Date of Award

1-5-2024

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Middle and Secondary Education

First Advisor

Joseph Feinberg, Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Michelle Zoss, Ph.D.

Third Advisor

Yali Zhao, Ph.D.

Fourth Advisor

Chantee Earl, Ph.D.

Abstract

Through the twentieth century, the United States faced several health crisis starting with the Influenza of 1918 that forced decisions about public and civic education. A century later, schools across the country find themselves once again facing a global health crisis and making similar decisions on how to maintain education in a pandemic. The purpose of this case study is to explore the impact of the pandemic on the goals and curriculum decisions made by the Georgia Center for Civic Engagement (GCCE), a non-profit civic education organization, to shift face-to-face civic education programs to a distance learning format. The results of this research indicate that a commitment to their mission goals of educating and equipping students to become informed and active citizens and pressure from the organization's funders led GCCE to quickly pivot their resources and programs to continue supporting civic education. Analysis of asynchronous curriculum data shows a primary focus on cultivating civic knowledge by providing a variety of source types combined with low level thinking tasks. Conversely, their hybrid and synchronous curriculum provide more activities designed to help students explore their own civic identity and identify areas for potential for civic action. Additional observations show the need for GCCE to adapt synchronous programming to address the lack of teacher and student preparation for interaction in a synchronous environment.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.57709/36400202

File Upload Confirmation

1

Download

Share

COinS