Accepting Instructor/Facilitator Responsibility for (Re)Positioning Minoritized Students in Online Learning Environments

• In Event: Empowering Learners: Factors and Perspectives

Abstract

We studied a new feature in an online graduate assessment course intended to encourage students to use sociopolitical controversies to problematize content and help the instructor favorable (re)position the participation of diverse students. A new reflection on cultural engagement was added to four other reflections used to formatively and summatively assess engagement. This feature was associated with a dramatic increase in students’ use of sociopolitical controversies to frame engagement and recognition of the influence of privilege. But this feature may have emboldened one student to skip an assignment on assessment bias because it was “politically correct.” While promising, this feature created additional instructor responsibility for teaching that racial, ethnic, and gender biases are foundational aspects of educational disciplines.

Authors

• Daniel T. Hickey, Indiana University

• Joshua Quick, Indiana University - Bloomington