Presence is not always in the Singular

Teaching in the virtual classroom often involves dichotomies time (synchronous - asynchronous) and space (same place - different places) but when e-learning involves a hybrid mix of students on campus and e-students on-line and the teaching is recorded in order to be watched by other students later on, the traditional dichotomy cannot capture the complex and multiplied learning topoi. Both students and teachers can be visible at many places at the same time: For instance, the teacher can be physically present on campus and virtually-physically present on the e-students’ laptops and the e-students can be at home and in the classroom (via videoconference) at the same time or in the classroom while also actively present on Facebook. On the basis of fieldwork and interviews in professional bachelor program in physiotherapy and with inspiration from symbolic interactionism and postphenomenology, this paper attempts to analyze and discuss physical and virtual presence in various e-learning designs. The paper suggests the concept of polytopic presence in order to nuance the dichotomies between same/different time and same/different place and to focus on the necessity of a didactical consideration of a presence that is not only physical and singular but also very often virtual and plural.