Course: HTH 205 – Equity, Diversity, and Design

In the first half of this paper I will outline my own context, and give a specific history regarding my own interest in blended/online learning environments. This history will serve to outline the online learning projects that I have worked on and the pedagogical construction that was used to guide those endeavors. In the second half of this paper I will outline my own proposal for an equity driven blended learning school (combined online & face-to-face school). I will outline problems within the existing paradigms of blended/online education, specifically in regards to equitable outcomes. I will argue that a blended learning environment can only be successful if its pedagogical construction is centered on student voice, cultural relevancy, personalization, and equitable access to resources. Furthermore, I will argue that current face-to-face educational models fail to be adequately centered within these goals due to outdated design constraints that prevent the inclusion of 21st century cultural needs. Continue…

Here is a story. I am imagining a boy or a young man – maybe a youthful scientist/isaac newton type. You know the kind. A dreamer. Twenty years old or so. He is staring up at the sky and he is wondering about the universe. He is thinking, “Where do we come from?”, “Why am I here?”, etc. And then all of the sudden: BOOM!

He has an idea.

He runs into his house and he writes the idea down frantically. He is completely inspired and he sees connections to things in his life that he never thought were possible. His life’s purpose, now, is to get this idea – the most important idea of his life – out of his head and onto a piece of paper. It is so immense, however, that he is only able to get a sliver of the idea down. It’ll have to do for now though because he needs a record of it. After all, this is the just the beginning. He will be working to realize this idea for the rest of his life.

And ten years pass.

Continue…