Materialist/New materialist perspectives on teaching and learning; understanding the needs of diverse learners in online settings; activity and curriculum
The Journal of Online Learning Research finished its tenth volume this year. The first issue, pub... more The Journal of Online Learning Research finished its tenth volume this year. The first issue, published in December 2015 hosted articles on the fol-lowing topics related to online, distance, and digital learning: • • Bridging the gap between research and practice • Learner control • Teacher support • The potential of MOOCs • On-site mentoring Readers who peruse this latest issue will find that research and practice, set-ting an agenda for research, learner roles and responsibilities, and teacher support are still highly relevant topics. For example, in 2016—the first full year of the journal—Parks and Oliver hosted a special issue about professional learning. More recently, Bergdahl and Bond (2022) put together a special issue about student dis/engagement.
Previous research on technology implementation in rural schools has focused on two types of chall... more Previous research on technology implementation in rural schools has focused on two types of challenges: (1) access to internet-ready technological devices and the infrastructure to operate them and (2) teacher attitudes and beliefs about technologies. This research drew on posthumanism to explore tensions that emerged as technological devices were produced materially in rural classrooms with teachers as agents. Teachers from four high schools in the Midwest and Intermountain West participated in this study. Data included interviews with teachers about their experiences with technological devices across their lifespans, including as they learned to teach, classroom observations, lesson plans and instructional materials and weekly email communications. For findings, teachers co-constructed purposes with devices, negotiated access to infrastructure to use devices at school and described shared labour with devices. Future research should consider how to leverage the devices' roles as materialised agents alongside teachers when devising strategies for technology implementation.
While the use of generative AI (genAI) in K12 schools is increasing, it is poorly understood from... more While the use of generative AI (genAI) in K12 schools is increasing, it is poorly understood from a policy perspective. There are significant ten-sions in technology integration in education between public interests for social good and pressure from educational technology companies to view schools as markets. This study examined genAI policy efforts in the 50 largest US school districts by student enrolment in fall 2023 and spring 2024. A content analysis of documents from districts, states and media sources revealed micropolitical, rather than top-down, activities where districts were attempting policy making about genAI in varied ways and at varied paces. Educational technology vendors seemed to be opening space for substantial influence in policy decisions simultaneously. Understandings about these micropolitical activities of policy making have the potential to support shared decision-making and co- responsibility as important opportunities for disrupting current dynamics of influence on educational policy making in US schools.
Humanizing research online claims to engage practices that care for human learners. Even so, many... more Humanizing research online claims to engage practices that care for human learners. Even so, many of the recommended practices are unreflective about the universalizing ethic from which they draw. We argue that humanizing online learning becomes tangled in broader university aims that expect care to happen aside from underlying histories of (de)humanization. We propose Bantam becomings as a way for online teachers to appreciate smaller opportunities for becoming-with learners and technologies that have the potential to (re)claim online spaces as more-than-human space.
Self-Studies of Teacher Education Practice Online Theorizing the Emotional Work in Times of Crisis, 2024
Regardless of the concerns about online teacher preparation, the COVID-19 pandemic brought about ... more Regardless of the concerns about online teacher preparation, the COVID-19 pandemic brought about political conditions that were ripe for what the philosopher Baudrillard (1994) described as taking our desires as reality (Morris, 2021). On the one hand, experiences matter, maybe more than ever, but, on the other hand, it may be only the people with power whose perception of the experiences they want others to have is what matters. Do university administrators want teacher candidates to have access to online teacher education? Perhaps. Especially if they think enrollment might increase. However, are they willing to support teacher educators in working through pedagogical innovations and technological considerations necessary to have worthy experiences? Maybe not. Particularly or if it means paying them for their time or even acknowledging how much time it takes. Under such conditions, the issue of online teacher preparation is likely to remain an interesting area for researching and thinking about experience. Also, what if online teacher preparation is about more than pedagogical innovation and learning how to use all the latest tech? How do online teacher educators manage the emotional work, affect, vulnerability, and related issues? The eight chapters in this book take various perspectives on precisely those questions.
With the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI), particularly Generative AI (GenAI) to scho... more With the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI), particularly Generative AI (GenAI) to school settings, teachers are likely to be drawn into professional learning scenarios where they will be expected to learn how to use programs and applications for remediation and tutoring of children.
