Date of Award

5-2025

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

First Advisor

Kihong R. Ku

Second Advisor

Bonnie Stewart

Third Advisor

Christopher M. Pastore

Fourth Advisor

Lizbeth Goodman

Abstract

Attempts to implement inclusion practices in post-secondary education have heretofore focused mainly on diverse modes of content, presentation, delivery (tactical), and/or on largely abstract academic and policy calls to awareness of systemic social inequities (socioemotional).

This thesis argues that both strategies are necessary, but not sufficient to action an effective and implementable inclusive pedagogical practice. This thesis is an exploration of what is missing beyond the tactical and the socioemotional—conceptualizing how to address a gap in actioning inclusion. Arriving at that framework for understanding what is missing requires exploring barriers that persist in access to equitable education. This work is an exegesis of practice, research, and experience of what is missing in achieving inclusion as a means of moving toward equity in education.

This study takes the professional praxis of this researcher, an experienced inclusive design (ID) practitioner, in a reflexive exploration of the pedagogue as designer/decider: exercising power in the designing and shaping of many decisions that impact learning. The ideas are drawn from direct professional experience in post-secondary classrooms. Using the methodologies of reflexive thematic analysis and interpretive phenomenological analysis, the thesis explores the experiences of former students (N=10). Six themes emerge from the research that converge with and influence the ideas herein: readiness, relational, stickiness, self-awareness, self to other, and designing/architecting the environment.

The thesis demonstrates firstly the need for, and then the efficacy of the novel Question, Reflect, Disrupt (QRD) instrument created and applied in the thesis. The unlearning and reshaping outcomes of using this instrument lend themselves to a triangulation that exposes the ‘missing middle’ space.

In a time when universities are struggling to either defend or defund politicized Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) practices, this thesis is a timely, original contribution that instead offers an articulation of what an effective and impactful inclusive pedagogical practice can be. This work offers a possibility for educators and policy makers alike to (re)think inclusive, pedagogical, and political decisions. It is hoped that this thesis will be utilized in practice by future researchers, educators, and students, and that the research will make a sustainable contribution to the important aim of actioning equity in education.

The thesis tells a unique story about how we can understand differently, impact each other positively and irrevocably, and better understand ourselves. Within the following pages are only a few of the many, many voices that can be reached and elevated through engagement with the ‘missing middle’ toward a Pedagogy of One.

Comments

Presented in partial fulfillment of the PhD in Architecture & Design Research degree at Thomas Jefferson University.

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