This book explores the generative power of vulnerabilities facing individuals who inhabit educational spaces. We argue that vulnerability can be an asset in developing understandings of others, and in interrogating the self. Explorations of vulnerability offer a path to building empathy and creating engaged generosity within a community of dissensus. This kind of self-examination is essential in a selfie society in which democratic participation often devolves into neoliberal silos of discourse and marginalization of others who look, think, and believe differently. By vulnerability we mean the experiences that have the potential to compromise our livelihood, beliefs, values, emotional and mental states, sense of self-worth, and positioning within the Habermasian system/lifeworld as teachers and learners. We can refer to this as microvulnerability—that is, those things humans encounter in daily life that make us aware of the illusion of control. The selfie becomes an analogy for the posturing of a particular self that reinforces how one hopes to be understood by others. What are the vulnerabilities teachers and learners face? And how can we joker, as Norris calls it, the various vulnerabilities that we inherently bring into teaching and learning spaces? In light of the divisive discourses around the politics of Ferguson, Charlie Hebdo, ISIS, Ebola, Surveillance, and Immigration; vulnerability offers an entry way into exhuming the humanity necessary for a participatory democracy that is often hijacked by a selfie mentality.
Other to Other (O2O): Expanding successful engagement outside your comfort zone is written from an operational perspective. The O2O model was developed to be used with persons and contexts across a range of races, ethnicities, gender identities, ages, abilities, experiences, and environments. The four components of the O2O model: knowledge, skills, personal characteristics, and motivation, are introduced and discussed separately, with an analysis and, an incomplete list of the many knowledge, skills, and personal characteristics embedded in successful engagement with Other. Although the first three components are presented in their higher level of knowing, discussion is provided around task analysis and scaffolding of the knowledge and skills. Motivation, the fourth component, is discussed using the Value*Expectation*Cost theory. This theory is described as is the motivation necessary for successful O2O engagements. Examples applying each component in different contexts are provided. Finally, the nonlinear, developmental, intertwined, and dynamic aspects of the O2O model are described.
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