A Conceptual Exploration

Listen or Read

In a cultural learning community that functions like a collaborative cultural wiki, the content emerges directly from the students rather than from teacher-selected topics. The central idea is that each learner contributes cultural knowledge they consider meaningful, using formats that allow them to express their identity authentically. Instead of defining content in advance, the community invites students to share experiences, memories, languages, traditions, and perspectives that reflect how they see themselves and the world. What becomes relevant is not determined by a checklist, but by the value each contribution holds for the contributor and for the collective learning process.

Student Agency and Cultural Representation

Content is guided by the principle of personal agency. Research in British Columbia’s educational context demonstrates that student voice and choice are fundamental to culturally responsive pedagogy, particularly within the framework of the Positive Personal and Cultural Identity core competency, which recognizes that students’ personal and cultural narratives shape their identity and learning experiences (British Columbia Ministry of Education, 2023). Students choose what aspects of their cultural background they want to highlight—whether these are visible traditions or more subtle elements such as communication patterns, family routines, beliefs, humor, celebrations, migration stories, or community practices. This autonomy allows learners to decide what represents them best and what they feel comfortable sharing.

The BC curriculum framework emphasizes that personalized learning acknowledges that not all students learn successfully at the same rate, in the same learning environment, and in the same ways, and involves provision of high-quality learning opportunities that meet diverse student needs while giving students choices in what and how they learn (British Columbia Ministry of Education, 2023). Because contributions are voluntary and student-driven, the resulting content reflects a rich mosaic of cultural expressions that cannot be predetermined by curriculum expectations.

Multimodal Expression and Digital Literacies

The variety of formats is equally important. A cultural wiki welcomes contributions in any form that supports meaningful expression. Students may upload videos, record oral histories, display photos, write descriptions, share playlists, document recipes, create artworks, or present digital artifacts connected to their lived experiences. Educational research confirms that multimodal approaches to learning honor diverse student strengths and support engagement across linguistic and cultural backgrounds (Early & Marshall, 2008). The flexibility of the platform encourages creativity and ensures that students can share culture in ways that align with their linguistic resources, comfort levels, and preferred modes of communication.

Indigenous and Canadian educational contexts demonstrate that storytelling creates a climate responsive to individual classroom needs while making connections to prior and new learning, and that storytelling in its many varied forms provides analogies and connections to ideas that students can understand, making learning meaningful and transformative (Empowering the Spirit, 2022).

Authenticity and Lived Experience

Relevance is defined by authenticity and connection. Content becomes meaningful when it helps the learning community understand how culture shapes identity, communication, and ways of relating to others. A short audio clip of a family phrase, a drawing inspired by a childhood memory, or a description of a community gathering all provide insight into how students experience the world. Scholars emphasize that culturally responsive pedagogy involves using the cultural knowledge, prior experiences, frames of reference and performance styles of ethnically diverse students to make learning encounters more relevant and effective for them (Gay, 2018). Because each contribution is rooted in lived experience, the cultural wiki becomes a space where cultural knowledge is not abstract or generalized, but personal and grounded.

Paris and Alim (2017) argue that culturally sustaining pedagogy requires educators to recognize students as holders of valuable cultural knowledge that enriches classroom learning, moving beyond tolerance to actively sustaining the cultural practices and ways of being of diverse communities.

Collaborative Knowledge Construction

Collaboration plays a key role in determining which content gains significance. Students can respond to, ask questions about, or build on one another’s contributions, creating threads of shared understanding. This interaction transforms the wiki into a living space where cultural knowledge is co-constructed. Research on collaborative learning demonstrates that the Core Competencies are often interconnected and foundational to all learning, with students developing competencies when engaged in the “doing” within a learning area, and that discussing competencies with peers, teachers, and family deepens students’ understanding and helps them identify personal strengths (British Columbia Ministry of Education, 2023). What matters is not just what each student uploads but how the group engages with the content, noticing similarities, appreciating differences, and recognizing connections across cultural backgrounds.

Cummins (2021) emphasizes that peer interaction in culturally diverse classrooms deepens cultural understanding and builds intercultural competence when students engage authentically with each other’s contributions, particularly when multilingual learners are recognized as bringing valuable linguistic and cultural resources to the learning community.

The Teacher’s Facilitative Role

In this model, the teacher’s role is not to dictate content but to maintain an environment where students feel safe, respected, and supported as they choose what to share. Educational research emphasizes that culturally responsive teaching must be situated within a particular context, meaningful to the members of the learning community (Gay, 2018). The BC framework for diversity in schools reinforces this approach by emphasizing that inclusive education requires creating learning environments where all students see themselves reflected and valued (British Columbia Ministry of Education & Child Care, 2024). The content grows organically, shaped by students’ interests, identities, and the evolving dynamics of the community. The result is a cultural learning space that mirrors the diversity of the classroom and values every student as a contributor, storyteller, and cultural knowledge holder.

Check the knowledge

Week Outcome

In Week 4, students move from understanding “who participates” to defining “what content matters” within a Cultural Learning Community. Here, they take charge of selecting, curating, and expressing the cultural elements they believe are meaningful—traditions, language, values, humour, foodways, migration stories, or creative practices. The activities help students identify which cultural contributions best represent them and begin organizing these materials into themes. This week builds a foundation for content creation and curation, allowing students to see the richness of cultural knowledge and how it can be represented through multiple formats and media.