Building Culturally Sustaining and Universally Designed Literacy in Online Education

Digital learning has permanently changed how educators think about inclusion, access, and representation. The rapid move toward online and hybrid learning environments has revealed an urgent truth. If education is to serve all learners, its digital spaces must reflect human diversity, not erase it. Paris and Alim (2017) provides a powerful framework for how educators can merge culturally sustaining pedagogy and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to create online environments that are accessible, equitable, and relational.

The authors explain that culturally sustaining pedagogy, or CSP, is not about adding diversity as an optional topic. It is about affirming and sustaining the linguistic and cultural practices of all students. Universal Design for Learning, or UDL, complements this by ensuring that learners have multiple ways to engage, represent, and express understanding. When integrated, these frameworks create the foundation for an educational experience that values difference as a resource for collective learning rather than a problem to be managed.

Reflecting on this study as a nurse educator, I am struck by how its insights transcend traditional teacher education. In both healthcare and higher education, the challenge remains the same. How do we design learning environments that are flexible, inclusive, and culturally responsive while maintaining professional standards?

Integrating Culturally Sustaining and Universal Design

The authors of the study explored how teacher candidates in an online literacy methods course used the Presence and Experience Framework to develop deeper awareness of equity. Teaching presence, social presence, and cognitive presence all contributed to a holistic model of learning. Teaching presence referred to how instructors intentionally structured learning activities that modelled UDL and CSP. Social presence referred to the relationships and sense of belonging built among learners. Cognitive presence represented the process of constructing meaning through reflection and collaboration.

This triad has direct relevance to nursing education. In online clinical simulations or hybrid theory courses, these forms of presence can either support or hinder student engagement. If the learning design privileges only certain ways of communicating or demonstrating understanding, students from diverse linguistic or cultural backgrounds can feel invisible. By contrast, when educators design activities that allow for multiple means of participation and recognize cultural identities as strengths, students experience belonging and empowerment.

The study described activities such as asynchronous annotations and digital book clubs that allowed candidates to analyze literacy practices in real classrooms. These tools encouraged reflective discussion, collective noticing, and critique of inequitable systems. Similarly, in nursing education, online debriefs and shared reflection boards can allow learners to unpack cultural assumptions in patient care scenarios.

When both frameworks work together, the classroom becomes a dynamic site of equity rather than conformity. Students learn to question not only what they learn but how they learn.

Relevance to Nursing Education

In clinical education, equity is not abstract. It is lived every day in the interactions between healthcare providers and patients. Nursing students encounter people from diverse racial, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds. Yet, if their education is designed through a one-size-fits-all model, the result is inequitable preparation for real practice.

Applying the lessons from this study, nurse educators can use UDL and CSP principles to ensure that online learning reflects the complexity of the clinical world. For example, simulation scenarios can include culturally diverse patient narratives and allow students to choose how they demonstrate understanding. One learner might prefer to create a care plan using a visual mind map, while another might record a verbal reflection. These flexible assessments embody UDL’s principle of multiple means of expression.

Culturally sustaining pedagogy would push this further by ensuring that the cases themselves honor the lived realities of the communities nurses serve. Instead of standardizing all patients into uniform scripts, educators can invite students to co-create case studies that reflect authentic social and cultural contexts. This approach not only sustains cultural identity but also builds professional empathy.

By linking the Presence and Experience Framework to nursing, educators can also strengthen professional relationships in online and hybrid environments. A strong teaching presence, as the authors suggest, is necessary before cognitive presence can flourish. This mirrors how trust and psychological safety are prerequisites for effective clinical learning. Students who feel seen, valued, and respected are more willing to take intellectual and emotional risks, which are essential for critical reflection.

Moving from Awareness to Action

The study highlights that inclusion does not emerge automatically from good intentions. It must be designed. Teacher candidates initially expressed uncertainty about how to enact equity in digital contexts. Through structured learning experiences, they began to see that inclusivity is a pedagogical skill that can be learned, practiced, and refined.

This same transformation applies to nurse educators and healthcare leaders. Awareness of inequity is not enough. Educators must move from recognition to reconstruction. For example, a faculty member might recognize that certain students struggle with long online lectures due to attention fatigue or second-language processing. Rather than viewing this as a student deficit, the educator can redesign the course to include shorter modules, transcripts, and alternative formats.

