Abstract
Educators learn through reflection on how power shapes their own practices, expressing their concerns about the constraints they face, and brainstorming solutions to address them. Educators create and adjust their philosophies and practices by reflecting on how abstract theories manifest themselves in life. The online discussion format affords students the opportunity to improve their reflective practices through the use of structured questions, supervised scaffolding, shared experience, and opportunities to connect theory to practice. In essence, online discussions offer educators a dynamic and energetic atmosphere in which they can interact with each other. The purpose of the study was to examine the impact of online discussions on students’ critical skills as they reflect on issues dealing with students’ diversity. The results demonstrated that the use of structured online discussions contributed to the elevation of graduate students’ reflective practices as they contemplated the social and cultural issues that impact students’ learning and their educational practices.
Highlights
Building on the works of Karl Marx, Michael Foucault, Edward Said, and Paulo Freire, the author uses the critical theory approach to empower learners to critically analyze and evaluate the complex impact students’ diversity has on education
The results demonstrated that the use of structured online discussions contributed to the elevation of graduate students’ reflective practices as they contemplated the social and cultural issues that impact students’ learning and their educational practices
The literature suggests that online discussion which requires reflecting on others’ thoughts and involves the risk of being challenged or challenging others’ point of view, actively engages students in the learning process as found in the writing of Jones and Ryan [2] and Cooner [12]
Summary
Building on the works of Karl Marx, Michael Foucault, Edward Said, and Paulo Freire, the author uses the critical theory approach to empower learners to critically analyze and evaluate the complex impact students’ diversity has on education. The author employs critical readings and discussion questions focused on learning environment diversity and social justice as tools to help students examine the social and cultural issues that impact their educational practices. Challenging educators to think of global issues beyond their personal and local experiences help them address diversity issues more positively [1]. Jones and Ryan asserted that pre-service teachers are usually left alone to make the connection between theory and practices in the classroom. They argued that structured online discussion promotes reflective thinking practices [2]. Health care education students reported in a study that online discussions promote reflection and allow time for social interaction [3]
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