Online teaching: embedding social, race, and gender-related equity
This microcredential is designed to give educators an understanding of the differences between equality, inclusion, and educational equity and of the ways equitable participation in online learning can be provided in different learner contexts. You’ll hear from experts in learning design who are experienced in addressing inequity in all its forms, including decolonising the curriculum and making it more inclusive. You’ll also consider the importance of breaking the cycle of exclusion, discrimination, and disadvantage through the design and delivery of online teaching.
Key features
- Discover how equitable participation in online learning can be provided in different learner contexts
- Learn how to identify multiple aspects of inequity in education, such as race, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status
- Find out how to audit online teaching activities and institutional policies in terms of bias and inequity
- Learning is applicable to a variety of educational settings and sectors across the world
- Designed by leading academics and global experts, experienced in embedding equity in online teaching, learning, and assessment activities
What is a microcredential?
Microcredentials are professional development short courses with academic credit designed to help you quickly build in-demand career skills and knowledge that you can immediately apply. Learn more about microcredentials.
Register
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| Start |
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Fee
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| 16 Mar 2026 |
Jun 2026 |
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| Registration closes 15/03/26 (places subject to availability) Click to register
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This module is expected to start for the last time in October 2032.
What you will study
On this postgraduate microcredential, you’ll gain the skills and knowledge to embed equity in your online teaching and support equitable participation for all. Over 12 weeks, you’ll cover the following topics.
- The impact of race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and socio-economic status on study outcomes in online learning.
- Legislation around rights and responsibilities concerning race, gender, gender identity and sexual orientation in educational contexts.
- The impact of bias on learners’ outcomes and how to identify and address this when teaching online and designing online courses.
- The impact of equality-focused, deficit-based, avoidant and context-neutral mindsets in perpetuating educational inequity.
- Digital colonialism in online learning contexts and how to address this.
- How equity literacy, critical digital pedagogy and universal design for learning can be the basis for equitable online teaching and course design.
- How institution-wide practices and policies can support and compromise equity in online teaching and course design.
You will learn
By the end of your learning, you’ll be able to:
- demonstrate a critical understanding of the differences between educational equity, equality and inclusion and of the reasons why educational equity should be a priority for educators and institutions
- demonstrate a critical understanding of how learners’ contexts can have an impact on their opportunities for equitable participation in online learning and how this can be addressed by educators and institutions
- design online teaching, learning and assessment activities that are equitable in their pedagogy and that address issues such as racism, economic injustice, sexism and heterosexism
- develop equity audit strategies that are appropriate to diverse stakeholders’ needs for application in online teaching contexts
- identify and critically evaluate a range of theories relating to educational equity for their relevance to online teaching and learning settings
- critically evaluate online teaching, learning and assessment activities, and institutional policies in terms of bias and inequity
- demonstrate the following skills: critically engaging with research evidence; presenting arguments that represent diverse perspectives; participating effectively in online communities; managing ethical issues connected with educational equity
Skills you will gain
- Equitable course design
- Ethical practice
- Openness to diverse perspectives
- Conducting an equity audit
- Equitable teaching
- Having challenging conversations
- Critical evaluation of theory and practice
- Evaluating teaching, learning and assessment activities
- Equitable assessment design
- Reflection and reflexivity
- Using evidence to inform practice and advocacy
Vocational relevance
The course will benefit anyone working in or looking to work in universities, colleges and further education, schools (particularly secondary schools), adult education, and workplace learning and development settings. It will enhance the employability of teachers, trainers, lecturers, learning designers, education technologists and specialists, heads of departments, and institution leaders and managers.
Created by leading experts and practitioners from The Open University
- Dr Leigh-Anne Perryman leads The Open University’s (OU) Masters in Online Teaching programme within the Institute of Educational Technology. Her research explores the relationship between equity, social justice, online teaching and open pedagogies.
- Maha Bali is an Associate Professor of Practice at the Center for Learning & Teaching at the American University in Cairo.
