Leveraging Online Participation Structures Toward Student Engagement With Critically Oriented, Democratic Learning

• In Event: Transformative Practices in Higher Education: Promoting Data Literacy, Collaboration, and Criticality Online

Abstract

Objectives: This paper examines the participation structures and learning outcomes of an online undergraduate education course grounded in an ethos of critical pedagogy and democratic learning. Here, participation structures (Erickson, 1982) refer to the way that the online learning experience is designed to offer students the development of critical consciousness and the co-construction of knowledge (Freire, 1970). Following Freire, critical consciousness is defined as an awareness of systems of power and the role one plays in them. The structures studied here involve students in a spectrum of participatory possibilities. From dialogic and intertextual engagement -- to the collaborative design of course modules and the facilitation of class sessions-- student participation in the course scaffolds (Bruner, 1978) their participation in society at large.
Perspective(s) or theoretical framework:
We employ Freirean notions of the co-construction of knowledge (Freire, 1970) alongside Actor-network theory (Latour, 1996) to understand how particular online participation structures (Erickson, 1982) facilitate and/or inhibit engagement and student learning in a virtual space. Specifically, we recognize parallels between ANT’s notions of distributed agency among multiple influential “actants” within learning networks and Freirean conceptions of collaborative meaning-making. That is, particular participation structures position students as agents or “actants” of individual and collective learning, i.e., critical consciousness.

Methods, techniques, or modes of inquiry; Data Sources:

This study asks: In what ways do participation structures shape student engagement and critical consciousness? Data was collected in two classes, across one semester. Critical consciousness was measured through 120 qualitative surveys, 30 co-produced digital artifacts via small group work in Zoom breakout rooms (e.g., concept maps, videos, written responses), and a sample of 30 individually-produced digital artifacts from selected weeks of the course. In addition, ethnographic field notes were collected from 60 hours of live, virtual class sessions as students participate in both asynchronous and synchronous learning activities. These sources were triangulated and analyzed using MAXQDA software to perform open-ended and focused thematic codings (Bogdan & Biklen, 2007).

Results:
Students’ participation and engagement was mediated by a complex network of course content, tools, people, artifacts, and discursive practices. Within this network, particular participation structures facilitated student engagement and critical consciousness in specific ways:
Participation structures requiring dialogical and multimodal collaboration laid the groundwork for student agency over the co-construction and application of knowledge
The “team-teach” participation structure, in particular, afforded students increased agency over the design of the course and their learning
Participation structures allowed for student contributions that informed subsequent activities, artifacts, and course discussions throughout the semester

Scientific or scholarly significance of the study or work:
This paper highlights the importance of intentional learning design in the construction of online courses, especially those geared toward fostering critical understanding of self and the world. This is especially important for serving the increasingly diverse group of students accessing online learning. Our study contributes to scholarship on best practices of participation structures, offering other institutions best practices from which to draw on as they endeavor to provide greater access to higher education for non-traditional learners.

Authors

• Christyna Serrano, Singularity University

• Sophia Sobko, University of California - Berkeley

• Sandra Jacobo, University of California - Berkeley