Baker and Hawn (2022) remind us that bias and inequity are often encoded into systems long before humans interact with them. The study on culturally sustaining pedagogy reinforces this idea by showing that equity must be built into the foundation of design, not retrofitted as accommodation.

This requires a mindset shift. Instead of asking how to make exceptions for certain learners, educators should ask how to create flexible systems that expect variability.

Digital Learning as an Ethical Space

Digital environments are not neutral. They carry the same power dynamics and hierarchies that exist offline. The authors emphasize that online education can either reproduce inequities or disrupt them. The determining factor is design.

For nursing education, this means viewing online spaces as ethical spaces where technology meets humanity. Every decision about platform, activity, and assessment communicates values about who belongs. If the course design privileges speed, precision, and linear communication, it favors a narrow view of competence. If it incorporates reflection, collaboration, and multiple modalities, it signals that all learners bring valuable perspectives.

The study’s examples of asynchronous collaboration offer powerful lessons for healthcare training. Many nursing students balance employment, caregiving, and other responsibilities. Asynchronous tools can provide access and flexibility, allowing participation that respects diverse life contexts. However, asynchronous design should not mean isolation. It must intentionally cultivate social presence through interaction and community-building.

These ideas also extend to professional development for nurses and clinical staff. Online continuing education can be reimagined as collaborative knowledge-building rather than passive consumption. Discussion forums, reflective prompts, and storytelling spaces can mirror the presence framework, reinforcing equity and connection across roles and hierarchies.

Universal Design as Professional Practice

The integration of UDL in teacher education has clear parallels in nursing. Both fields require practitioners to tailor their communication to diverse audiences. Just as teachers differentiate instruction, nurses adapt care to individual needs. Universal Design for Learning models this adaptability.

When nurse educators design lessons using UDL, they model the professional flexibility expected in clinical practice. For instance, providing visual aids, transcripts, and interactive simulations supports learners with varied cognitive and sensory preferences. This not only improves learning outcomes but also reinforces inclusive habits that carry into patient care.

The study underscores that UDL and CSP must be enacted together. Accessibility without cultural awareness risks perpetuating neutrality, which can hide systemic inequity. Cultural responsiveness without attention to accessibility can still exclude those with disabilities or learning differences. The fusion of the two ensures that equity operates on both social and structural levels.

This approach mirrors the holistic nature of nursing, which integrates biological, psychological, social, and spiritual care. Educators who practice this integration teach inclusivity not as an abstract theory but as a lived ethic of care.

From Theory to Transformation

The presence and experience framework used in the study offers a roadmap for educators seeking transformation. Teaching presence represents intentional design, social presence fosters relational trust, and cognitive presence deepens reflection. In practice, these forms of presence are interdependent.

For example, an online nursing course that opens with personal introductions and reflective check-ins builds social presence. When the instructor designs collaborative case studies that invite diverse perspectives, teaching presence reinforces inclusion. Over time, cognitive presence develops as students integrate these experiences into their clinical reasoning.

This progression shows that equitable learning is not a single action but a sustained culture. It requires continuous dialogue and adaptation.

The authors also note that discussions of equity often create discomfort. However, discomfort is not a sign of failure. It signals growth. In nursing education, this mirrors the emotional labor of learning about cultural safety and systemic health inequities. Educators must hold space for that discomfort while guiding students toward constructive action.

Real-world transformation happens when inclusive pedagogy becomes institutional practice. Program leaders can adopt the integrated CSP-UDL model to guide curriculum review, hiring, and policy. This systemic application ensures that inclusivity is not dependent on individual champions but embedded into organizational DNA.

The Critical Question

How can educators and institutions move from performative inclusion to transformative inclusion that reshapes systems rather than simply diversifying participation?

Transformative inclusion requires both structural change and personal accountability. It begins with recognizing that inequity is not accidental but systemic. Educators must examine the assumptions underlying curricula, assessment, and technology use. For instance, who is represented in case studies? Whose knowledge is considered authoritative?

Real solutions demand collective action. Institutions can establish equity focused design labs that bring together educators, students, and community members to co-create learning materials. Faculty development programs can include ongoing mentorship on UDL and CSP integration rather than one-time workshops. Evaluation processes can measure not only learning outcomes but also belonging and engagement.

