ABSTRACT
Online learning can create opportunities for increased access to education and exchange of ideas, engaging students throughout the world in virtual classrooms. And yet, as this Western pedagogical model is exported across the globe, there is significant risk of re-creating colonizing educational structures, norms, and biases in the online environment. Academic bias about what counts as knowledge and whose knowledge counts is not classroom-bound, nor is the hidden curriculum built into course design, facilitation style, or the technological interface itself. The digital divide continues to gatekeep information access, disproportionately impacting students with minoritized identities. It is clear that online classes require the same intentionality in course design and facilitation using critical and decolonizing pedagogical strategies as classes delivered from brick-and-mortar classrooms. This chapter provides an overview of an effort to address these challenges and facilitate transformative dialogue on social justice and sustainability through the Oregon State University Ecampus program.
