Enhancing and humanizing virtual courses through culturally responsive curriculum

Higher education is experiencing two intersecting shifts, including growth in virtual learning and an increased number of students of color accessing higher education. COVID-19 introduced a sudden pedagogical shift to online learning that forced both students and faculty to adapt. To better support students engaging in virtual learning, faculty, including the authors, turned to culturally responsive curriculum, such as culturally relevant pedagogy and critical race curriculum, to ensure they were humanizing their students and not further marginalizing them. This chapter identifies culturally responsive practices that faculty, those that teach virtually, inperson and in a hybrid format, can draw upon to enhance and humanize the virtual learning experience.