chap 7 concept map

http://mywebspiration.com/view/312419a1df70

distance learning analysis

I read a study by Bernard, Abrami, Borokhovski, Wad, Tamim, Surkes and Bethel (2009) which did a meta-analysis on Moore's three types of interaction in distance education. They looked at 6,000 studies and after refining their definitions of what they required of the study to be included, they analyzed 74 of these studies. What they discovered was that if student-content interaction was high quality and either student-teacher interaction or student-student interaction was moderate, the student learning would be positively affected. The student-content interaction was key. At least one other method of interaction needed to be included at a moderate quality.

ways of knowing

Chapter 7 introduces the idea that there are different ways of knowing. Science is looking for facts -- factual knowledge. But participatory action research is not just looking for facts. The author, Peter Park is drawing a picture that this type of discovery is much more like hermeneutics -- which I understand. My cousin, Norm Arnensen was the toughest professor at Bethany Bible College because he taught hermeneutics and demanded that his student used the proper steps in arriving at their interpretation of scripture. You not only need to know what the original language said, but the entire context in which it was spoken . . . cultural, situational and relational. This is also like the process that lawyers go through to prove their points in court based on legal precedents. The other analogy that Park ties to this is the Chinese language . . . which I found so fascinating. The classical Chinese letters are not letters at all, but symbols that are put together to convey an action. The symbol is more like a stop sign or a bathroom sign, telling the reader something they should do. Their whole language is action oriented rather than abstract thought or ideas conveyed by letters of an alphabet. I remember when Leighton and I were in Japan and I was looking at a book about the Japanese language and how they had three ways to write a message -- they could use classical Chinese figures, Japanese figures which looked a lot like chinese symbols and then they had a more modern Japanese alphabet system which most people understood and used today. Participatory action research uses relational knowledge which emphasizes community and common sense knowing in order to discover the actions that must be taken.

three types of interaction within the online learning environment:

1. learner -- teacher interaction via webex meetings

2. learner -- content interaction via questions to be answered through reading/resources

3. learner -- learner interaction via discussion forums, either blackboard or webex meetings

Intercultural competence domains

Munoz, Dobroka & Mohammad listed five:

1. Cultural awareness

2. Cultural knowledge

3. Cultural skills

4. Cultural encounter

5. Cultural desire

Sercu listed four:

1. knowledge

2. skills

3. attitudes

4. traits

Byram listed four "savoir"s

1. Savior-comprendre

2. Savoir-apprendre/faire

3. Savoir-s'engager

4. Savoir-etre

Arasaratnam listed five:

1. empathy

2. motivation

3. attitude toward other cultures

4. experience

5. listening

interactive learning

In looking at the articles that I found through the Fielding Library search, I discovered many articles that described various assessments to be used to determine the amount of intercultural competence an individual possesses.

common to many of these articles are:

-- IDI Intercultural Development Inventory which is based on Bennett's DMIS developmental model of intercultural sensitivity

-- MES Multicultural Teacher Efficacy Scale (Guyton & Wesche)

-- TES Teacher Efficacy Scale (Gibson & Dembo)

-- MDI Multicultural Dispositions Index (Thompson)

There was also a great article by Lies Sercu which outlined the criteria by which a research can examine an assessment tool for its quality.

Course construction ideas

I read an article by Robert Weigl that discussed his construction of an open ended course for intercultural competence which was used by the Peace Corps and the U.S. State Department's Foreign Service Institute. He constructed a course that uses as a text, McGoldrick, Giordano and Garcia-Preto (Eds.) (2005). Ethnicity and family therapy, 3rd Ed. The only assignment is that the student completes a 2400 word paper that focuses on how the student, their family and their larger cultural reality is described from 8 different conceptual patterns.

Weigl strongly upholds the idea that the process of self-discovery will open a larger door of cultural awareness that will lead the learner to further examination of other cultures and understanding.