Power, Politics, and Equity in Learning Environments

Catalog description

This course examines contemporary research that addresses questions of power, politics, and equity in learning environments and processes. The course is strongly rooted in the sociocultural tradition of the learning sciences. Students will discuss conceptual and methodological approaches and apply them to contexts relevant to their own research. Particular attention will be given to learning environments and their design, a central research practice of the learning sciences. The course considers ramifications of power for design work in learning research. Part 1 of the course explores what it means to think about power, politics, and equity in learning and includes reflection on personal experiences as an entryway to the course topic. Part 2 surveys a range of theories and empirical studies that locate power, politics, and equity in learning in various ways. For example, the course considers how learning intersects with identity processes, ideology, and social movements. Part 3 approaches questions of learning environment design more deeply, asking in what senses designs and technologies have politics and how to engage in design with power, politics, and equity in mind.