Getting Uncomfortable: Identity Exploration in a Multiclass Blog

• In Event: Technology Tools for Learning and Identity Development Among Teachers and Students

Abstract

Pre-service teachers enrolled in multiple sections of a foundations of education course participated in an Identity Exploration blog as part of a unit on diversity. The multi-class blog enabled students to read and comment on student-authored identity narratives with a more diverse cohort than possible within individual sections. Students’ diversity-related professional beliefs increased over the course of the project while their reported comfort levels interacting with students from racial/ethnic backgrounds different than themselves decreased. Students’ discomfort is discussed as a possible indication of student growth in identity development and a willingness to acknowledge race/ethnicity as a salient factor affecting interpersonal and educational interactions. Student evaluations of the blog assignment were very high.

Authors

• Jennifer Jill Kidd, Old Dominion University

• Rochelle Rodrigo, Old Dominion University

• Jeffrey G. Toussaint, Old Dominion University