Honoring Diverse Holidays In Your eLearning Course

Did you know that highly specific holiday references in an eLearning course can unintentionally exclude learners who don’t observe the same holiday? If holidays are presented under a single cultural lens, it could signal that the course is built for some people more than others. So, how do you avoid that in an online classroom with a global reach and a diverse audience? The key is to integrate holiday inclusivity thoughtfully into your offerings. Leverage this festive period as an opportunity to take stock and re-evaluate how holiday elements are used in your course so that the learning environment remains welcoming to everyone throughout the year.

Why Holiday Inclusivity Matters

Historically, seasonal curriculum design choices often focused on the most prominent holiday in the region, making the content unintentionally exclusionary for learners who didn’t observe said holiday. With a globally growing appetite for personalization, this practice is becoming less frequent, but it’s still important to avoid repeating past mistakes. Everything rests on the design choices, which should cater to your specific audience.

The benefits are clear if you go the holiday inclusivity route. Acknowledging learners’ identities and cultural practices contributes to better outcomes, deeper engagement, and a more supportive learning environment. Inclusive festive practices also aid in building empathy and stronger, more meaningful communication and collaboration.

Of course, to avoid missteps, the exploration of various holidays must take place in connection with their culture-specific concepts of worldview, society, and community. This is so learners can examine how symbolism works, what values holidays carry, and how they are connected to identity and history, and ultimately avoid reproducing superficial or tokenistic representations.

Finally, if there’s just too much ground to cover and not enough time, instead of singling out specific holidays, you can always choose to decenter them completely from your course. Neutrality is an option that’s still inclusive in this context, because it doesn’t spotlight one holiday as the default. Let’s see some holiday inclusivity tips that blend both of these approaches.

Tips To Make Your eLearning Course Inclusive For Diverse Holidays

Learn About Your Learners

It’s always a good practice to find out more about your learners so you can tailor your offerings. Use a poll or a survey to ask your learners about their holiday preferences and whether they observe any. Do they welcome classroom celebrations or prefer neutrality? This gives you data to make informed decisions, and that is always better than assumptions.

Make Language And Imagery Inclusive/Neutral

Language and imagery shape learners’ perceptions of the learning environment, so respectful representations are paramount. When referring to holidays in your course materials, use inclusive/neutral language rather than assuming everyone observes the same holiday. When it comes to imagery, create visuals that reference nature, light, or abstract patterns and don’t imply that one holiday represents all learners. Even small design choices carry cultural meaning, and this can greatly influence learners’ sense of belonging in your course.

Select Examples And Scenarios Thoughtfully

Holiday-themed examples, scenarios, or case studies are engaging and add great value to your eLearning offerings, but there are things you should consider before selecting which you’ll include. When all examples draw from a single holiday, the learning content may feel narrow, biased, or exclusionary. You can avoid that and go the holiday inclusivity route by presenting examples that either rotate across multiple holidays and traditions or focus on universally relevant themes. All in all, it’s essential that you provide both educational and respectful content.

Try Voluntary Cultural Sharing

Learners bring valuable cultural knowledge. Invite them to share their festive traditions to enrich the learning experience and foster peer communication. Structured cultural exchange encourages empathy and reduces biases, especially when learners speak from personal experiences. Just make sure to establish participation as optional and avoid asking learners to disclose personal information. Some may enjoy discussing their traditions, while others may prefer not to. For those who don’t wish to share, include alternative activities with equal learning value to create an environment where learners feel that their choices are respected.

Prioritize Flexibility In All Aspects

Your learners may celebrate different holidays or none, and may follow traditions with which you are unfamiliar. They may be in different time zones. Festive seasons may impact their responsibilities, schedules, and duties differently. They may observe holidays at different times or for different durations. Need we say more about why flexibility is essential for holiday inclusivity?

As previously mentioned, designing your course around a single holiday can unintentionally signal that this holiday is the default. A more inclusive approach would be to use seasonal or thematic framing that’s flexible in interpretation. Furthermore, schedule flexibility should be a top priority. Asynchronous participation, extended deadlines, or alternative assignment formats are great ideas for structuring your offerings so that external commitments don’t become barriers to your learners’ learning. And your course doesn’t become a barrier to their celebrations.

Additional Considerations To Keep In Mind

Global Calendar

Not all holidays fall within Western end-of-year calendars. Sure, you cannot realistically redesign your eLearning course to celebrate every holiday in the right manner, but you can show awareness by acknowledging these events on the course calendar. Even a brief announcement or pop-up message can make a difference in fostering holiday inclusivity and appreciation for your learners.

Avoid The Tourism Approach

Authentic holiday inclusivity in the classroom requires staying clear of the “tourist curriculum” that highlights food, flags, and festivals and doesn’t address the deeper cultural dimensions. For true inclusivity, your eLearning course should present diverse holidays without extracting them from their meaning and without reducing meaningful cultural symbols to decorative graphics.

Well-Being Support

The holiday season can amplify stress and bring out negative experiences for your learners. Acknowledge the emotional dimensions of the season by sending short check-in messages or refreshers on online support services they can access during the holidays or year-round. Just remember that it’s important to show you’re supportive and empathetic of your learners’ experiences, whether or not they’re feeling “jolly.”

Alternative Activities For Learners Who Do Not Observe Holidays

Finally, some of your learners may not celebrate any holiday during this or any other season. Therefore, you should provide them with some non-holiday-related activities. For example, reflective or research-oriented tasks, cultural learning activities, and creative projects allow all your learners to engage meaningfully with your eLearning course without feeling pressured for not observing a specific holiday.

Aim For Inclusivity Beyond The Holidays

This list of tips is definitely not exhaustive, but it shows that fostering holiday inclusivity is as possible and realistic as it is essential. Beyond the festivities, holidays are opportunities for reflection, knowledge sharing, creativity, and connection, even if one doesn’t partake in specific celebrations. Let’s create eLearning courses that accommodate that.