Negotiating Learner Differences: Towards Productive Diversity in Learning

Learner diversity has many dimensions: material (class, locale), corporeal (age, race, sex and sexuality, and physical and mental characteristics), and symbolic (culture, language, gender, family, affinity, and persona). The course examines social and cultural theories of difference and considers the range of responses to difference in education, from broad institutional responses to specific pedagogical ones within a class of students. Its guiding question is how educators can move beyond excluding or erasing difference toward productive diversity: learning in which difference is treated as a resource, and learners can be equal without being made the same. Across the course you will explore the history of difference and schooling, postcolonial perspectives on culture and education, and the role of new media in building the inclusive school. The upcoming new version of the course, launching in Fall 2026, has been redesigned for an asynchronous, global audience, and it uses Coursera's newest AI features, including interactive, AI-guided dialogues that let you think through each lesson's ideas in conversation, at your own pace. Related Resources Online resources are available at https://newlearningonline.com Take This Course for Credit at the University of Illinois: In the nature of MOOCs, many people will simply want to view the videos and join some of the discussions. Some say these limited kinds of participation show that MOOCs suffer from low retention rates. Far from it: we say that any level of engagement is good engagement. If you would like to pursue graduate study related to this course, you will find more about the Learning Design and Leadership program in the College of Education at the University of Illinois here: https://ldlprogram.web.illinois.edu/overview/ And you can apply here: https://education.illinois.edu/epol/programs-degrees/ldl The Learning Design and Leadership Series of MOOCs This course is one of a series of MOOCs created by Bill Cope and Mary Kalantzis for the Learning Design and Leadership program at the University of Illinois. If you find this MOOC helpful, please join us in the others! The Cyber-Social Learner: Introducing AI for Education https://www.coursera.org/learn/ai-for-education Introduction to AI-Supported Language Learning https://www.coursera.org/learn/ai-supported-language-learning Meaning Patterns: An Introduction to Multimodal Semiotics https://www.coursera.org/learn/meaning-patterns e-Learning Ecologies: Innovative Approaches to Teaching and Learning for the Digital Age https://www.coursera.org/learn/elearning New Learning: Principles and Patterns of Pedagogy https://www.coursera.org/learn/newlearning Assessment for Learning https://www.coursera.org/learn/assessmentforlearning Learning, Knowledge, and Human Development https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-knowledge-human-development Ubiquitous Learning and Instructional Technologies https://www.coursera.org/learn/ubiquitouslearning Literacy Teaching and Learning: Aims, Approaches and Pedagogies https://www.coursera.org/learn/literacy-teaching-learning Multimodal Literacies: Communication and Learning in the Era of Digital Media https://www.coursera.org/learn/multimodal-literacies