Μπορεί το μαθησιακό υλικό να διδάσκει; Το «Λέγειν», το «διδάσκειν» και τα όρια της τεχνητής διαλογικότητας στην εξ αποστάσεως εκπαίδευση

Abstract

This study critically examines the claim that polymorphic learning materials in distance education can serve as a complete substitute for teaching. Drawing on D. Bakhurst’s philosophical approach, particularly his distinction between “telling” (as informing) and “teaching” (as dialogical address), the study argues that teaching is not limited to the organization and transmission of content. Teaching is constituted as an interpersonal “second-person” relationship, involving responsibility, testimony, and lively dialogical response. This analysis links to G. E. M. Anscombe’s epistemology of testimony and to L. Wittgenstein’s emphasis on the primacy of trust in knowledge formation. Although instructional materials may incorporate high-quality design and support active forms of learning, they are not identical to teaching as an interpersonal second-person relationship. The study also examines contemporary objections regarding digital environments and artificial intelligence systems. It demonstrates that the capacity for dialogic response is not necessarily synonymous with teaching. Consequently, distance education cannot be limited to distributing materials. Instead, it requires designing teaching relationships if it aims to remain truly teaching, and not merely an organization and transmission of content.