Tweeting from the Tower - Exploring the Role of Critical Educators in the Digital Age

Oct 15, 2026

New developments in digital technologies have reshaped public education and intensified tensions around how critical pedagogy functions in digital scholarship. The paper argues that many of these technologies, and the pedagogies they enable, tend to neutralize the embodied presence of gender, race, and sexuality within dialogue. By examining social media and online engagement, it identifies limits on dialogue and humanization while outlining conditions for critical educators’ public scholarship.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages15

Reading Time38 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Beyond a Tool: Technology as an Axis of Power

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| Tweeting from the Tower: Exploring the Role of Critical Educators in the Digital Age | | --- | --- | Morgan Anderson, The University of Northern Iowa Gabriel Keehn, Independent Scholar Abstract New developments in digital technologies have caused dramatic shifts in public education. The purpose of this paper is to address these tensions in order to explore the compatibility of critical pedagogy with digital scholarship. We ultimately argue that many of these new technologies, and the pedagogies they give rise to, tend to neutralize the corporeal presence of gender, race, and sexuality, among other identities that are integral to fostering dialogue that supports the process of critical inquiry and humanization. Keywords: educational technology, critical pedagogy, social media, higher education Introduction The proliferation of digital technologies, particularly social media, has in recent years dramatically shifted the landscape of public discourse. Platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have, as is commonly argued, democratized public discourse by increasing the plurality of voices on a range of political issues through online “discussions.” Setting aside issues of parity in digital infrastructure and access to the Internet, such platforms have indeed widened the arena of public discourse. These changes in the technological landscape, however, have given rise to new challenges for scholars working in critical traditions, particularly critical pedagogy. As both a philosophical and pedagogical school of thought, critical pedagogy vehemently rejects the “ivory tower” approach to academia, instead favoring “problem posing” alongside and with students toward the aim of social justice. With regard to rejecting the traditional power structure embedded in the student/teacher dichotomy through the promotion of critical dialogue, the structure of social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter seem, prima facie to offer unique possibilities for academics working in the tradition of critical pedagogy to perhaps, more conveniently, engage in the type of “public scholarship” that has been encouraged by those such as Henry Giroux (Giroux, 2011), Peter McLaren (McLaren, 1998), and bell hooks (hooks, 1994) . Particularly for educators, the ability to engage across multiple platforms on a variety of issues with individuals other than formal students, often in real time, arguably opens up the possibility for public scholarship in away not previously imagined by the forbears of critical pedagogy by allowing for any individual with an Internet connection to “plug into” public discourse. Recently, however, cultural theorists have pointed out that social media platforms frequently result in increased polarization and division between users, rather than a deepened sense of understanding between interlocutors (Bilton, 2014) . Recent studies have even indicated that online interactions can decrease empathy for others’ viewpoints, allowing users to dehumanize those with whom they are engaging online (Lohmann, 2010). This may be perhaps most apparent in our contemporary political discourse, and the vitriolic turn on platforms such as Facebook and Twitter leading up to and since the 2016 presidential election. If the purpose of academics engaging in this sort of “digital scholarship” is similar to the aim of most critical classrooms—to carve out the space for meaningful dialogue in order to forge new understandings for the aim of cultivating agents of change—then we argue that online platforms pose several key limitations for engaging in digital critical pedagogy. Namely, we argue that several key tenets of critical pedagogy, namely dialogue and humanization, are meaningfully compromised on digital platforms. In order to engage with other papers across this special issue by exploring the question “to what extent professors and instructors should engage in public scholarship across digital platforms,” we argue that clearly c

FAQs

What tension does the paper address about critical pedagogy and digital scholarship?

It examines whether critical pedagogy is compatible with digital scholarship, given that digital technologies reshape educational and public-discourse dynamics.

How do the authors describe the effect of many digital technologies on identity and dialogue?

They argue these technologies and their pedagogies often neutralize the corporeal presence of gender, race, and sexuality, which are essential for supporting critical inquiry and humanization.

What do the authors propose about the value of critical educators’ work?

They assert that the most valuable work remains embodied, sustained, and executed IRL (in real life), even as scholars consider digital engagement.

Oct 15, 2026

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