Final Paper

ABSTRACT -- Drafter: Miguel; Reviewer: Bud
Immigration is changing the composition of student and teaching bodies of American educational institutions. Online education enables our universities to reach learners located outside their traditional markets, foreign institutions are increasingly providing educational services to learners in America. This paper focuses on the challenges and opportunities that these changes are creating for multicultural online teaching and learning - particularly with regard to learning needs - and the implications for social networking and education and training.

INTRODUCTION -- Drafter: Alex; Reviewer: Lina
A multicultural online learning community needs to be approached with care, respect and dignity. As indicated by the word multicultural, a multi-facited, diverse approach needs to be implemented to address the various considerations of such a program. One of the many critical points includes the greater variations in learner needs and styles, which now stem from an increase in globalization and the rapid transition of human movement, that has taken place around the world. Understanding that human behavior varies from culture to culture, an online facilitator must become aware of both the similarities and the differences of these cultures and address the unique needs with significant effort and understanding.

Social networking within a multicultural online learning community is another key element which will enhance the benefits of this opportunity. While the corporate world is familiar with how valuable networking has become, the higher education world has historically valued the social aspects of learning. Combining these two approaches will present the social networking implications for the two worlds and promote multicultural learning through a series of comparable elements. Within either environment, outreach, collaboration and social growth will be the primary results, with extraordinary benefits to participants. Outreach within higher education can include exposing students to various cultures, while the corporate world can take advantage of cultural differences to enhance a true team approach. Collaboration will entice participants to learn from each other by addressing and negotiating through differences, while at the same time, similarities will become the building blocks for potential growth.

The implications for both higher education and the corporate world point to the diversity of human capital. A multicultural approach to online learning needs to include a diverse faculty and training staff. Through these diverse hiring efforts, learners will become enriched in not only the curriculum, but also in the ways the curriculum is presented. The delivery of such diverse curriculum is based on the diverse experiences of the facilitators and will more likely have a greater impact on the learner, as they will build through this knowledge through understanding, personal comparison and reflection.

LITERATURE REVIEW -- Drafter: Miguel; Reviewer: Alex
Even if a teacher had a roomful of all "white", English-speaking students born in the United States, that teacher would still have a multicultural class. Actually, limited English speaking children often bring to the classroom cultural adjustment issues, and teachers have to make choices when managing the classroom in order to promote effective and efficient learning. (Dunn & Adkins, n.d.)

While many elementary educators support multicultural development and genuinely try to incorporate diverse cultural issues into the curriculum, some widespread misconceptions hinder the process. (Aldridge & Calhoun, 2000)

Research suggests, (a) there is a link between what students believe terms such as “learning" and "understanding" mean and the strategies they employ to undertake specific learning tasks (Gordon, Cantwell & Moore, 1998), and (b) there are cross-cultural differences in online collaborative behaviors among learners (Kim & Bonk, 2002). Therefore, teachers who facilitate online collaboration among multicultural students need to be aware of cultural differences in the learners’ online collaborative behaviors, and such differences need to be taken into account to foster online collaboration among culturally diverse learners. In countries like Australia, government policies and the social and economic context are pressuring universities to attract more international students and to internationalize their curricula. In response, these institutions have formulated strategies and developed resources to assist staff to support the internationalization of teaching and learning, including guidelines on structural options and pathways for course design and strategies for including international content. They are also developing – with the contributions of international students - a range of teaching and learning processes designed to assist all students in developing international perspectives. (Leask, 2001)

An increasingly robust body of literature suggests both positive and negative implications of knowledge delivery using computer-mediated education. However, much less is known about the implications of this delivery method relative to the cultural differences which exist in a geographically limitless environment. Results confirm some of the published benefits as touted in the literature, but identify an additional set of issues for further research and evaluation. (Morse, 2003)

This article discusses some of the most cost-effective and appropriate ways to use computers, video, and telecommunications technologies to advance the authors’ Seven Principles. (Chickering & Ehrmann, n.d.)

Cultural Connections is a model for implementing constructivist, intercultural distance learning partnerships. This article describes research and development on cultural connections via telecommunications with-- a middle school partnership within Texas, a fourth-grade connection between Texas and Mexico, and a connection between university students in Texas and Taiwan. In these three partnerships, students expanded their worldviews. The partnerships were designed to facilitate world citizenship for all participants. Respect for differences and similarities among learners fundamentally infused the activities. In the three Cultural Connections partnerships, bonds were established and strengthened among members of intercultural learning communities through curricular activities facilitated by telecommunications. (Cifuentes & Murphy, 2000)

This paper explores inclusive practices in instructional design and discusses why inclusive design is important for marginalized groups, and how it benefits all learners. Finally, it notes some strategies that instructional designers and other educators can use to make the learning environment more inclusive. (Dyjur, n.d.)

