Abstract
In this chapter, eight Canadian teacher-educators describe how they collaboratively transformed a face-to-face Master of Education course focused on education for social justice into an online summer course. Each of the eight instructors wrote a short narrative of their experience, and these were woven together to show examples of how this collaborative endeavor worked. Themes emerging from their writing included support through team meetings, faculty development and mentorship through shared resources, support through individuals' diversity of experience, support through building community, transitioning from face-to-face to online learning, and the importance of support from a pedagogically-informed technological support team. Reasons why this collaboration worked are discussed in the conclusion.
TopIntroduction
During the spring of 2020, in the early months of the fast-moving COVID-19 virus, the world was forced to adjust to a life of restriction and modification. All aspects of life were affected, including teaching. As campuses and schools closed, students and teachers, many for the first time, found themselves pivoting away from face-to-face classes and swiftly transitioning into the world of online teaching. This chapter focuses on the experiences of a team of eight Canadian instructors who, collaboratively, transitioned a Master of Education course with a focus on social justice education from an in-person environment to an online delivery.
The Master of Education at St. Francis Xavier University (StFX) is a graduate program designed for practicing educators. Because students are classroom teachers, or other educational professionals working during the day, the program begins with a summer residency and continues throughout the year with courses delivered online in the evenings and on weekends. Given the part-time nature of the program, with graduate students scattered throughout the province, the country, and a few internationally, much of the program delivery happens online through the Department of Continuing and Distance Education (CDE). Collaborate Ultra and Moodle are the digital platforms supported by the university and faculty are fortunate to have excellent ongoing technological and pedagogical CDE support.
Foundations of Education 534, the course discussed in detail here, is the first course in the students’ program and has traditionally been offered on-campus during summer school. Gathering students in this manner is done for three chief reasons: so students can have an immersion experience at the university, can begin developing an academic identity, and can develop a supportive learning community with peers. Education 534 was designed to prepare students for the scholarly activity required in a graduate program, develop their critical thinking skills, examine their own beliefs, and foster their curiosity as emerging educational researchers. Many students move through the Masters’ program in cohorts organized by interest and specialty; for example, this particular summer there were cohorts in literacy, culturally responsive pedagogy, early elementary pedagogy, and inclusive education. These self-selected groups of roughly 20 students take courses together over a two-year period.
Education 534 is an intensely personal course which focuses on social justice and anti-racist education. Students are asked to engage in critical self-reflection and to confront the many injustices present around, and within, the education system. With the death of George Floyd and the growth of the Black Lives Matter movement, along with discussions of anti-Black racism and systemic racism, many course concepts are now prominent in the public discourse. The course also focuses on the impact of colonization and the legacy of Indian Residential Schools. These are heavy and complex issues, and instructors were cognizant of the sensitivity required to successfully help students develop confidence in their first graduate course. Course instructors know social justice education often remains theoretical and vague for teachers, and deliberately employ pedagogies that help operationalize social justice: experiential and inquiry-based activities, autobiographical explorations, community building strategies, and learning centers related to pertinent course topics. As the course asks people to become aware of their biases and how society constructs race, class, gender, sexuality, and deeply consider the notions of privilege and power, instructors are mindful of building a comfortable environment in which to have complex, and potentially uncomfortable, conversations. How could instructors build such a cohesive course, and the type of authentic relationships that fostered deep learning, in a two-week online environment?
Key Terms in this Chapter
Learning Centers: Small group or individual activities set up to enhance learning about a specific topic.
Talking Stick: An object (traditionally a stick, often with an eagle feather attached) passed from person to person around a talking circle to indicate whose turn it was to talk.
Base Groups: A type of group used in cooperative/collaborative learning which can form the basic start for other forms of small group formation. While in other types of cooperative groups members change over time, base group member stay the same.
Indian Residential Schools: In Canada, federally funded, church-run schools which First Nations, Métis, and Inuit children were forced to attend after being removed from their families and communities in order to eradicate their language and culture as part of an assimilation and colonization plan.
Community-Building Activities: Activities intended to break down barriers between strangers and help them discover what they have in common. Often used in classrooms to help develop and maintain a learning community.
Moodle: An online learning platform where course materials can be stored, assignments can be submitted, and a wide variety of activities can take place.
Learning Community: A group of people who come together to learn from and with each other.
Talking Circle: A sacred Indigenous practice of sitting in a circle to hold important meetings and discussions, the circle representing that everyone was equal, all voices would be listened to, and everyone belonged. Now often adapted for use in school classrooms.
Collaborate Ultra: Name of a virtual classroom software platform used in online teaching, often in conjunction with Moodle.