The purpose of this article is to conceptualise the teaching of online information evaluation thr... more The purpose of this article is to conceptualise the teaching of online information evaluation through a technofeminist lens. This lens draws on work on entangled relationality in intra-activity, interconnectedness, materialities, and agencies while questioning the human/non-human binary. We provide a rationale for setting a research agenda about teaching online information literacies as spaces where technologies and literacies represent indistinguishable fluid ecologies. To achieve our goal of positioning the technofeminist perspective on the practice, research, and policy landscapes of online information evaluation, we focus on three broad perspectival attunements in thinking about online information evaluation as a concept. To illustrate these shifts, we draw on a curricular unit where preservice teachers are asked to interrogate the cultural appropriation of Indigenous design alongside online source evaluation.
The purpose of this essay is to conceptualize accessibility in digital education for school child... more The purpose of this essay is to conceptualize accessibility in digital education for school children through a minimal computing perspective. This perspective prioritizes the contextual, social, and relational as part of the ethic of minimal computing mantra to consider What. We. Need. To achieve our goals, we begin with a story from a classroom in rural New Mexico, then we problematize definitions of accessibility for computing in educational settings considering how an identification as having disabilities is situated within colonial monolingual/monocultural structures that position minds and bodies as deficient. We connect these structures to capitalistic educational technology movements like using personalized instructional materials that do little to support the identities of children in spaces like the rural Southwest. Finally, we highlight what accessibility might look like as conceptualized from a land/water perspective where children's connections to their current realities are given precedence.
While research in blended, distance, and online learning continues to grow, it is important to co... more While research in blended, distance, and online learning continues to grow, it is important to continue to think about the field that is telling the story of what we want these types of educational modalities to mean. Trends and patterns could reveal conflicts and tensions in values (Rice & Barbour, 2024). For example, when we say we want personalization, do we still want it, if it means that the children all learn the same things in the end, just at different times and with different examples? When we say we want self-directedness, do we still want it, if it means that students can only work successfully when they work by themselves? When we say we care about small group instruction online in K-12 settings, do we still care about it if it is only to keep students on-task for doing largely autonomous lessons? These issues are present in the articles from this issue.
When Generative AI (GenAI) such as Large Language Model programs (LLMs) became available for publ... more When Generative AI (GenAI) such as Large Language Model programs (LLMs) became available for public use in late 2022, schools started to grapple with their capabilities (Kasneci, et al., 2023). For example, LLMs generate content such as short stories and dialogues based on brief instructions given by users (Topsakal & Topsakal, 2022). LLMs may be deemed to have educational potential because it is believed that they can support children in generating or improving text. For children writing in home or school settings, the appeal might be strong because children need specific writing instruction to develop writing skills, yet there is little such instruction available in school settings (Barrett, et al., 2020; Harris & McKeown, 2022).
Mary and Michael recently attended a conference about online and digital learning where the progr... more Mary and Michael recently attended a conference about online and digital learning where the program was inundated with presentations about Large Language Models (LLM) and various other Generative AI (GenAI) products. The presenters were eagerly discussing ways in which GenAI would change online learning. Mary asked questions-sometimes unwelcome ones-about whether parents and young people in these online learning programs and their parents were being informed when GenAI developed their instructional materials; whether it was ethical to tell young people that when they as students use GenAI to generate all or mostly generate their essays, that is cheating, but when adults use it to all mostly generate lesson materials , that is ine; what the value was when a student used GenAI to (mostly) write an essay and the teacher used GenAI to (mostly) to give feedback; and that the popular LLM ChatGPT initially had a lower age limit of 18, which was summarily lowered, without explanation of why the product was suddenly deemed safe at 13 with parental consent. What are the implications for schools when technologies have these age limits or recommendations that slide around without explanation or reason? Mary also asked if there were any appropriately technical discussions with parents or students about what GenAI really even is and does. And by what GenAI really does, Mary meant programming-wise as well as economic and environmental impact. Are we training the children to accept a technology that will limit their employment prospects, or worse, irreparably harm the planet? (Merchant, 2023; Stone & Saul, 2024).