This study explores the exegesis of two beginning teachers in a teacher preparation and development, Web-based distance learning course in global/multicultural pedagogy; it examines their experiences around the issue of convergence, suggesting generative themes that emerge from their interpretation of the course. The author uses the experiences of these beginning teachers to raise questions for further inquiry about the convergence of distance learning and global/multicultural learning in teacher education. (Gaudelli, 2006)

This article discusses the issues surrounding the transfer of a traditional face-to-face course to an eLearning environment, and how this significant shift in learning environments translates into maintaining the quality of learning objectives. While recognizing and understanding the strengths and weaknesses of our teaching styles and curricular philosophies, educators can make informed decisions about what will work within our online courses. (Jones, 2005)

In this article, the authors examine the Shoah Project, which uses multimedia to document the experiences of Holocaust survivors, and demonstrate the way it makes historical events vivid and compelling in the contemporary moment. They also argue that effective use of multimedia in the teaching of history, religion, and multiculturalism requires historical contextualization, attention to media literacy skills, and an engaging classroom presentation. (Hammer & Kellner, 2001)

This paper addresses the questions: Can online courses match traditional face-to-face (F2F) courses in academic quality and rigor? Can online courses achieve the same learning objectives as F2F courses? Can students learn as much and as well online as they do in F2F courses? It claims that the answer to these questions a resounding "yes." Furthermore, it identifies ten areas in which the author believes online courses may actually surpass traditional F2F classes, namely, student-centered learning and faculty development and rejuvenation. (Kassop, 2003)

In tertiary contexts, Web-based instruction may be tailored to the needs of a particular cultural group, and recognize the specific learning needs, preferences and styles of learners. At a time when open learning markets are very competitive, many WWW sites are developed with an international audience in mind. The internationalization of education has led to the development of two distinct types of WWW sites, (i) those made for one particular context and culture, but visited by a global audience, and (ii) those made specifically for cross-cultural participation. An investigation of these sites reveals many different learning features and instructional design paradigms. Sites aiming for cross cultural participation and seeking a bridge to multiculturalism need to take certain design features into consideration, and utilize culturally appropriate forms of instructional design (ID). A critique of current ID approaches shows that many lack the depth and scope to enable them to provide culturally inclusive learning, and it is that proposed that cultural contextualization is important in the design of learning. At the same time, WWW sites that aim for cultural portability of courseware need to adopt cross-cultural design features that ensure access by culturally diverse learners. The contrasting orientations and pedagogic features of culture-specific as opposed to cross-cultural sites are discussed and the implications for design are considered. At the same time, WWW sites that aim for cultural portability of courseware need to adopt cross-cultural design features that ensure access by culturally diverse learners. This paper offers a framework for culturally inclusive teaching and curriculum that can be applied to online environments. The term ‘inclusive curriculum’ as used in this paper refers to curriculum content, as well as the processes of planning for appropriate teaching, learning and assessment practices. Inclusivity in Web-based learning is concerned with facilitating the best educational outcomes for all students, regardless of characteristics such as ethnicity, language and cultural background. (McLoughlin, 1999, 2001)

In this article the author reports on specific instances of cross-cultural learning that she has found to be associated with her use of online technologies. She addresses two basic questions about online learning: How does the facelessness of threaded discussions, chats, and online assignments affect teachers’ learning and teaching about other cultures? About prejudice, privilege, and multiple perspectives? How can specific online tools or strategies contribute to teachers’ development of world-mindedness? (Merryfield, 2003)

The article explores applications of multimedia, interactive, Internet, and web-based electronic tools to multicultural teaching. It introduces how technology can be used as a tool to integrate principles and practices of multicultural education through the Internet, World Wide Web, and multimedia in education. (Sleeter & Tettagah, 2002)

LEARNING NEEDS -- Drafter: Lina; Reviewer: Alex

 * How do learning needs of multicultural audiences differ from those of homogeneous groups?

--Linadiv 05:16, 22 February 2007 (UTC)There is great opportunity to research and compare learning styles between homogeneous groups and multicultural audiences. Limited information exists on this topic. A key question to ponder is, “are learning styles different in multicultural audiences as compared with more homogeneous groups?” Kim and Bonk (2002) note several salient points in their article on cross-cultural comparisons of online learning and collaboration that can begin to address the question. These notes provide a starting point for reflection, discussion, and additional data gathering.

