Assessing the scholarship of curriculum practices and the lived experiences of postgraduate students in a higher learning space

Abstract

Curriculum reform has revolved from production-based to knowledge-based. This trajectory compelled reformists to be deliberate in generating knowledge toward globalized curriculum practices that value humanity for good. This empirical paper reflected on the lived experiences of postgraduate students in a higher learning institution in their becoming. Postgraduate students are expected to complete their studies by working in a space buffeted by silo-thinking, academic jealousy, and volatile relations. This study attempted to answer the following question. What curriculum practices and innovations can make the world a better place for all? Africana Critical Theory was used to make sense of the lived experiences of a postgraduate student. Eight postgraduate students registered for masters and doctoral studies, and five supervisory teams, operating through multiple artificial intelligence in the form of the Yammer tool ranging from smartphones, laptops were engaged numerous times to enable sharing, expressing, and showing casing their new emergent identity in a virtual participatory action research approach, online discussion. Webinars were the primary source for generating data. The generated data was recorded and automatically generated into text through Fireflies’ software. Critical Discourse Analysis was used to arrive at the following findings: Curriculum practices unraveled the hidden curriculum that humans in our current state, that cybernetics exists around us, and in simpler forms than futuristic visions. Cyberspace has created profound variations in human consciousness and social identity. These findings imply that second-life realities are beneficial in a postgraduate context.