Feminist pedagogy is form of liberatory pedagogy. Facilitators will share an introduction to feminist pedagogy, including practical examples from their teaching. Participants will actively workshop an aspect of their course (syllabus, assessment) around feminist pedagogy tenets of humanizing online learning, creating cultures of care, and fostering embodiment in online learning.
Workshop Learning Outcomes:
At the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:
- Identify key tenets of feminist pedagogy for online learning and teaching;
- Explain how specific feminist pedagogy tenets are relevant to their courses
- Apply feminist pedagogy tenets to their elements of their course.
Feminist pedagogy, like other forms of liberatory pedagogies, seeks to promote equity and inclusion in learning environments by centering students by recognizing their contributions and prioritizing their learning goals and needs. Liberatory pedagogies offer a way to engage online students in ways that honor and uplift their lived experiences and knowledges to positively impact their learning experiences and outcomes. Feminist pedagogy, tenets, such as recognizing students as agentic co-educators and building equity, mutual respect, and support in the learning process, are needed in today’s increasingly complex learning environments.
During the great pivot to online teaching at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic in the U.S., educators at Tulane, with subsequent collaboration with colleagues from across the U.S. created the Feminist Pedagogy for Teaching Online guide. This guide is available to all on the internet: https://feminists-teach-online.tulane.edu/. As an open access resource, the Feminist Pedagogy for Teaching Online guide will be shared with workshop participants as an introduction to the workshop.
This OLC conference workshop will review the tenets of feminist pedagogy, focusing on those that are of particular use in the online learning space. Workshop participants will use part of the workshop time to reconsider and revise an aspect of their course incorporating selected feminist pedagogy tenets, independently and with colleagues.
The workshop will be composed, primarily, of three segments: 1) humanizing online learning and teaching, 2) creating cultures of care in the online learning space, and 3) examining (dis)embodiment in online learning and teaching. Each of the three parts of the workshop will provide participants with knowledge about the feminist pedagogy tenet, examples of how to incorporate the tenet into a course shared by the facilitators, and time to focus on making changes to an aspect of participants’ own courses through independent work and collaboration with colleagues. The facilitators will consult workshop participants as they engage with their course revision and one another. Learning about a new concept and engaging with colleagues to process that learning is fundamental to conference attendance, but the opportunity to make a substantive change to a course with the support of specialists and colleagues enhances the level of engagement workshop participants will gain from this workshop.
A central part of feminist pedagogy is to include the experiences of all those who are engaged in a learning environment. Thus, during this workshop the student learning experience will be a focus, in addition to the experiences of instructors and other course participants, such as teaching assistants. Thus, all participants will be asked to engage with the content provided by facilitator, with each other, and invited to consider how the design of their course supports all participants, including themselves.
Workshop Outline:
Introductions, facilitators and participants
Introduction to Feminist Pedagogy as a Liberatory Pedagogy
Feminist Pedagogy for Teaching Online Tenet 1: Humanizing Online Learning and Teaching
- Definition and explanation
- Practical examples from facilitators
- Workshop time, independent and small group
Feminist Pedagogy for Teaching Online Tenet 2: Creating Cultures of Care
- Definition and explanation
- Practical examples from facilitators
- Workshop time, independent and small group
Feminist Pedagogy for Teaching Online Tenet 3: Examining (Dis)Embodiment in Online Learning and Teaching
- Definition and explanation
- Practical examples from facilitators
- Workshop time, independent and small group
Closing, Whole Group Discussion and Appreciation for this Time