Becoming Anti-Oppressive Educators in Open, Online Spaces: Pre-Service Teachers' Perceptions of Digital Identity and Social Justice

Abstract

This dissertation presents key understandings and conclusions drawn from my research into teacher candidates’ perceptions of digital identity, particularly as it relates to the process of becoming anti-oppressive educators. The results of this study provide the beginning of an answer to the following question, which I see as a critical point of inquiry in our increasingly digital world: As institutions of higher education experiment with blended and online learning models, how will these new learning spaces support or hinder the work of anti-oppressive education? The study traces a series of critical conversations with seven students enrolled in a four-year teacher education program at a mid-sized university in western Canada; these conversations are focused primarily on the students’ experiences in a mandatory class on anti-oppressive curriculum, in which they were enrolled in either the second or third year of the program. The research was conducted using a post-critical theoretical framework to identify and analyze the discourses underpinning pre-service teachers’ perceptions of their own and others’ digital identities; semi-structured interviews served as the primary source of data. Given the critical lens, the goal of the study was not just to understand these discourses but to work with participants to find ways in which teacher education programs might provide a framework for helping students to develop positive digital footprints and to feel confident and prepared to enact the role of anti-oppressive educator in online spaces. Consequently, an important element of the research was the process of what I have chosen to call a collaborative discourse analysis, that is, the process by which I worked together with participants to analyze their beliefs and perceptions in order to co-construct potential solutions to the myriad complexities of teacher digital identity. Prior to beginning data ii collection, I conducted a comprehensive review of relevant literature with a particular focus on three key areas: an exploration of post-structural understandings of subjecthood, including how the process of subjectivation relates to the construction of teacher identity; a review of post-critical ethnography and its suitability as a theoretical framework and methodology for the proposed research; and an examination of the concept of digital identity, including an overview of various historical and contemporary theories. As well, additional literature was reviewed as needed during both the data gathering and analysis phases of the research. The dissertation begins with an overview of the context of the research, both with respect to digital identity and to anti-oppressive education, followed by the literature review and then by chapters that detail the theoretical and methodological foundations of the study and provide an introduction to the seven participants. After this, I turn to the two major themes that emerged in the research: the particular complexities of identity politics in online spaces and the challenges presented by dominant narratives of the “good teacher.” The final chapter of the dissertation outlines potential ways forward in light of the findings that surfaced in the course of the research, including the importance of interrogating and deconstructing dominant narratives in education, the potential benefits offered by “communities of discomfort,” and the possibilities inherent in the use of structured and mandated performances of particular identities. The dissertation concludes with a discussion of where we might go from here as we navigate the ever-increasing complexities of digital identity from a professional and anti-oppressive standpoint.