The authors report that students of different ethnic backgrounds may have different learning processes. This hypothesis is based on a study that found learners from Asian and Western cultures differed in communication patterns, as well as expectations around the roles of teachers and student learning styles. Thus, the “findings suggest that students of different ethnic backgrounds may have different learning processes”. Kim and Bonk also report “some studies have revealed that online learners use different communication styles across cultures”. The difference includes the level of reserved communication for some students as compared to a higher degree of expression of thoughts for others. It is reasonable to extrapolate that different communication styles may lead to different learning styles, as communication is a part of learning.

Kim and Bonk conducted their own assessment of the impact of learning styles on students of various cultures. Among their findings is the notion that US students were “more action-oriented and pragmatic in seeking results or giving solutions” than the Finnish students or the Korean students in their study. The study also revealed that Finnish students “tended to seek feedback or opinions that are more theory-driven rather than action-oriented in their discussions”. The Finns also were noted as being more reflective. The Korean approach was one of a more social and contextual basis. One can see that among the three cultures, there are notable differences learning styles.

The data also suggests differences exist in collaboration styles across cultures. The study found that, given a choice in how to prepare written assignments, American and Korean students worked individually more than in teams, while Finnish students wrote course submissions in pairs or small teams. This is an example of a difference in social interaction across three cultures that manifests itself in the learning approaches and styles of the culture.

From a small study that evaluated American, Finnish and Korean students in several facets of learning and communication, one can generalize that homogeneous groups of learners share commonalities in approaches to and behaviors related to learning. By creating a multicultural “soup” of students in a class, it is valuable if not imperative, for both facilitators and fellow students to respect the differences in learning styles, to honor them, and to leverage them.

IMPLICATIONS FOR SOCIAL NETWORKING -- Drafter: Bud; Reviewer: Miguel

 * What are the social networking implications?
 * a. within higher education
 * b. within corporate training

--Wdeihl 18:38, 17 February 2007 (UTC)Draft for implications for social networking

Social networking is both a verb and a noun. It is a phenomenon that is present in everyday life, be it in our work, our social circles, our worship groups, our educational settings or any other community in which we participate, including virtual communities on the Internet and online courses. First, as a verb, it is the beginning of the opportunity to reach out to others in order to be informed and influenced by their knowledge, ideas and perspectives. This is particularly true as we consider education and the development of online courses. It is also an opportunity to share our own knowledge and understanding (or schema) with others. This allows us to compare our notions and identify issues and ideas upon which we agree and those with which we may feel or offer a challenge. It sets the stage for social discourse. Secondly, as a social network grows, it creates its own social presence and has power in the collective social capital which gives it an identity and value in the world at large.

In a multicultural environment, be it a corporate or educational setting, social networking is of paramount value and should be cultivated by managers, administrators, instructors, students, participants in a corporate training environment or any other member of the “community” of practice. It offers the opportunity to experience different perspectives and can provide expertise in local culture and improve understanding which will enhance not only knowledge, but will greatly enhance the ability to negotiate resolutions to difficult issues. Warmoes and Tayart state that “The most important thing to keep in mind when engaging in corporate community involvement in Europe is literally and figuratively to ‘speak the local language’, (Amery, E. and Turegano, L., 2001). In context with the original article, this speaks of socially acceptable business and philanthropic practices in Europe, but it is indicative of all cultures (including online courses) which have their own codes and methods of operations, that one must learn about the “rules” or as the first quote says, the “local language” in order to learn what constitutes valuable social capital in that “community” and what should be avoided. To be more correct, each of the members of a new relationship needs to understand the cultural norms that ground the actions and interactions of each member with the group. Once this sensitivity has been established, negotiations for acceptable group work may be established and social capital for that group will be able to grow and flourish.

Social networks must be designed and cultivated. This is particularly true in an online educational environment, where the participants generally begin without ever having met and have no prior knowledge of each other. It is important to guide the establishment of relationships through the use of Icebreakers and opportunities to gain insight to each member of this new community. It is particularly important in a multicultural environment to focus on the development of clear communications.

Clear communication is enhanced by social networking and the knowledge of individuals within the group. It is enhanced by other interactions, such as team projects which require collaborative problem solving and the creation of a project, such as a jointly authored paper. Communication is also enhanced by learning about the different cultural styles which influence individual participation, such as attitudes about time and due dates or culturally based greetings and communication between students and the instructor or between people of different age, gender, etc. Some cultures are very fast paced and people from that background expect immediate replies to communication or prompt deadlines. Others might be more casual and reflective in their communications. These issues must be considered in the development and implementation of online learning. It is with consideration of these issues, along with educational objectives and desired outcomes that one must look to the educational philosophies and online tools and technologies which will provide the best opportunities for individuals and the social network or “community” as a whole to access the course materials, communicate and function in ways to be successful in attaining the desired outcomes.

