Accepting Responsibility and Collaborating with Stakeholders to Challenge the Post-Truth Narrative for the Public Good: An E-Learning Example

• In Event: Cyberschooling and Social Isolation: New Literacy Opportunities for Vulnerable Populations

Abstract

Purpose

In the year leading up to the pandemic’s impact on K-12 education, e-learning had become a contentious political issue in the popular media and on social media within Ontario. In recent years, approximately 5% of secondary students enrolled in an e-learning course in Ontario (Author 2, 2019; Kapoor, 2019). Many within the education system and much of the general public were simply ignorant when it came to e-learning. Ignorance led to outright misinformation and discredited myths, pitting e-learning against classroom-based learning. We will explore the state of e-learning in Ontario at that time, and examine the actual, relevant research about e-learning.

Perspective

The 2019 annual meeting call for proposals defined post-truth as when “objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief” (Holme & Scott, 2018, p. 1). The Government of Ontario announced a major reform of education for that province entitled Education that Works for You – Modernizing Classrooms, weeks before that annual meeting was held in Toronto, Ontario (Government of Ontario, 2019a; 2019b). The proposal called for a centralization of K-12 e-learning (online learning), a graduation requirement of four – later two – e-learning courses, and an increase in e-learning class size limit to 35 students. This announcement set off a year long conflict between the government and teachers, as well as the unions that represented them and the parents that supported them – with the truth being lost.

Modes of Inquiry

There were three e-learning issues raised as a part of the Government of Ontario’s proposal. The authors began by exploring the existing Government document associated with each change. This exploration was followed by a systematic review of the K-12 distance, online, and blended learning literature, with a focus on empirical research, related to each change.

Point of View

The 2021 annual meeting call for proposals underscores the importance for educational scholars to accept the responsibility to engage in public discourse, particularly in instances where their research-based and nuanced understanding of a topic could empower citizens to engaged each other in a more informed ways (Patton Davis, Jenkins, & Soodjinda, 2020). As scholars, we felt it was our responsibility to present an alternative narrative that was supported by evidence to empower the public conversation that was occurring around e-learning in Ontario.

Scholarly Significance

Following the 2020 annual meeting call for proposals challenged scholars to, “harness possibilities and... programmatically engaging with educational organizations” (Walker, Croft, & Purdy, 2020, p. 1), a scholar of K-12 e-learning engaged the leading Canadian organization for K-12 e-learning to examine the research related to each of the e-learning elements of the Ontario announcement (Author 2, & Author, 2019b). This collaboration highlighted the concerning lack of detail in many aspects of the proposal, as well as a lack of research to support the proposed actions.

Author

• Michael Kristopher Barbour, Touro University - California