Reimagining UNISA’s Open Distance Learning through the Lens of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy

Abstract

Currently, Unisa’s Open Distance Learning (ODL) student population can be divided into three distinct generational groups of people (Baby Boomers, X Generation (Xers) and Y Generation). Despite the time and resources committed to higher education improvement, there is a real danger of a cultural and generational gap becoming a wedge issue in Unisa Open Distance Learning’s (ODL) teaching and learning. In this article, we argue that there is a pressing need to close the cultural and generational divide in ODL within a framework that is compatible and relevant to the cultural contexts of the three distinct generational groups. Generational and cultural divides have an impact on teaching and learning. This article draws from Gloria Ladson-Billings’s and Geneva Gay‘s Culturally Relevant Pedagogy framework and the works of Bourdieu. It proposes reimagining Unisa’s ODL through the lens of culturally relevant pedagogy.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n23p1356