Enacting Critical Pedagogy Online

Critical pedagogy is the foundation of contemporary teacher education. Circumstances and changes in the educational landscape within recent years have resulted in a sharp increase in programs offering online classes and entire programs in teacher education. Using critical perspectives, such courses often address difficult topics, for example, the impact of poverty, racism/white supremacism, sexism, heterosexism, and ableism on students and on schools. These issues require careful planning and development of a classroom environment that fosters honest conversations and multiple perspectives, and a level of rapport that can be especially difficult to achieve and negotiate in online asynchronous environments where students may hesitate to be open to discuss matters perceived as sensitive. Nonetheless, engaging students with and through critical pedagogy online can also provide an environment that challenges traditional ways of knowing and creates spaces for meaningful dialogue and change. This book examines course design, student engagement, research, theory, and practices of teaching with and for critical pedagogy in online environments.