What is it about?
This chapter examines how Learning Management Systems (LMSs) such as Canvas or Blackboard often fall short in supporting students’ identities, agency, and sense of belonging, particularly during the rapid shift to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors introduce the Transformative Social and Emotional Learning (TSEL) framework as a way to counteract those limitations and promote more equitable, inclusive digital learning. They highlight practical strategies for integrating digital tools (like Classcraft, Gather.Town, and Second Life) that empower students to express themselves and feel connected in virtual spaces.
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Why is it important?
LMSs were built to deliver content, not to care for the whole student. But for historically marginalized learners, systems that ignore identity, intersectionality, and agency can reinforce existing inequities. This chapter makes a powerful case for redesigning online learning with equity at the center. Table 1 stands out as a key resource: it clearly maps how different digital learning environments can support the four pillars of TSEL (identity, belongingness, intersectionality, and agency) with examples of specific tools educators can use right away.
Perspectives
Too often, online learning focuses on what students produce, not who they are. As someone who believes deeply in equity-focused education, I’m proud of how this chapter makes the TSEL framework not just conceptual, but immediately usable. This paper provides educators and designers with a way to see how intentional digital choices can foster genuine human growth. Especially in times of disruption, we need digital learning that uplifts identity and belonging, not systems that flatten them.
Dr Sam Leif
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Transformative Social and Emotional Learning, January 2021, IGI Global,
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-7998-6956-6.ch009.
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