Before, during, and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic there is a need to understand parent work in onl... more Before, during, and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic there is a need to understand parent work in online, distance, and digital education. Findings from previous research highlighted the challenges that parents of children identified with disabilities faced with little acknowledgment of the complexities and contextual nuances within and across studies. The purpose of this critical review was to use posthuman theories to engage in a diffractive reading of previous research and generate new insights. The diffractive reading revealed new understandings about the material construction of parents, called for the re-humanizing of the children who were mostly portrayed as burdens, demonstrated how parents engaged in the disentangling from technologies, and located agencies for affirmative ethics.
Instructional coaching in schools has historically operated as both a professional role and as a ... more Instructional coaching in schools has historically operated as both a professional role and as a strategy used to support teachers. While the work of instructional coaching was already shifting in response to educational trends and political pressures, the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic brought additional challenges and opportunities. The purpose of this self-study of teacher education practice (S-STEP) was to learn about the relational work of two instructional coaches and a university supervisor of those coaches' graduate work. The findings of this study emerged from our collaborative learning where we used the Greek myth of Niobe to think about the relational work of serving individual teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic. We end this paper with implications for preparing instructional coaches to support teachers and suggestions for future research.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought new tensions in determining how to enact representations of the pro... more The COVID-19 pandemic brought new tensions in determining how to enact representations of the professional and personal selves alongside digital technologies. In this paper, we explore those tensions as entangled enactments of agencies and identities related to simultaneous mothering and scholaring. Drawing on Barad's agential realist framework, our work acknowledges the inseparability of being and doing in its account for how our teaching, researching, feminist, maternal selves were constantly entangled with the thinking processes that occurred at the intersections of method-theory-data. This project does not adhere to conventional methodology or presentation expectations. We do not present this paper in the typified chronology comprising a clearly defined literature review, methods, and results sections. Instead, we invite readers into our project with a story. Then, we outline how our storytelling method and theoretical knowings emerged as data during our being and becoming in an in/visible pandemic-centered context.
Special education technology and its use has largely focused on student concerns with accessing i... more Special education technology and its use has largely focused on student concerns with accessing instruction. Where teachers have received attention, it has focused on classroom practices and their understanding of how to use technologies to support students. While some conversations have recently turned to the importance of student identities regarding technologies in special education, the identities of special education teachers in relation to technology use has received less attention. This study takes a narrative inquiry approach to describe a special education teacher who claimed multiple intersecting cultural/ethnic identities and a disability status. The findings from this 2-year engagement highlight how the teacher grappled with using technologies, not just for student learning, but for broader commitments to justice in special education contexts. Implications of this study elaborate on the need to plan special education teacher preparation and support for technologies that honors commitments to equity.
Educational Technology Research & Development , 2023
Understanding experiences in online educational settings is crucial to improving teaching and lea... more Understanding experiences in online educational settings is crucial to improving teaching and learning. The purpose of this paper is to describe Narrative Inquiry as a research methodology that has the potential create the relational opportunities necessary to understand experiences in online learning environments. In this article, I use an example from research conducted in a special educational setting to overview narrative inquiry methodology, explain its theoretical underpinnings, and highlight its potential to enhance current knowledge of how individuals live alongside one another in online educational settings. I will also explain how narrative inquiry can support the development of new insights about time and engagement in online learning. Then I address how narrative inquiry has the potential to advance equitable research practices in these settings. Finally, I offer suggestions for future research projects that leverage the conceptual strengths and methodological tools of narrative inquiry.
Teacher Education in the Wake of Covid-19 Advances in Research on Teaching, Volume 41, 217–230, 2023
Leading up to and now living amid the Covid-19 pandemic, teachers are faced with strong incentive... more Leading up to and now living amid the Covid-19 pandemic, teachers are faced with strong incentives, even pressure to adopt and use digital technologies. Previous research has focused on teaching with digital technologies as a matter of believing in their importance and receiving specific preparation for integration strategies. Further, teaching with technologies must appear "seamless" during instruction to not distract from what is regarded to be the more important subject matter knowledge. In this chapter, I review and problematize digital instruction focused on convincing teachers to integrate strategies that use digital technologies in a "seamless" way and then propose an alternative view emphasizing posthumanist, relational views of integrating digital technologies.
