Teaching in Online Classes: Social Presence from the Perspective of Michel Foucault and René Magritte

Abstract

This article qualitatively analyzes the virtual essence of online classes, showing, according to the theory of

French Discourse Analysis, the challenges to social boundaries imposed by the interference of technology. First-year

undergraduate students at a private university in Ribeirao Preto, Brazil, reported discomfort experienced in practical and

theoretical activities through the Google Classroom environment. Researchers emphasize that this results from an effort

aimed at social and emotional projection as real people in the virtual environment. The discussion involves works by

Foucault, Magritte to explain the role of language - to define the possibilities of appearance and the values of truth - in

the institutional presentation of the virtual environment: this is a classroom. The language makes a binding of the

imaginary within the school space. The malaise results from what Foucault calls image betrayal, as there is a negotiation

with the body, in order to discipline it and mold it into a virtual context, for it is not being experienced or experienced

directly. It is up to teachers and students to update the new ‘language habit’ in relation to the interweaving, in the

computer window, of living and visibility of the classroom. The awareness of the culture of deception enables to

interrogate simulations on the screen and the nature of appearances in themselves, making it possible to explore widely

the formation process of the social presence, which intermediates between computers and the human being.