Relational equity: Adapting an elementary mathematics teaching methods course to online contexts

Abstract

Background. This article describes the redesign, implementation, and students’ experiences with an elementary mathematics teaching methods course in the Pacific Northwest of the United States that was forced online due to COVID-19 restrictions. We share course design principles, changes to reflect online teaching, and students’ experiences of relational equity, “the care and consideration students and teachers must take with each other to establish and maintain a culture of equitable learning.” Methods: This study took place online. 50 out of a cohort of 54 pre-service elementary teacher candidates participated. Our methods included analysis of course documents, analytic memoing, and analysis of students’ responses to online open response surveys. We qualitatively analyzed the responses from the surveys, coding for a priori and emergent themes (Charmaz, 1995; Emerson et al., 2011; Miles et al., 2019). Findings: The results share the ways the instructors modified the course for online instruction and indicate that our participants experienced successes or challenges to enacting relational equity in the following: (i) curriculum and assessments, (ii) instructors, (iii) generic reference to the course, (iv) technology limits, and (v) future teaching. Contribution: This work sheds light on how two mathematics teacher educators redesigned their course for online instruction while centering and modeling relational equity teaching practices.