As educators increase their use of digital technologies across learning modalities, some schools ... more As educators increase their use of digital technologies across learning modalities, some schools are experimenting with highly flexible models of learning that maximize opportunities to support learner preferences. The perceptions of these programs by teachers, parents, and students are crucial for building and maintaining community support and securing funding for school practices that are innovative and educative. The purpose of this study was to understand the perceptions of teachers, parents, and students working in a school using hybrid learning with individualized schedules. Perceptions of the school emerged as a sense of shared responsibility and united advocacy for students. Advocacy centered on (1) making instruction accessible and (2) providing appropriate instructional support. While there was agreement across participant groups on these themes, teachers described additional workloads. Implications include the need to build a united purpose around students while also supporting teachers.
Search in: Advanced search Publication Cover Journal of Research on Technology in Education , 2023
K-12 students who were identified or at risk of being identified as having disabilities had been ... more K-12 students who were identified or at risk of being identified as having disabilities had been entering learning environments that were fully or partially online. The increase in participation of this population and the emergency circumstances during COVID-19 pandemic-related school building closures brought a need for research into what supports students in the full range of digital environments. The purpose of this article is to propose a research-based conceptual framework for Inclusive Online, Distance and Digital Education (IODDE) in K-12 settings. IODDE focuses on learners’ biopsychosocial needs alongside two major types of supports: policy supports, and direct learner supports. There are also two types of crucial access: digital access and instructional access. Ensuring learners’ success requires contexts where access and supports are in balance with learner needs.
The Journal of Online Learning Research finished its tenth volume this year. The first issue, pub... more The Journal of Online Learning Research finished its tenth volume this year. The first issue, published in December 2015 hosted articles on the fol-lowing topics related to online, distance, and digital learning: • • Bridging the gap between research and practice • Learner control • Teacher support • The potential of MOOCs • On-site mentoring Readers who peruse this latest issue will find that research and practice, set-ting an agenda for research, learner roles and responsibilities, and teacher support are still highly relevant topics. For example, in 2016—the first full year of the journal—Parks and Oliver hosted a special issue about professional learning. More recently, Bergdahl and Bond (2022) put together a special issue about student dis/engagement.
Previous research on technology implementation in rural schools has focused on two types of chall... more Previous research on technology implementation in rural schools has focused on two types of challenges: (1) access to internet-ready technological devices and the infrastructure to operate them and (2) teacher attitudes and beliefs about technologies. This research drew on posthumanism to explore tensions that emerged as technological devices were produced materially in rural classrooms with teachers as agents. Teachers from four high schools in the Midwest and Intermountain West participated in this study. Data included interviews with teachers about their experiences with technological devices across their lifespans, including as they learned to teach, classroom observations, lesson plans and instructional materials and weekly email communications. For findings, teachers co-constructed purposes with devices, negotiated access to infrastructure to use devices at school and described shared labour with devices. Future research should consider how to leverage the devices' roles as materialised agents alongside teachers when devising strategies for technology implementation.
While the use of generative AI (genAI) in K12 schools is increasing, it is poorly understood from... more While the use of generative AI (genAI) in K12 schools is increasing, it is poorly understood from a policy perspective. There are significant ten-sions in technology integration in education between public interests for social good and pressure from educational technology companies to view schools as markets. This study examined genAI policy efforts in the 50 largest US school districts by student enrolment in fall 2023 and spring 2024. A content analysis of documents from districts, states and media sources revealed micropolitical, rather than top-down, activities where districts were attempting policy making about genAI in varied ways and at varied paces. Educational technology vendors seemed to be opening space for substantial influence in policy decisions simultaneously. Understandings about these micropolitical activities of policy making have the potential to support shared decision-making and co- responsibility as important opportunities for disrupting current dynamics of influence on educational policy making in US schools.
Humanizing research online claims to engage practices that care for human learners. Even so, many... more Humanizing research online claims to engage practices that care for human learners. Even so, many of the recommended practices are unreflective about the universalizing ethic from which they draw. We argue that humanizing online learning becomes tangled in broader university aims that expect care to happen aside from underlying histories of (de)humanization. We propose Bantam becomings as a way for online teachers to appreciate smaller opportunities for becoming-with learners and technologies that have the potential to (re)claim online spaces as more-than-human space.
