An exploratory study of instructors' perceptions on inclusion of culturally responsive pedagogy in online education
Date
2021
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Br J Educ Technol
Abstract
The rapid growth of diverse learners in online learning
has made it imperative for online instructors to incor porate multicultural resource curricula and instruc tional activities. This research aimed to explore online
instructors' perceptions of culturally responsive peda gogy in online education; examine how instructors
integrate culturally responsive pedagogy strategies in
the online learning environment; and explore the chal lenges in facilitating cross-cultural collaborative learn ing for students from different cultural backgrounds.
Data were collected following a qualitative multi-site
case study method with five academic disciplines
(Education, Social Sciences, Engineering, Physi cal Sciences and Health Sciences) in 12 colleges
and universities in the United States of America. In
all, 60 in-depth and semi-structured interviews with
instructors (26 females and 34 males) were obtained
and analysed following a constant comparative anal ysis approach. Results reflected that the instructors
used cross-cultural interactions to facilitate students'
engagement and incorporated culturally responsive
teaching. Besides, the findings revealed that most
of the instructors integrated diverse and internation alized learning content to support diverse students
and addressed the impact of multicultural education
in online learning. It was, however, noted, that instruc tors in the physical science disciplines struggled to
incorporate culturally diverse contents in their online
classes. The findings of this study foster discourse
on how best instructors could be aided to engage
diverse students online more meaningfully.
Description
Research Article
Keywords
culturally responsive computing, culturally responsive pedagogy, diversity, online education