ABSTRACT
As gatekeepers to the student’s learning experience, instructional designers have the opportunity to make learning environments an equitable space through our processes, accessibility, and expectations. This case study takes place in a higher education course where the instructor was mindful of her role as the gatekeeper, but with implementation, her biases were questioned. The readers consider the two concepts that influence instructional design: cultural systems that can lead to unexamined perspectives and depth levels of culture that can be parsed into the instructional design processes. Further extensions describe how to be deliberately mindful of cultural elements that could impact learners. Finally, looking back on the case, the higher education course design is analyzed in terms of the cultural conflict and resolution.
The concepts are sometimes written in first person because culture resides in a personal space nested within human identities and infiltrates all that we do. It is the hope that you build awareness of your own culture so that when you are a gatekeeper of knowledge and experience, you do so with wisdom.
