The Role of Color-Blind Racial Attitudes in Reaction to Racial Discrimination in Online

Education

Suzan Waller Ph.D.And Harlan Schottenstein M.A.

The IssueOn Line LearningThe Good- On Line Learning allows greater

learning options for students with many different obligations and responsibilities. Students are used to using social networking sites.

The Sometimes NotSoGood- Learning is asynchronous. Students work at different levels of independence.

Interactions take place with other students and instructors,

through bulletin board postings, through emailsOther alternatives technologies (chat rooms, etc.)

Social NetworkingSocial networking is a common means of

communicating by students of all ages.Stressful situations can develop in the

classroom but the social network between instructor, other students and the administration can help monitor and react to these interactions.

Students may feel empowered to express themselves online with less restraint then they might in a classrooms setting

The Role of Color Blind Social Attitudes by Students in a Social Networking Site.A study by Tynes and Markoe in an article published

in the Journal of Diversity and Higher Education, in 2010 states:

“European Americans and participantshigh in racial color blindness were morelikely to be in the not bothered reaction group.”And,“This research suggests that the color-blindideal commonly socialized and valued amongEuropean Americans may actually be detrimentalto race relations on college campuses.”

Color Blind Racial Attitudes May Be Counter Intuitive.How do instructors interact with students when

they observe a adversarial situation on line?

The Role of Color-Blind Racial Attitudes in Reactions to Racial Discrimination in Online EducationOnline education facilitates more impersonal

communication with other students as well as with professors.

Even if names can be attached to written comments,

the fact that these comments can be made in other than a face-to-face setting

seems at times to facilitate delivery of content that would not be spoken in a face-to-face environment.

Even if we expect faculty members to show color blindness in assigning grades without regard to the skin color of the student,

we also reasonably expect faculty members not to condone racially or ethnically tinted communications when they become part of the class interaction.

Allowing such potentially harmful communication to go unchecked likely detracts from the learning experience of the targeted students;

lack of constructive response from the faculty member underutilizes the growth and learning opportunities for all students.

Create a research project• Tynes study focused on student interaction on

Social Networking sites• Create a research project that focuses on the

course instructor.• HypothesisBased upon the review of literature, we make the following

prediction.

Hypothesis: Expressions of color-blind racial attitudes increase the likelihood that adjunct professors will not respond to racially charged student comments.

Pretest Methodology The Scenario Have instructors take the CoBRA respond to bulletin board responses

Questions are designed to evaluate the effectiveness of the scenario at portraying prejudicial communication.

-Researchers will analyze open-ended questions for themes and general responses;

all of this information will be integrated into the instrumentation and methodological decisions made pertaining to the full research strategy.

Scenario

Subjects in this study are presented with a scenario involving a professor’s self-introduction to the class

encouragement to the students to ask questions early rather than waiting until the assignment is due.

This is the text of the professor’s introduction:

“Greetings, my name is Professor X and I would like to welcome you to class. There is a lot of material that needs to be covered so it is important that you come to class prepared. Make sure you have done all the readings for the week before you get to class and have the assignments done. There will be some team assignments coming up, and I expect good class participation, so it is helpful if we get to know each other a little bit before class starts.

“I have been teaching here for several years, as well as having a full time job, and a family, though both my children are not out of the house. I know the demands that going to school, while having a job and family can be but working together and communicating well is an important foundation for success, along with achieving excellence in getting the work done. If you have questions, please don’t wait until after the assignment is due to ask; check in early and get the work done well, and on time!”

Subsequent to the professor’s introduction, the following two postings are made by students:Student A writes:

“Hey Prof and class! I am really looking forward to this class. I am getting close to finishing, expecting to graduate this winter! It is very important to me because I am the first one in my family to graduate from college and get out of the ghetto. My mother was poor and raised us on her own; we occasionally stayed with my aunt so this is a real family effort. I am working but hope to start a new career after graduation and start making some real money, so I will be able to take care of my own family.

“What is your policy on late assignments?”

Student B writes:

“I have been working since high school graduation and taking classes the last five years. I have been with the same company the whole time, and hope to move up the corporate ladder soon. It has been a struggle with work, family and school but I don’t make excuses, ANYWHERE…at home, work or here at school. If you can’t get the work done then get out of the way and let someone who can at it! Slackers hold everyone back; I hate team projects because you have to carry the load for someone who doesn’t care to put in the effort. Ghetto gets in your blood; I am not sure you can really get beyond it. “

Pretest Questions Posed to Respondents

1. What is your overall interpretation of this communication?

2. Did you interpret the communication on the part of Student B to be prejudicial?

3. Do you believe it could be constructive for the professor to react somehow to this exchange? If so, what reaction do you believe would be appropriate and why? If not, why not?

Responses in the Pretest

(Responses still coming in.)

1. What is your overall interpretation of this communication?

100% expressed concern that the response of the second student was not appropriate. None have seen it as racist but varying degrees of inept communication skills.

Did you interpret the communication on the part of Student B to be prejudicial?

75% indicated that they thought the second student response was prejudicial. Varying degrees of explanation's were given.

Do you believe it could be constructive for the professor to react somehow to this exchange? If so, what reaction do you believe would be appropriate and why? If not, why not?

75% would take some actions to communicate directly with the second student that the statements were inappropriate .

25% would take no actions, acknowledging that it is not an appropriate response but that these things go on.

One indicated that they would first communicate with the entire class that comments can be informal but need to be courteous without going into further details, though they would follow that up with a direct email to the second student.

DemographicsAll instructors that have sent in surveys are between 35

and 49 years old.

25% have taught fewer then 5 years, 75% have taught between 5 and 10 years.

50 % were female and 50% were male.

50% were white, 25% African American and 25% Asian.

75% had not observed such an exchange in their teaching experience, 25% had.

Color Blind Racial Attitude Scores

Scores for our CoBRA assessment ranged from 68 to 91.

In the Neville, et al. study that developed the

scale based on 594 students and community members ranging in age from 14 to 88 years old, in a large Midwestern college and a Western college.

Scores ranged from 49 for racial minorities as

a group to 70 for white males as a group.

BibliographyApfelbaum, E.P, Sommers, S.R., and Norton,

M.I. (2008). Seeing race and seeming racist? Evaluating strategic color-blindness in social interaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95, 918-932.

Bonilla-Silva, E. (2009). Racism without racists: Color-blind racism and the persistence of racial inequality in the United States (3rd ed.). Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.

BibliographyNeville, H.A., Lilly, R.L., Lee, R.M., Duran, G.,

and Browne, L. (2000). Construction and initial validation of the Color-Blind Racial Attitudes Scale (CoBRAS). Journal of Counseling Psychology, 47, 59-70.

Tynes, B.M., and Markoe, S.L. (2010). The role of color-blind racial attitudes in reactions to racial discrimination on social network sites. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 3(1), 1-13.