Self-Studies of Teacher Education Practice Online Theorizing the Emotional Work in Times of Crisis, 2024
Regardless of the concerns about online teacher preparation, the COVID-19 pandemic brought about ... more Regardless of the concerns about online teacher preparation, the COVID-19 pandemic brought about political conditions that were ripe for what the philosopher Baudrillard (1994) described as taking our desires as reality (Morris, 2021). On the one hand, experiences matter, maybe more than ever, but, on the other hand, it may be only the people with power whose perception of the experiences they want others to have is what matters. Do university administrators want teacher candidates to have access to online teacher education? Perhaps. Especially if they think enrollment might increase. However, are they willing to support teacher educators in working through pedagogical innovations and technological considerations necessary to have worthy experiences? Maybe not. Particularly or if it means paying them for their time or even acknowledging how much time it takes. Under such conditions, the issue of online teacher preparation is likely to remain an interesting area for researching and thinking about experience. Also, what if online teacher preparation is about more than pedagogical innovation and learning how to use all the latest tech? How do online teacher educators manage the emotional work, affect, vulnerability, and related issues? The eight chapters in this book take various perspectives on precisely those questions.
With the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI), particularly Generative AI (GenAI) to scho... more With the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI), particularly Generative AI (GenAI) to school settings, teachers are likely to be drawn into professional learning scenarios where they will be expected to learn how to use programs and applications for remediation and tutoring of children.
The purpose of this article is to conceptualise the teaching of online information evaluation thr... more The purpose of this article is to conceptualise the teaching of online information evaluation through a technofeminist lens. This lens draws on work on entangled relationality in intra-activity, interconnectedness, materialities, and agencies while questioning the human/non-human binary. We provide a rationale for setting a research agenda about teaching online information literacies as spaces where technologies and literacies represent indistinguishable fluid ecologies. To achieve our goal of positioning the technofeminist perspective on the practice, research, and policy landscapes of online information evaluation, we focus on three broad perspectival attunements in thinking about online information evaluation as a concept. To illustrate these shifts, we draw on a curricular unit where preservice teachers are asked to interrogate the cultural appropriation of Indigenous design alongside online source evaluation.
The purpose of this essay is to conceptualize accessibility in digital education for school child... more The purpose of this essay is to conceptualize accessibility in digital education for school children through a minimal computing perspective. This perspective prioritizes the contextual, social, and relational as part of the ethic of minimal computing mantra to consider What. We. Need. To achieve our goals, we begin with a story from a classroom in rural New Mexico, then we problematize definitions of accessibility for computing in educational settings considering how an identification as having disabilities is situated within colonial monolingual/monocultural structures that position minds and bodies as deficient. We connect these structures to capitalistic educational technology movements like using personalized instructional materials that do little to support the identities of children in spaces like the rural Southwest. Finally, we highlight what accessibility might look like as conceptualized from a land/water perspective where children's connections to their current realities are given precedence.
While research in blended, distance, and online learning continues to grow, it is important to co... more While research in blended, distance, and online learning continues to grow, it is important to continue to think about the field that is telling the story of what we want these types of educational modalities to mean. Trends and patterns could reveal conflicts and tensions in values (Rice & Barbour, 2024). For example, when we say we want personalization, do we still want it, if it means that the children all learn the same things in the end, just at different times and with different examples? When we say we want self-directedness, do we still want it, if it means that students can only work successfully when they work by themselves? When we say we care about small group instruction online in K-12 settings, do we still care about it if it is only to keep students on-task for doing largely autonomous lessons? These issues are present in the articles from this issue.
When Generative AI (GenAI) such as Large Language Model programs (LLMs) became available for publ... more When Generative AI (GenAI) such as Large Language Model programs (LLMs) became available for public use in late 2022, schools started to grapple with their capabilities (Kasneci, et al., 2023). For example, LLMs generate content such as short stories and dialogues based on brief instructions given by users (Topsakal & Topsakal, 2022). LLMs may be deemed to have educational potential because it is believed that they can support children in generating or improving text. For children writing in home or school settings, the appeal might be strong because children need specific writing instruction to develop writing skills, yet there is little such instruction available in school settings (Barrett, et al., 2020; Harris & McKeown, 2022).