In the real world, this also means confronting tensions between efficiency and equity. Technology often promises speed and standardization, yet justice requires patience. Balancing these forces is the defining challenge of 21st-century education.

Educators who model critical compassion, flexibility, and reflection prepare students not just to succeed in professional settings but to change them. When inclusion becomes a shared ethical practice rather than a checklist, education fulfills its democratic promise.

Conclusion

The paper on developing culturally sustaining and universally designed literacy practices reminds educators that true innovation lies not in technology itself but in how we use it to honor human diversity. When Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy and Universal Design for Learning intersect, the result is an education that reflects the complexity of the world it serves.

For nursing education, this integration is more than pedagogical. It is ethical. It means preparing future nurses to provide equitable, culturally safe care in a healthcare system that often struggles with bias and access. By designing learning environments that are flexible, relational, and inclusive, educators cultivate professionals who see diversity as strength and equity as practice.

Ultimately, equity in education mirrors equity in care. Both require awareness, empathy, and courage to redesign systems that no longer fit the needs of the present. Through the thoughtful integration of CSP, UDL, and the Presence and Experience Framework, educators can lead this transformation one learning experience at a time.

Personal Reflection

Therefore, how can educators sustain culturally responsive and universally designed learning in digital environments when institutional systems often prioritize efficiency and standardization over human connection and adaptability?

True inclusion demands courage to resist institutional inertia. The study by Rabinowitz and Tondreau (2022) shows that culturally sustaining pedagogy and universal design for learning can only thrive when educators design with presence, flexibility, and reflection at the core. Yet the same systems that demand accountability and measurable outcomes often undermine the slow, relational work of inclusion. When an institution values standardization more than connection, educators must intentionally disrupt the assumption that one structure can serve all learners.

The most powerful response begins with design justice. Educators can center marginalized voices from the beginning of the design process by inviting students to co-create learning pathways, assessment methods, and even course norms. This approach transforms learners from passive recipients into active contributors. In practice, a nursing instructor might co-design a simulation case with students that reflects cultural nuances in communication or care preferences. Doing so not only honors diversity but also deepens critical thinking, as learners must connect theory to real-world complexity.

The next layer is reflective infrastructure. Institutions should embed reflection into every digital course as both a pedagogical and evaluative process. Rather than assessing success through completion rates or test averages, reflection prompts can capture learner growth in cultural awareness, empathy, and collaboration. In nursing education, these reflections might focus on how students negotiated differences in beliefs or communication styles during online discussions or clinical scenarios. Reflection creates space for the kind of noticing that leads to transformation.

Another solution is professional autonomy with accountability to values. Educators should be empowered to adapt digital tools, assignments, and schedules in response to learners’ needs. Rabinowitz and Tondreau (2022) emphasize that culturally sustaining pedagogy requires bending the curriculum toward the learner. This flexibility models the same patient-centered approach expected in clinical care. For example, an educator who adjusts assignment formats to include audio or visual submissions demonstrates that inclusion is a professional judgment, not a bureaucratic accommodation.

Finally, leaders must redefine efficiency as equity. When equity becomes the metric of success, systems begin to evolve. Program reviews can include indicators such as student belonging, representation in course materials, and the diversity of ways learning is expressed. Faculty mentorship programs can reward experimentation and reflective redesign rather than replication of outdated models.

The digital future of education will be defined not by its speed or scale but by its capacity to honor the full spectrum of human experience. When educators apply culturally sustaining pedagogy and universal design with integrity and adaptability, they demonstrate that equity is not a trend but a professional ethic. In doing so, they transform both education and the systems that support it.

References:

Baker, R. S., & Hawn, A. (2022). Algorithmic Bias in Education. International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education, 32(4), 1052–1092. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40593-021-00285-9

New London Group (1996). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. Harvard educational review, 66(1), 60-92.

Paris, D., & Alim, H. S. (Eds.). (2017). Culturally sustaining pedagogies : teaching and learning for justice in a changing world (Chapter 1). Teachers College Press.

Rabinowitz, L., & Tondreau, A. (2022). Fostering culturally sustaining practice and universal design for learning: digital lesson annotation and critical book clubs in literacy teacher education. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 22(1), 26-62. https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/219584/.