Date of Award

5-26-2015

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Specialization

Communication and Leadership

School or Department

School of Leadership Studies

First Advisor

Dr. Pavel Shlossberg

Second Advisor

Dr. John Caputo

Abstract

Statistics reveal that the enrollment in virtual schooling is ever-increasing in the United States. Current research of online teaching best practices, diversity and differences in post-secondary institutions is more prevalent than research that engages online teaching at high school institutions. This study unveils the experiences of online teachers at the Antelope Valley Union High School District’s (AVUHSD) Virtual Academy in the in Quartz Hill, California. The purpose for the research is two-fold. How cognizant are the AVUHSD’s Virtual Academy teachers in regards to online best practices and techniques (Kerr, 2011, Hlebowitsh, 2012, Pearcy, 2014)? To what extent are Virtual Academy teachers aware of issues and challenges related to matters of diversity and multiculturalism in the context of an online classroom (Cynthia Levine-Rasky, 2001, Gorski, 2004)? After a lengthy selective coding process, five significant themes became apparent through one-on-one interviews of four online teachers: communication and community, incorporating a multicultural curriculum, navigating parental surveillance, self-awareness of social identity and the identification and definition of difference and diversity. We must understand what is at stake when discussing critical pedagogy and the relationship it has to race and ethnicity topics because it is only then where we will be able to learn how to adapt to this world of oppression using nondiscriminatory, communicative platforms (Friere, 1993, Huttunen & Murphy, 2012). The research identified gaps and issues in how teachers and institutions conceive of their own engagement with difference from a position of power.

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