Mary and Michael recently attended a conference about online and digital learning where the progr... more Mary and Michael recently attended a conference about online and digital learning where the program was inundated with presentations about Large Language Models (LLM) and various other Generative AI (GenAI) products. The presenters were eagerly discussing ways in which GenAI would change online learning. Mary asked questions-sometimes unwelcome ones-about whether parents and young people in these online learning programs and their parents were being informed when GenAI developed their instructional materials; whether it was ethical to tell young people that when they as students use GenAI to generate all or mostly generate their essays, that is cheating, but when adults use it to all mostly generate lesson materials , that is ine; what the value was when a student used GenAI to (mostly) write an essay and the teacher used GenAI to (mostly) to give feedback; and that the popular LLM ChatGPT initially had a lower age limit of 18, which was summarily lowered, without explanation of why the product was suddenly deemed safe at 13 with parental consent. What are the implications for schools when technologies have these age limits or recommendations that slide around without explanation or reason? Mary also asked if there were any appropriately technical discussions with parents or students about what GenAI really even is and does. And by what GenAI really does, Mary meant programming-wise as well as economic and environmental impact. Are we training the children to accept a technology that will limit their employment prospects, or worse, irreparably harm the planet? (Merchant, 2023; Stone & Saul, 2024).
Before, during, and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic there is a need to understand parent work in onl... more Before, during, and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic there is a need to understand parent work in online, distance, and digital education. Findings from previous research highlighted the challenges that parents of children identified with disabilities faced with little acknowledgment of the complexities and contextual nuances within and across studies. The purpose of this critical review was to use posthuman theories to engage in a diffractive reading of previous research and generate new insights. The diffractive reading revealed new understandings about the material construction of parents, called for the re-humanizing of the children who were mostly portrayed as burdens, demonstrated how parents engaged in the disentangling from technologies, and located agencies for affirmative ethics.
Instructional coaching in schools has historically operated as both a professional role and as a ... more Instructional coaching in schools has historically operated as both a professional role and as a strategy used to support teachers. While the work of instructional coaching was already shifting in response to educational trends and political pressures, the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic brought additional challenges and opportunities. The purpose of this self-study of teacher education practice (S-STEP) was to learn about the relational work of two instructional coaches and a university supervisor of those coaches' graduate work. The findings of this study emerged from our collaborative learning where we used the Greek myth of Niobe to think about the relational work of serving individual teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic. We end this paper with implications for preparing instructional coaches to support teachers and suggestions for future research.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought new tensions in determining how to enact representations of the pro... more The COVID-19 pandemic brought new tensions in determining how to enact representations of the professional and personal selves alongside digital technologies. In this paper, we explore those tensions as entangled enactments of agencies and identities related to simultaneous mothering and scholaring. Drawing on Barad's agential realist framework, our work acknowledges the inseparability of being and doing in its account for how our teaching, researching, feminist, maternal selves were constantly entangled with the thinking processes that occurred at the intersections of method-theory-data. This project does not adhere to conventional methodology or presentation expectations. We do not present this paper in the typified chronology comprising a clearly defined literature review, methods, and results sections. Instead, we invite readers into our project with a story. Then, we outline how our storytelling method and theoretical knowings emerged as data during our being and becoming in an in/visible pandemic-centered context.
Special education technology and its use has largely focused on student concerns with accessing i... more Special education technology and its use has largely focused on student concerns with accessing instruction. Where teachers have received attention, it has focused on classroom practices and their understanding of how to use technologies to support students. While some conversations have recently turned to the importance of student identities regarding technologies in special education, the identities of special education teachers in relation to technology use has received less attention. This study takes a narrative inquiry approach to describe a special education teacher who claimed multiple intersecting cultural/ethnic identities and a disability status. The findings from this 2-year engagement highlight how the teacher grappled with using technologies, not just for student learning, but for broader commitments to justice in special education contexts. Implications of this study elaborate on the need to plan special education teacher preparation and support for technologies that honors commitments to equity.
Educational Technology Research & Development , 2023
Understanding experiences in online educational settings is crucial to improving teaching and lea... more Understanding experiences in online educational settings is crucial to improving teaching and learning. The purpose of this paper is to describe Narrative Inquiry as a research methodology that has the potential create the relational opportunities necessary to understand experiences in online learning environments. In this article, I use an example from research conducted in a special educational setting to overview narrative inquiry methodology, explain its theoretical underpinnings, and highlight its potential to enhance current knowledge of how individuals live alongside one another in online educational settings. I will also explain how narrative inquiry can support the development of new insights about time and engagement in online learning. Then I address how narrative inquiry has the potential to advance equitable research practices in these settings. Finally, I offer suggestions for future research projects that leverage the conceptual strengths and methodological tools of narrative inquiry.
