To meet the urgent need for complex thinking skill acquisition and application in higher education, there is wisdom in utilizing online platforms and media, especially in an intentional online experiential learning environment delivered through an ethics of care and cultural humility lens. Typically, deep learning is intentionally nurtured and valued in higher education. Additionally, online curriculum options have become essential for both institutional and individual student survival. Consequently, honors as a discipline has the opportunity to embrace current technological realities and develop a healthy suite of online learning opportunities promoting equity, delivering a rich curriculum, critical thinking, and preparing student researchers. Humanizing the online learning space and building a pedagogy of intentional caring connections (pilina/relationships in the Hawaiian language) further invigorates classroom learning. Lessons learned can be applied in broader learning contexts.
TopIntroduction: The Modern University Student
This Chapter discusses the importance of the Human Element in online learning, and analyzes and examines pedagogy and engagement praxis through an Ethics of Care, Experiential Learning, and Cultural Humility lens in three different online Honors writing intensive courses taught at the Undergraduate level in Honors since 2015. While this pedagogy was developed in an Honors learning setting, lessons learned can be applied to broader educational contexts.
The positionality of the First-Generation author of this work is rooted in Hawaiian and Irish world views. Growing up in Ireland, and now living in Hawai‘i, the indigenous roots of these islands that are physically located across the world from each other are powerfully intertwined and grounded in collectivism, the lineages and genealogies of people and nature, and a global awareness of connectedness. The author’s life experience, varied educational, and complex career pathways have woven together an interdisciplinary view that lends itself well to supporting student success through caring and deliberately curated curriculum and praxis.
In 2024, Undergraduate students entering University for the first time as young adults are no longer millennials, but Generation Z with a straddle towards Generation Alpha (McCrindle & Wolfinger, 2009). These students are visually oriented through video game and Smartphone use, as well as various associated media. For example, computer coders and programmers generate new social media platforms or reinvent older ones on a consistent basis. Users respond to technology, and technology responds to users, and businesses optimize process and profits through technology, and so the cycle continues. Platforms for social media interaction include Internet forums (e.g. You Tube, TED Talks); social networking sites (e.g. BeReal, Bluesky, Reddit, Threads, Pinterest, LinkedIn,Twitter, Facebook), video or photograph sharing (e.g. Discord, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, Telegraph, WhatsApp), podcasts (e.g. Apple, NPR, Spotify, Edutopia, TED Radio Hour), blogs and microblogs (e.g. Threads, Bluesky, Twitter), crowdsourcing of various kinds (e.g. Donorsnap, Wikipedia), and social worlds or virtual games (e.g. Warzone, Fortnite, Minecraft, World of Warcraft, Second Life). Many of these services are free of charge, at least at the basic service level or if one accepts advertisements as part of the deal.
This is a brief review of some of the Internet tools and applications available for use. Before further discussion, one must also clearly acknowledge that there is very real “digital divide” that denies access to these digital tools for some populations and groups, and that “information poverty” is an issue that exists in the U.S. and across the globe. This gap reflects a systemic lack of access to digital literacy and points to inequity in educational and life opportunities, especially for specific populations and strata of society (Gan & Sun, 2021; Norris, 2001; Vogels & Anderson, 2019).
Social media is an essentially user-driven and interactive Internet communication process, elements which also lie at the heart of distance and online education delivery (Twenge, 2013; Wong & Bottorff, 2023). The interactivity of social media supports individuals and larger organizations to create, share, or exchange educational materials, information, career interests, ideas, pictures, and videos in online virtual communities and networks (Gikas & Grant, 2013). Society is technology saturated, as can be seen from even a cursory look around one’s own life, and the above is not even an exhaustive list of social media software and apps.