TOWARDS WEB 2.0 ENABLED POSTCOLONIAL LEARNING IN TRANSCULTURAL HIGHER EDUCATION

Dr Henk Eijkman, Learning and Teaching Fellow, University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy, Australia

This paper draws attention to the ways in which Web 2.0 social media more easily provides transcultural higher education with culturally inclusive online learning spaces. Despite the huge influx of students from non-dominant cultures, including in online learning environments, a white, Western, elite discourse continues to dominate higher education. In this context Web 2.0 based learning architectures that recognise the social construction of knowledge provide a window of opportunity to shift from neo-colonial to post-colonial practices. This combination of a non-foundational approach to the nature of knowledge with Web 2.0 social networking capacities provides a framework for creating ‘homely’ learning spaces for culturally marginalised students. This in turn promotes a more egalitarian form of cosmopolitanism.