Getting “Girly” Online

Abstract

While MOOCs and other fully online educational spaces and tools continue to proliferate at institutions of higher education, some worry over a persistent gender gap in online learning (Paul, 2014; Straumsheim, 2013). As debate continues regarding the existence of a digital gender divide, the perception of the gap may be enough to give female learners the idea that digital learning spaces are not for them. Females particularly may be silenced in MOOCs and other online spaces not by instructors or fellow learners, but by cultural expectations. I offer here reflections on two fully online girlhood studies courses interrogating notions of gender performance, norms, and scripts as successful models for positioning gender disparity as a teaching tool rather than a barrier to learning. The piece ends with six recommendations—most rooted in feminist pedagogy—for making MOOCs more welcoming to all genders and learners.