- Anita Naoka Pilgrim is an associate lecturer with the OU and author of several reports on education and equalities, as well as workshops and courses on inclusive education.
- Dr Simon Ball is an OU tutor and consultant researcher, specialising in inclusive online learning, educational technologies and accessibility.
- Dr Suki Haider is an Associate Lecturer and consultant at the OU, tutoring history and social science and researching the application of anti-racist pedagogy online.
- Simon Hull is a Lecturer in Work-based learning in the OU’s Faculty of Business and Law.
- Sukaina Walji, an External Advisor for this course, is the acting director of the Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and Head of Online Education, Curriculum and Course Design. She supports the growth and development of capacity and expertise in designing and developing blended and online courses and programmes.
Entry
This postgraduate-level microcredential will benefit educators from a variety of education settings and sectors. You will ideally have:
- a bachelor’s degree or an equivalent level qualification
- experience working in an education or training setting or recent relevant experience of equity-related issues in an education or training context (for example, as a student)
- a strong interest in making online teaching equitable.
Please note
- If you don’t have a degree or equivalent level qualification, you may find the postgraduate level assessment challenging.
- The course material doesn’t assume learners are working. Past experiences will be just as relevant.
- All teaching is in English, and your English proficiency needs to be adequate for postgraduate study. As a guide, this corresponds to Level 7 of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS). However, you won’t need to provide a formal English language score to enrol.
Course length
This 12-week course requires approximately 12.5 hours of self-paced learning per week, totalling around 150 hours for completion.
If you have a disability
The course is delivered online and makes use of a variety of online resources. If you use specialist hardware or software to assist you in using a computer or the internet, you can contact us about the support which can be given to meet your needs.
To find out more about what kind of support and adjustments might be available, contact us or visit our disability support pages.
Study materials
What's included
All learning materials, exercises and activities are delivered entirely online.
While certain content can be downloaded, some content is exclusively accessible online, requiring a reliable internet connection for viewing. Please consider this if you are travelling.
Computing requirements
- Primary device – A desktop or laptop computer. It’s possible to access some materials on a mobile phone, tablet or Chromebook; however, they will not be suitable as your primary device.
- Our OU Study app operates on supported versions of Android and iOS.
- Operating systems – Windows 11 or latest supported macOS. Microsoft will no longer support Windows 10 as of 14 October 2025.
- Internet access – Broadband or mobile connection.
Teaching and assessment
Assessment
You’ll take part in weekly tasks and discussions with co-learners to support and consolidate your learning. Towards the end of the course, you’ll submit a project or assessment demonstrating the skills you’ve acquired. This will be marked and graded by subject matter experts and make up 100% of your final mark.
Study support
- Learn 100% online on the OU’s learning platform with a mix of video, audio and written materials
- Engage in interactive learning through self-assessment questions, polls, tasks and reflection
- Share ideas and experiences in discussion with other learners, building skills, confidence and knowledge
- Receive support from mentors who guide discussions and answer questions
- Study at a time that suits you with the flexibility to access the course from your desktop, tablet or mobile device
What you will gain
15 UK credits at postgraduate level from The Open University*. Academic credits are awarded on passing the final assessment. These will be at postgraduate level 7 of the Framework for Higher Education (England, Wales and Northern Ireland) / level 11 of the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework.
*Academic credit may be used towards selected OU qualifications. For more details, including eligible qualifications, visit Counting microcredentials towards OU qualifications. The credit awarded may also be used at another university, subject to the agreement of the receiving institution.
Students also studied
Students who studied this module also studied at some time:
Future availability
Online teaching: embedding social, race, and gender-related equity typically starts twice a year – in March and October. This page describes the microcredential that will begin in October 2025.
How to register
To register a place on this module return to the top of the page and use the Click to register button.
Regulations
As a student of The Open University, you should be aware of the content of the academic regulations which are available on our
Student Policies and Regulations website.