Digital education reading group: June 2026
In our June 2026 meeting, we are looking forward to welcoming Oscar Mwaanga as our host. Oscar is a CODE Fellow and Programme Director of PGCert International Sports Management at the University of London. He has selected a thought-provoking paper that invites us to move beyond the increasingly familiar language of decolonisation and examine what meaningful transformation might actually require in higher education.
The paper, Decolonising the Curriculum Beyond the Surge: Conceptualisation, Positionality and Conduct by Mai Abu Moghli and Laila Kadiwal (2021), explores a concern that many of us may recognise. As decolonisation becomes more visible across universities, there is a risk that it becomes a fashionable term rather than a transformative project. The authors argue that many initiatives focus on diversifying reading lists or increasing representation while leaving deeper structures of power, knowledge production and institutional culture largely untouched.
Drawing on their research, the authors organise the discussion around three interconnected themes: conceptualisation, positionality and conduct. They challenge us to think carefully about how we define decolonisation, how our own identities and assumptions shape curriculum design, and whether our actions amount to meaningful change or merely symbolic reform. They argue that decolonisation cannot happen in isolation from wider institutional structures and that genuine transformation requires confronting asymmetrical power relations embedded within higher education.
As online and distance educators, these questions are particularly relevant. While digital education has expanded access and participation, it also raises important questions about whose knowledge is centred, whose voices are heard, and how curriculum design and delivery can either reproduce or challenge existing hierarchies. The paper invites us to reflect on whether our efforts are simply making existing systems more inclusive, or whether they are opening space for genuinely plural ways of knowing and learning.
Join us to consider
Conceptualisation
- How do we ensure that our curriculum challenges Eurocentric assumptions rather than simply diversifying content?
Positionality
- How do we critically reflect on our own biases, assumptions and positions within the geopolitics of knowledge when designing curricula?
Conduct
- What concrete steps are we taking to move beyond surface-level reforms towards meaningful structural change in curriculum design and delivery?
We look forward to a stimulating discussion that explores not only what decolonisation means, but also what it demands of us as educators, curriculum designers and institutions.
Reading
Abu Moghli, M. & Kadiwal, L. (2021). Decolonising the curriculum beyond the surge: Conceptualisation, positionality and conduct. London Review of Education, 19(1), 1–16.
Looking forward to hearing your reflections and perspectives
Oscar
List of topics discussed at previous meetings
Photo by WISS Shanghai on Unsplash
