helped with the natural flow of the advertisement’s comedy. In another lesson, Hunter compared a computer to our lives as people. While computers are limited to the expression of the 1’s and 0’s, people are not limited to this same plane. Instead, we exist between the 1’s 0’s. Students learn how to appreciate human difference when we engage with each other in the same classroom.
Hunter, Leeann. “The Embodied Classroom: Deaf Gain in Multimodal Composition and Digital Studies.” The Journal of Interactive Technology and Pedagogy, Washington State University, 17 Dec. 2015, jitp.commons.gc.cuny.edu/the-embodied-classroom-deaf-gain-in-multimodal-composition-and-digital-studies/.