'Like' if you support refugees: preservice teachers' sensemaking of contested issues in a digitally-mediated multicultural education course. (3rd July 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Deroo, Matthew R.; Farver, Scott D.; Dunn, Alyssa Hadley
• Is Part Of: Multicultural education review. Volume 9:Number 3(2017)
• Page Start: 159
• Page End: 174
• Publication Date: 2017-07-03
• Subjects: Pre-service teachers -- digitally mediated -- multicultural -- sensemaking -- immigrant and refugee youth; Multicultural education -- Periodicals; 370.11705
• DOI: 10.1080/2005615X.2017.1346556
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2005-615X

Abstract

Abstract: The advent of Web 2.0 and social media have changed how individuals act and react in mediated spaces. Pre-service teachers, familiar with navigating online spaces, enter their courses with a wealth of digital experiences, understandings and ways of making meaning. This study examines how pre-service teachers in a multicultural education course communicate across digitally mediated spaces. Using discourse analysis and sensemaking theory to analyse their Facebook posts, we asked: How do White pre-service teachers discuss and make sense of issues related to immigration in a multicultural education course? Our findings revealed that participants attempted to make sense of immigrant language and culture while building new knowledge and identities as future educators at a time when public narratives about immigrants were disparaging. Further, blended learning provided a beneficial digital space for pre-service teachers' sensemaking processes. Implications are offered for research and practice.