Author: Michelle Strutzenberger
Author: Michelle Strutzenberger Six months since the pandemic restrictions forced my students and me to race up the steep virtual learning curve (perhaps it could be better described as a cliff), I would describe our online learning space as most definitely accessible and fair. Several of my students who are blind and visually impaired actively engage with (no, often lead) the rest of their English as a Second Language peers as we all wrestle together to make sense of this beast of a language – English. I realize that I must sound somewhat bold in suggesting that our class has indeed achieved equity and access to our online space. Do we have room to improve and grow? Of course. We’re not quite the utopian virtual reality. But if we define access in online learning spaces as having the ability to join and actively participate in the virtual learning community of our choice, and equity as the ability to participate in a way that is commensurate with our particular skills and strengths within that community, then I think I can be bold and say we’ve reached that mark with respect to our particular community of learners at this time. So how did we do it? I realize my title is rather convoluted, but I’m trying to make the same point that author and consultant Peter Block makes much better than I ever could in his delightfully titled book, The Answer to How is Yes. To summarize my answer, the achievement of an equitable and accessible online learning space happened in our case because the right people said yes at the right time:
Block offers a framework for supporting people to start with the questions of purpose, intentions and responsibility to move past blockages (pardon the pun) to personal and organizational achievement. I’m fascinated by how many people in the scenario I described above said “yes” without seeming to spend a lot of time examining their purpose, intentions and responsibility. This makes me wonder if a crisis, such as the pandemic, might sometimes make it easier for us to recognize and then act on our purpose and intentions and responsibility. Could it be that crisis sprays away the clogging gunk of “how” and gets right down to making what matters most - like enabling equity and access – possible now? Reference: Block, P. (2003). The answer to how is yes: Acting on what matters. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler. Image Credit: Tumisu from Pixabay
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USWe are a collective Group of Educators in many different fields, all completing (or have completed) a Masters of Education at Ontario Tech University in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. we all have an interest in teaching and learning with equity in mind. Archives
December 2020
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