An Exploration of the Ideological Becoming of Online Educators

Larty, Joanne and Hodgson, Vivien (2023) An Exploration of the Ideological Becoming of Online Educators. British Journal of Educational Technology. ISSN 1467-8535

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Abstract

As online education continues to proliferate there is a need to understand how institutions can better support faculty in the transition to online education. Building on work that has suggested the importance of learning spaces for faculty to engage in discussion and reflection on their move to online education, this paper employs Bakhtin’s notion of ideological becoming to provide a theoretically grounded understanding of how the design of such spaces can better facilitate this move. The paper reveals how learning spaces designed to develop critical awareness empowers faculty to navigate discourses of online education, enabling them to build on their existing knowledge and skills as educators. The findings reveal how engaging faculty in critical dialogue can enable a cumulative shift in thinking from discussions dominated by authoritative discourses of online education that create an initial confusion between performance and pedagogy, to the development of critical awareness that enables them to challenge dominant discourses and reconnect with the self as an experienced educator. The paper provides an important insight into an approach that might enable institutions to better support faculty buy-in and acceptance of online education.