Capabilities Approach to Online Education

• In Event: 66.057 - Roundtable Session 27
  In Roundtable Session: 66.057-6 - Technology and Education: Philosophical Perspectives

Abstract

In this paper, I argue that Nussbaum’s capabilities approach to online education can help faculty, students, and administrators critically question and develop practices around what counts as best practices for online education courses. Nussbaum has been critiqued for forwarding a theory that relies on the normalization of an independent subject, and a relationship where one group of subjects has some responsibility for creating pathways toward a good life for others. These critiques are considered in this paper. However, I argue that, in spite of these critiques, Nussbaum’s capabilities approach creates a useful paradigm for further development of thinking and practice around online education.

Author

• Heather Greenhalgh-Spencer, Texas Tech University