Ruijie Zhao
Department of Humanities
Parkland College

Ideal Feminist Learning Environment


Introduction

Learning Environment
--blogs as a tool
--reflection?

Challenges

Blogs and Postwriting

Reflection

Implications

Conclusion

References

 

 

 

 

 

As a feminist educator, I value breaking down borders, encouraging diverse voices, and creating a democratic learning space for students. Democracy, diversity, reflection, interaction, and collaboration are essential components of my classroom.  These elements are also the main characteristics of feminist pedagogy. As a new media scholar, I utilize blogs to promote the power and agency that digital tools conceivably bring to the class, thus manifesting these critical components of feminist pedagogy.

There have been many discussions about the benefits and limitations of using blogs in the composition courses, but investigating blogs during the postwriting stage and from the point of view of feminist pedagogy in a community college context is still new. Historically, the community college has embraced an open door philosophy of access, meaning that all individuals, regardless of their academic preparation or other characteristics such as race, gender, or age, have the opportunity to participate in higher education (Crews, 2005, p. 1). The mission of Community Colleges is to facilitate the needs of learning in the community. They “provide pathways to higher education for those excluded from the restrictive, medieval-based university structure” (Levinson, 2005, p. 1). With their open door policy, these colleges provide opportunities for academically less prepared or economically challenged groups to be assisted in achieving their career goals. Since feminist pedagogy encourages dialogue among diverse ethnic, gender, class, and racial groups, weaving feminist practices and technology into classroom teaching to promote conversations in my writing class is a sensible approach for a diversely populated community college.

 


Contact Information: rzhao@parkland.edu