Transformative Social and Emotional Learning

Abstract

COVID-19 required teachers and administrators to swiftly transition traditional education into learning management systems (LMS). However, LMSs are designed as delivery trucks, providing content to students and serving as digital filing cabinets that organize and deliver information in an appropriate manner. This inherent limitation allows for the disenfranchisement of underprivileged groups, which can be addressed via the transformative social and emotional learning framework (TSEL). TSEL is a method of alleviating inequitable learning experiences by accounting for racial oppressions that marginalized groups encounter within education. Here, the authors discuss how to leverage additional digital learning environments to enhance and support identity, belongingness, intersectionality, and agency during online learning. These digital learning environments are detailed from a research perspective as well as a practical one, allowing readers to immediately implement concurrent extensions to their LMS.