Teacher Education in the Wake of Covid-19 Advances in Research on Teaching, Volume 41, 217–230, 2023
Leading up to and now living amid the Covid-19 pandemic, teachers are faced with strong incentive... more Leading up to and now living amid the Covid-19 pandemic, teachers are faced with strong incentives, even pressure to adopt and use digital technologies. Previous research has focused on teaching with digital technologies as a matter of believing in their importance and receiving specific preparation for integration strategies. Further, teaching with technologies must appear "seamless" during instruction to not distract from what is regarded to be the more important subject matter knowledge. In this chapter, I review and problematize digital instruction focused on convincing teachers to integrate strategies that use digital technologies in a "seamless" way and then propose an alternative view emphasizing posthumanist, relational views of integrating digital technologies.
As educators increase their use of digital technologies across learning modalities, some schools ... more As educators increase their use of digital technologies across learning modalities, some schools are experimenting with highly flexible models of learning that maximize opportunities to support learner preferences. The perceptions of these programs by teachers, parents, and students are crucial for building and maintaining community support and securing funding for school practices that are innovative and educative. The purpose of this study was to understand the perceptions of teachers, parents, and students working in a school using hybrid learning with individualized schedules. Perceptions of the school emerged as a sense of shared responsibility and united advocacy for students. Advocacy centered on (1) making instruction accessible and (2) providing appropriate instructional support. While there was agreement across participant groups on these themes, teachers described additional workloads. Implications include the need to build a united purpose around students while also supporting teachers.
Search in: Advanced search Publication Cover Journal of Research on Technology in Education , 2023
K-12 students who were identified or at risk of being identified as having disabilities had been ... more K-12 students who were identified or at risk of being identified as having disabilities had been entering learning environments that were fully or partially online. The increase in participation of this population and the emergency circumstances during COVID-19 pandemic-related school building closures brought a need for research into what supports students in the full range of digital environments. The purpose of this article is to propose a research-based conceptual framework for Inclusive Online, Distance and Digital Education (IODDE) in K-12 settings. IODDE focuses on learners’ biopsychosocial needs alongside two major types of supports: policy supports, and direct learner supports. There are also two types of crucial access: digital access and instructional access. Ensuring learners’ success requires contexts where access and supports are in balance with learner needs.
This webinar highlights recent scholarly inquiry into the experiences of educators in fully onlin... more This webinar highlights recent scholarly inquiry into the experiences of educators in fully online schools as they work to serve students with disabilities; issues in instruction, supervision, relationship building/collaboration, and IEP compliance are major topics.
Advances in Research in Teaching and Teacher Education, 2021
The chapters in this book share examples of teachers and teacher educators using local knowledges... more The chapters in this book share examples of teachers and teacher educators using local knowledges to illustrate the practical of curriculum making (Schwab, 1969). Instead of painting a dark picture, the authors seek to illuminate spaces that “…promote practices which both expand and legitimize students’ literacy toolkits” (Liz´arraga & Guti´errez, 2018, p. 41). As editors, we present layers of literacy stories from a set of dedicated educators from diverse races, cultures, languages, gender and sexual identities, educational positions, and life experiences. These teachers and teacher-educators share narratives about experiences in teacher preparation courses, classrooms, and community spaces in New Mexico. More than an “ah ha” moment, educators share moments when they made striking connections, understood new ideas about their students, came to understand the context of their teaching in ways that truly altered their practice,
Teachers have been asked to do virtually everything—plan fantastic educational lessons, manage be... more Teachers have been asked to do virtually everything—plan fantastic educational lessons, manage behavior, use technologies to engage and promote learning, assess and report to stakeholders, build strong relation-ships, advocate for students, keep family secrets, and more. However, as technologies have progressed and become more widely available, and as the COVID-19 pandemic set in, teachers are now being asked to do everything, virtually. This book was born from this shift in paradigms. It is both story and vision, and it is about how English language arts (ELA) teachers are learning to do everything virtually—through virtual and augmented reality technologies. This book is offered as a preliminary guide and resource to the emerging possibilities of VR/AR. The chapters here explore the use of VR/AR in secondary ELA classrooms and provide a roadmap for those who want to understand VR/AR better, as well as see concrete examples of how these technologies have been used in ELA classrooms. The book is divided into three sections: The first section begins with an overview of previous research and offers readers ways to conceptualize the use of VR/AR in ELA teaching. The second section contains examples of practical uses of VR/AR in traditional classrooms through literature teaching, virtual field trips, and the use of VR goggles to promote writing development. The third part of the book focuses on interdisciplinary work in ELA teaching. Topics include geolocation and bomb-making. After all, ELA is a discipline that can accommodate interdisciplinary integration well (Davis, 1999).
