Creating Inclusive Online Communities

"The future lies in building strong, inclusive communities that support our students in imagining and creating a better world. Berry gives us an incredibly clear and timely roadmap for this work. I am so excited for this book to reach faculty, instructional designers, and administrators. All of you will find a powerful and accessible vision for designing, facilitating, and investing in online communities that serve all students. Mark my words: this will soon be considered a foundational text for online educators."

Karen Costa, Faculty Learning Facilitator, 100 Faculty, LLC and Author of 99 Tips for Creating Simple and Sustainable Videos

"By centering community, Dr. Berry provides an integrated framework and practical set of strategies to address and advance connectedness in hybrid and online classrooms. This approach elevates the intersecting identities of historically marginalized an underrepresented students - and in doing so - presents readers with opportunities to intentionally design for inclusivity at the course and program-level. The book is an asset for instructors, administrators, and those supporting the teaching mission at colleges and universities.”

Kem Saichaie, Ph.D., Director of Learning & Teaching, Center for Educational Effectiveness, University of California, Davis

Foreword—Kathryn E. Linder

Preface

Acknowledgments

1: Defining Community - The Foundation of an Inclusive and Engaging Course or Program

2: What Makes a Strong Online Instructor? - Creating Inclusive Communities

3: The Role of Technology in the Online Classroom

4: Asynchronous Teaching Practices that Support Online Community

5: Synchronous Teaching Practices that Support Online Community

Conclusion

Appendix A: Cultivating Community During a Pandemic: Online Teaching, Emergency Remote Instruction and Pandemic Pedagogy

References

About the Author

Index

Sharla Berry

Dr. Sharla Berry is an Assistant Professor of education leadership and an expert in the field of digital equity and online learning. Her research has been featured in many academic journals including Online Learning and the International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, and at academic conferences including the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE). Dr. Berry is committed to using her research to support practitioners in teaching and leading with technology. Various groups have invited her to do keynote speeches and workshops, including the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Instructional Technology Initiative, the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA), and the International Society of Technology Educators (ISTE). With each unique speech or workshop, Dr. Berry helps practitioners imagine a digitally equitable future, one that helps students of diverse racial, ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds achieve their highest aspirations.