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Office of Digital Learning & Inquiry

Welcome�

Mindfulness & Radical Listening in Digital Spaces�We will get started at 8:00am Pacific / 11:00am Eastern

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• This is a hybrid event with participants in the Wilson Media Lab at Middlebury College and others in Zoom.
• For those joining via Zoom:
• Check your microphone and web camera.
• When you are not talking, please mute your microphone.
• Use the chat tool to signal that you would like to ask a question or to comment.

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Mindfulness & Radical Listening in Digital Spaces

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Office of Digital Learning & Inquiry

Session Outline

• Introductions
• What is radical listening?
• Radical listening practice
• Strategies for radical listening in digital spaces
• Wrap up

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Introductions

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• Name, program/dept/affiliation

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• What brought you to this session?

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““Radical listening emerges from a love of humanity and a love of life - it is a praxis of celebration of the word that is yet to be, which we will create in the in between spaces of dialogue and listening” (Kincheloe, 2008).

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Framing questions

Is radical listening in digital spaces possible?

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How might we benefit from taking a radical listening approach to our engagement in our online interactions?

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What strategies might we be able to use to engage in radical listening in digital spaces?

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2.

What is Radical Listening?

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Listening Scenarios

• What does listening look/sound like in these scenarios?
• What are some ways in which the affordances of the technologies themselves constrain or enable radical listening?
• What might have been different if radical listening had occurred?

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Listening Scenarios

Lip Service Listening

“Person A constantly includes Person B in Twitter lists of people they appreciate but never engage with their ideas in specific ways, like actually quoting something they wrote” - Maha Bali

Transactional Listening

Discussion forum in a course where posts and participation is prescribed by number of posts and word count as opposed to authentic curiosity and relationships.

Polarized Listening

News or social media comment threads where civility is an uncertainty due to anonymity and unchecked community guidelines or platform conflicts of interest.

Bystander Listening

Not stepping in as an ally to people who are not being heard clearly or where voices are being silenced, letting things happen.

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What is radical listening?

• Slower, deliberate; read, digest before responding
• Contextual, element of negotiation to co-create conditions for meaningful listening and participation
• Relationship dependent, quality of connection
• If we do not have an intentional partner, reserving judgement can be difficult
• Acknowledging that radical listening may be finite, attention requires investment, suspension of judgement, there is an affective cost, need to be selective
• contextual understanding is paramount for a radical position, empathy as a condition to understanding an author

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3.

Radical listening practice

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Activity

We will pair up to briefly practice speaking and ‘radical listening.’ Each person will take role of speaker and radical listener.

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Process�1. First, we will take 1 minute to quietly consider our prompt: Tell us about a time when you or someone you know did not feel heard in a digital space. Jot down initial thoughts or ideas that come to mind.

2. Next we will pair off. Once in your pair decide who will be speaker and listener.

3. When ready, the speaker will have ~90 seconds of uninterrupted time to respond aloud to the prompt. For our purposes today, do best to track time with a timer.

4. While speaker is responding, the listener should practice mindful, non-judgmental presence, holding attention to attune to their response. Some call this practice the “warm human mirror.”

5. After first ~90 seconds, the listener will have uninterrrupted 30 seconds to paraphrase back what they heard the speaker say. E.g. “I am hearing you say X; is this what you mean?”

6. Lastly, the speaker will have a final 30 seconds to clarify or respond to what the listener reported.

7. Rinse & Repeat by reversing speaker and listener roles.

8. You will be called back to plenary to debrief and reflect in about 7-8 minutes.

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Debrief & Discussion

• What was it like to be heard uninterrupted?
• What was it like to be a listener?
• What was the quality of your interaction?
• What benefits might we find by transferring this kind of attention and practice into digital spaces? What would it mean to be heard in our digital spaces? What do we need to shift or change?

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4.

Strategies for radical listening in digital spaces

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Some Ideas...

• Tune your attentional awareness through mindfulness practices like noticing your breath or a body scan
• Notice and then try modifying your default digital behaviors by taking a defined break from less intentional thinking in digital spaces:
• employ a longer response ‘wait time’ habit before commenting or liking
• try taking a break altogether from liking things on social media (no likes, stars, or thumbs ups) and only post comments that ask curiosity-motivated questions
• Explore the affordances of Emily Wray’s RISE Model for Peer Feedback - Reflect > Inquire > Suggest > Elevate
• Practice close reading of texts
• Next time you’re in a comment thread on social media, try to be curious and ask a question, rather than stating your thoughts.
• Try incorporating listening-based discourse moves in your digital communication

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5.

Wrap up

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Framing questions

Is radical listening in digital spaces possible?

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How might we benefit from taking a radical listening approach to our engagement in our online interactions?

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What strategies might we be able to use to engage in radical listening in digital spaces?

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Reflect

• What’s your 1 big take away?

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• What are your next steps for putting radical listening into action?

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Thank you!

slides @ go/radicallistening/�

Sign up for the Digital Detox: go/digdetox/

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