Unlocked and exposed looks at digital security concerns and how they impact the quality of online classroom communication. How can alternative education providers respond to online classrooms where surveillance and oppression are constant concerns?
By Nyan-Na, Maung Lwan-Wai, Hsay Sann
MYANMAR DIGITAL RESEARCH 04
Abstract
This research discusses how digital security concerns related to Myanmar’s authoritarian regime impact on the quality of online classroom communication in alternative education institutions, and how these institutions have responded. Under the threat of digital surveillance by the State Administration Council (SAC), classroom stakeholders inevitably bear the burden of the most common digital safety practice—a lack of visual interactions in the online classroom as students turn their webcams off and conceal their real identities. Classroom stakeholders therefore must find substitute methods to communicate in the place
of visual interactions. This research explores this situation and provides suggestions for how classroom stakeholders affected by the SAC’s digital security threats can continue to enhance students’ learning experiences.
Keywords: digital surveillance, classroom communication, classroom interaction, alternative education institutions, continuous education.
This Myanmar Digital Research paper was produced for the Knowledge for Democracy Myanmar (K4DM) initiative, with the aid of a grant from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), and with support from The SecDev Foundation. Views expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of either organization.
Over the next two years, twenty papers in the Myanmar Digital Research series will have researchers within and in the Myanmar diaspora exploring how the digital world is shaping their social, political and economic crisis, bringing new insights into issues facing Myanmar citizens. See below for others available now.