ABSTRACT
I teach Digital Media and Cultural Studies at a small residential university in South Africa. Due to retinal degeneration, I had to progressively move away from paper documents and increasingly rely on electronic tools and resources as well as a student assistant. In this chapter, I draw on the concept of the gaze as understood within the critical tradition to reflect on my journey with a specific focus on teaching. The departing and arrival stations of such a journey are PowerPoint presentations (which students have come to expect as part of a lecture) and Zoom meetings (which have become part of our new normal as a result of emergency remote teaching). Using PowerPoint reverses the power dynamics in the classroom. Rather than each student facing the all-seeing lecturer, I am placed under scrutiny as I try to memorise my presentation and rely on my assistant to keep up with the slides and alert me of questions. In our context, virtual lectures via Zoom are audio-only due to bandwidth constraints. My screen reader notifies me when students raise their hand and tells me who they are. I can also use earphones to listen to my own notes on a second device, which I found very empowering.
