Creating an “Invitational Classroom” in the Online Educational Milieu

Parker Palmer, a scholar who studied effective face-to-face teaching, introduced the term the “invitational classroom” (1993, p. 71). In particular Palmer emphasized that “an air of hospitality” facilitated an inviting educational environment (p. 71). Hospitality in Palmer’s words means “receiving each other, our struggles, our newborn ideas, with openness and care” (p. 74). Palmer concludes that both teachers and learners experience positive consequence when the class environment is invitational. This paper explores a category of innovative teaching strategies, called artistic pedagogical technologies (APTs) that facilitate the experience of an invitational classroom in online courses (Perry & Edwards, 2010). APTs are teaching strategies founded in the arts. APTs described in this paper include photovoice, parallel poetry, and conceptual quilting. A study of the effect of these APTs on graduate students and instructors from a Canadian online university is described. The data collection and data analysis processes used in the study are detailed. Both students and instructors found the online classroom environment changed in a positive way in part because of APTs. Research participants reported that APTs initiated, sustained, and enhanced interactions among students and between students and the instructors (Perry & Edwards, 2010). These findings are analyzed using Palmer’s concepts of hospitality and the invitational classroom and Wenger’s Social Theory of Learning (1990). Practical ideas for educators regarding the use of APTS in teaching and course design are reviewed.