The Culture of Power Online: Cultural Responsiveness and Relevance in Vendor-Developed Online Courses

Abstract

With the expansion of online instruction in K-12 education, how and what is taught in a single course has the potential to affect the learning of thousands of students. Our mixed method study applies a critical lens to examine the extent to which four widely used online high school courses are culturally relevant and responsive. Online lessons reflected a culture of power, emphasizing normative cultural narratives, retreating to symbolic use versus application, and presenting neoliberal ideologies as fact. We end with a discussion of how systems can be leveraged to improve the educational experiences provided to students enrolled online.

Keywords

online learning culture of power multiculturalism critical curriculum studies culturally relevant pedagogy

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