"Difficult Dialogues" Online: Creating Communities of Inquiry in an Online, Asynchronous Social Justice Course

• In Event: 58.048 - Reimagining Teacher Education Programs for Equity and Social Justice

Abstract

Online education is expanding, and more education programs are offering online social justice courses. Online coursework does not allow students and instructors to engage in the face-to-face “difficult dialogues” that have been the hallmark of social justice education classes. This study examined students’ experiences in the required online social justice course in the master’s programs in the graduate school of education at a private, not-for-profit university. The mixed-method study included surveying 87 and interviewing 10 students. The interview findings were analyzed using the Community of Inquiry model (Garrison, Anderson & Archer, 2000). The findings reveal how attention to cognitive, teaching, and social presence can be used to structure the facilitation of social justice courses in the absence of face-to-face conversation.

Authors

• Corliss Brown Thompson, Northeastern University

• Shaunna Harrington, Northeastern University

• Mounira Morris, Northeastern University