Cultural Hegemony in Open Distance Learning: Does it Really Matter?

Abstract

Culture is perhaps the most pivotal to all the things that we do in education. However, in the midst of the discourses about improving open distance learning (ODL) in terms of quality, teaching and learning, this paper will argue that little, if any, has been done to make cultural hegemony a central area of investigation. This article will further argue that current practices of the Institute for Open Distance Learning (IODL) at the University of South Africa (Unisa) seem to draw on one set of values (the dominant values). Given that Unisa’s ODL is reasonably spread across culturally diverse student population, it usually results in what Antonio Gramsci (1971) calls cultural hegemony. Drawing from Antonio Gramsci’s work and culturally relevant pedagogy, this article proposes the reengineering of Unisa’s ODL teaching and learning practice.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2013.v4n6p83