Perspective: Professional Learning Communities as a Strategy for Enhancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Online Higher Education

Abstract

In recent years, higher education enrollment has become increasingly diverse, particularly in online programs. Accordingly, institutions are increasingly aware of the importance of retaining these students and supporting them through successful degree/program completion. While there has been substantial declaration of the need for promoting improvement in equity and inclusion, the strategies for effectively achieving this are still lacking or, at best, are in experimental stages. The result is a gap between the acknowledgement of the need for serving diverse students and the culture shift necessary to effectively foster an environment that advances equity and inclusion. While truly achieving equity and inclusion requires a multi-faceted approach, we assert that an under-utilized strategy is the use of faculty-led Professional Learning Communities (PLCs), which aim for incremental transformation of teaching practices through ongoing, inquiry-based learning. Forming and implementing PLCs for cross-discipline faculty of all backgrounds to convene and collaborate on the development of enhanced curriculum and teaching strategies that leverage diversity and prompt equity and inclusion in the classroom can accelerate the culture shift required to truly serve diverse learners.