Building a critically transformative community of inquiry in an online undergraduate program

Abstract Higher education can be a powerful tool for advancing social justice. As online programs expand it is imperative that we understand the potential impact of coursework on students' attitudes towards advancing equity and how to increase the potential for positive change in this area.This mixed-methods study examines the impact of online asynchronous coursework designed with the Community of Inquiry Framework (CoI) on early childhood student teachers' beliefs, dispositions, and self-efficacy toward advancing social justice. Phase one analyzed a one-group pretest-posttest survey of student teachers before and at the end of their first year in an online bachelor's degree completion program. Phase two included a case study analysis of course discussions and related content. Findings suggest student self-efficacy and beliefs about social justice shifted over the year. Analysis revealed the role of critical transformative learning practices in supporting student growth. A Critical Transformative Community of Inquiry (CTCoI) model is presented as a framework that enhances the CoI by centering equity in online courses. The CTCoI offers guidance on enacting the CoI through a critical social theory lens and provides practical implications for online course development.

[1]  A. Huberman,et al.  Qualitative Data Analysis: A Methods Sourcebook , 1994 .

[2]  J. Adair,et al.  Social Justice and Equity in Early Childhood Education , 2019, The Wiley Handbook of Early Childhood Care and Education.

[3]  W. Shadish,et al.  Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs for Generalized Causal Inference , 2001 .

[4]  J. Creswell.  Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches, 2nd ed. , 2007 .

[5]  N. Denzin.  The research act: A theoretical introduction to sociological methods , 1977 .

[6]  L. Juang,et al.  The interplay between culturally responsive teaching, cultural diversity beliefs, and self-reflection: A multiple case study , 2019, Teaching and Teacher Education.

[7]  Alejandro Armellini,et al.  Social presence in the 21st century: An adjustment to the Community of Inquiry framework , 2016, Br. J. Educ. Technol..

[8]  Gloria J. Ladson-Billings,et al.  Culturally Relevant Pedagogy 2.0: a.k.a. the Remix , 2014 .

[9]  M. Freeman,et al.  Critical social theory: Core tenets, inherent issues , 2010 .

[10]  Sharan B. Merriam,et al.  Qualitative Research: A Guide to Design and Implementation , 2009 .

[11]  Gloria J. Ladson-Billings,et al.  Toward a Critical Race Theory of Education , 1995, Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education.

[12]  Elyse Hambacher,et al.  From Serial Monologue to Deep Dialogue: Designing Online Discussions to Facilitate Student Learning in Teacher Education Courses , 2018, Action in Teacher Education.

[13]  J. Banks.  Chapter 1: Multicultural Education: Historical Development, Dimensions, and Practice , 1993 .

[14]  L. Ludlow,et al.  Initial teacher education: What does it take to put equity at the center? , 2016 .

[15]  Manya C. Whitaker,et al.  The dispositions for culturally responsive pedagogy scale , 2018 .

[16]  John W. Creswell,et al.  Designing and Conducting Mixed Methods Research , 2006 .

[17]  D. Randy Garrison,et al.  Critical Inquiry in a Text-Based Environment: Computer Conferencing in Higher Education , 1999, Internet High. Educ..

[18]  D. Randy Garrison,et al.  The first decade of the community of inquiry framework: A retrospective , 2010, Internet High. Educ..

[19]  Z. Hammond,et al.  Culturally responsive teaching and the brain : promoting authentic engagement and rigor among culturally and linguistically diverse students , 2015 .

[20]  A. Castagno.  Educated in Whiteness , 2014 .

[21]  B. Hooks.  Teaching to transgress : education as the practice of freedom , 1994 .

[22]  Jason Seawright,et al.  Case Selection Techniques in Case Study Research , 2008 .

[23]  Valentine Burr.  Progressive Online Teacher Education: Developing Shifts in Methodologies , 2014 .

[24]  K. O’Connor,et al.  Cyberbullying, revenge porn and the mid-sized university: Victim characteristics, prevalence and students' knowledge of university policy and reporting procedures , 2018, Higher Education Quarterly.

[25]  S. Bredekamp.  Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs serving children from birth through age 8 , 1987 .

[26]  J. Banks.  Chapter 1: Multicultural Education: Historical Development, Dimensions, and Practice , 1993 .

[27]  Paulo Freire,et al.  Pedagogy of the Oppressed , 2019, Toward a Just World Order.

[28]  S. Kovalchuk,et al.  Is everyone really equal? An introduction to key concepts in social justice education , 2014 .

[29]  E. Renold,et al.  The use of vignettes in qualitative research , 1999 .

[30]  J. Pawl,et al.  How You Are Is as Important as What You Do...: In Making a Positive Difference for Infants, Toddlers and Their Families , 1995 .

[31]  Albert Bandura,et al.  On the Functional Properties of Perceived Self-Efficacy Revisited , 2012 .

[32]  Robert K. Yin,et al.  Case Study Research and Applications: Design and Methods , 2017 .

[33]  Django Paris.  Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy , 2012 .

[34]  D. Crosby,et al.  Diversity, inclusion, equity, and social justice: How antibias content and self-reflection support early childhood preservice teacher consciousness , 2018, Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education.

[35]  R. Stake.  The art of case study research , 1995 .

[36]  M. Whitebook,et al.  Early Childhood Workforce Index 2018. , 2021 .

[37]  S. Kvale,et al.  InterViews: Learning the Craft of Qualitative Research Interviewing , 1996 .

[38]  Gloria J. Ladson-Billings,et al.  Toward a Theory of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy , 1995 .

[39]  D. Garrison,et al.  Researching the community of inquiry framework: Review, issues, and future directions , 2007, Internet High. Educ..