An exploratory study of instructors' perceptions on inclusion of culturally responsive pedagogy in online education

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.