ISBN 9781793629852 (Cloth : acid-free paper) | ISBN 9781793629869 (eBook)
Rice, M., & Dykman, B. (2018). The emerging research base for online learning and students with d... more Rice, M., & Dykman, B. (2018). The emerging research base for online learning and students with disabilities. In R. Ferdig and K. Kennedy (Eds.) Handbook of research on K-12 online and blended learning (pp. 189-206). Pittsburgh, PA: ETC Press.
Students served under federal civil rights laws (i.e., IDEA, Section 504) are entitled to enroll in the full range of online learning environments and receive mandated services. Attending to these students’ needs has presented challenges for educators in online schools, but research that would inform decision-making and planning has been scarce. This chapter provides some context for serving students with disabilities online and summarizes previous research reviews this topic. In addition, this chapter updates research findings from an original chapter in the first Handbook of K12 Online and Blended Learning Research. New findings suggest that students with disabilities are enrolling in online courses, but gaps in understandings about student outcomes, accommodation and service delivery, and educator preparation and support persist. The chapter ends with suggestions for applying research to practice, engaging in additional research, and forming policies ensuring students with disabilities receive services.
For the special education teacher, the online course environment represents challenges and opport... more For the special education teacher, the online course environment represents challenges and opportunities that are different from those experienced in the traditional face-to-face setting. This chapter presents practical and research-based applications to guide special educators in the exciting and sometimes complex online environment. The chapter is framed around six questions that address issues of placement into fully online or blended learning environments, the development and implementation of Individualized Education Plans (IEPs), curriculum making and the timing of instructional delivery, facilitating learner independence and self-determination, communication with learners and their families, and collaboration with families and colleagues to build relationships that support student learning. The chapter ends by turning readers back to thinking about the practical as it applies to teacher and learners successful transition to online learning.
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Papers by Mary F Rice
• Bridging the gap between research and practice
• Learner control
• Teacher support
• The potential of MOOCs
• On-site mentoring
Readers who peruse this latest issue will find that research and practice, set-ting an agenda for research, learner roles and responsibilities, and teacher support are still highly relevant topics. For example, in 2016—the first full year of the journal—Parks and Oliver hosted a special issue about professional learning. More recently, Bergdahl and Bond (2022) put together a special issue about student dis/engagement.
https://www.learntechlib.org/c/JOLR/
The eight chapters in this book take various perspectives on precisely those questions.
https://www.digitalcultureandeducation.com/volume-151-papers/rice-and-avila-2024
• Bridging the gap between research and practice
• Learner control
• Teacher support
• The potential of MOOCs
• On-site mentoring
Readers who peruse this latest issue will find that research and practice, set-ting an agenda for research, learner roles and responsibilities, and teacher support are still highly relevant topics. For example, in 2016—the first full year of the journal—Parks and Oliver hosted a special issue about professional learning. More recently, Bergdahl and Bond (2022) put together a special issue about student dis/engagement.
https://www.learntechlib.org/c/JOLR/
The eight chapters in this book take various perspectives on precisely those questions.
https://www.digitalcultureandeducation.com/volume-151-papers/rice-and-avila-2024
ISBN 9781793629852 (Cloth : acid-free paper) | ISBN 9781793629869 (eBook)
Students served under federal civil rights laws (i.e., IDEA, Section 504) are entitled to enroll in the full range of online
learning environments and receive mandated services. Attending to these students’ needs has presented challenges for
educators in online schools, but research that would inform decision-making and planning has been scarce. This chapter
provides some context for serving students with disabilities online and summarizes previous research reviews this topic.
In addition, this chapter updates research findings from an original chapter in the first Handbook of K12 Online and
Blended Learning Research. New findings suggest that students with disabilities are enrolling in online courses, but gaps
in understandings about student outcomes, accommodation and service delivery, and educator preparation and support
persist. The chapter ends with suggestions for applying research to practice, engaging in additional research, and forming
policies ensuring students with disabilities receive services.