Teaching and learning in a multicultural environment can be a challenge, but it is always an opportunity. Social networking can provide increased resources, better understanding and the power to enhance the experience.

IMPLICATIONS FOR EDUCATION & TRAINING -- Drafter: Lina; Reviewer: Bud

 * What are the unique educational strategies
 * a. To meet learning objectives within higher education,
 * b. To achieve performance outcomes within corporate training, and
 * c. To improve understanding

--Linadiv 06:26, 22 February 2007 (UTC)Social networking must work in lock step with educational strategies in order to meet learning objectives, to improve understanding, and associated performance outcomes. There are many current instructional design models and paradigms, each of which can be interpreted as culturally and socially determined (McLoughlin, 1999). Ideally, learning strategies in online learning for multicultural groups would reflect the multicultural realities of society, include multicultural ways of learning and teaching, and promote equity of learning outcomes (McLoughlin, 1999). Additional considerations include how learning styles affect task orientation, levels of formality the learner expects, and cultural constraints on who initiates and moderates discussion.

These factors exist and can be addressed in higher education by leveraging creative and visionary staff and leadership who can set the tone for delivery of courses that entail solutions to these issues. This is an investment in the staff who will propel successful multicultural learning forward. Benchmarking and networking are excellent tools that allow institutions to develop relationships, share knowledge, and assess best practices. The culmination of these learnings can result meeting learning objectives on a tactical as well as strategic level, if the leadership supports and lives this philosophy.

To take this concept one step further, corporations seek to turn knowledge from training events into performance outcomes on the job. The multicultural employee pool can help corporations meet their strategic and business goals with support from the corporation itself. As Sleeter states, “one out of every ten technology jobs remain vacant due to insufficient skilled workers”. This is a potentially synergistic relationship that can promote growth for the employee and corporation. Here too, a robust training program that is sound, practical and visionary, can create leadership in learning which will reward workers and management alike.

Corporate training outcomes focus on teaching the employee to do the job right the first time, and to reproduce that job consistently. Investment in educational strategies that develop muliticutural learners can lead to more confidence and an increase in the ability to interact with coworkers and customers, fewer errors and reduced overtime, and imrpoved safety metrics (being able to speak and read English increases the comprehension of safety-related warnings, which in turn reduces workplace accidents) (Lynn, 2000).

What strategies should higher institutions and the corporate world consider as they develop and implement multicultural learning programs? McLoughlin presents degrees of cultural inclusivity in Web-based learning, and shares a perspective on the highest level of cultural inclusivity, whereby multicultural learning needs are best served by a focus on designing constructivist learning activities. To meet this needs, one must recognize that students may adopt different learning approaches and have different levels of prior knowledge, and that cultural differences and perspectives that students bring to learning are assets, not liabilities. It is critical to set high expectations and challenges, per McLoughlin, to create a motivating climate for all students, and to assess learning in an authentic manner, including diagnostic, formative and outcome assessment.

CONCLUSION -- Drafter: Alex; Reviewer: Bud
The intended benefits, results and outcomes of a sound multicultural online learning community can be quickly realized, even before the implementation of such a program. It is inevitable that teaching and learning philosophies and styles will not only be challenged, but improved and reinforced to meet the demands of such a rich environment. Globalization has impacted many aspects of society with varying affects and uncertainty. Within education and training, multicultural based teaching and learning has a more precise and understood path to follow. Many corporations and almost all higher education institutions include diversity in their mission statements and provide a vision of how and why these initiatives must be undertaken. With this formal inclusion into the core of what these entities stand for, extending these values into various educational and training programs must be continually supported by senior management and rigorously implemented by staff and employees. New patterns of creativity and respectful decision making will no doubt contribute to a successful implementation, through a process of openness, acceptance and negotiation. The process will no longer be a pre-packaged, all in one solution that has met the needs of homogeneous learning groups of the past, but rather, a process that entails all participants to understand not only their roles and contributions, but those of their peers as well. Technological advancements across the globe will continue to create a one world atmosphere, which will lend itself well to community building and cultural awareness in almost any phase of our personal and professional lives. From an education and training perspective, innovation and consensus building will continue to be at the forefront of multicultural online learning. Organizations will need to recognize and distinguish the personnel, who will carry out these unprecedented initiatives to fruition. Careful attention must be dedicated to understanding the various learning needs of a diverse audience, through skillful training and assessment. Outreach to potential learners and facilitators who will add to the environment, will need to be clearly identified, to ensure vitality and inclusion. The concept of social networking will quickly become a staple of most online programs, where culturally diverse values, norms and concerns are expressed, respected and understood. Formal and informal education strategies will continue to undergo scrutiny and change, as all of the diverse community members will play leadership roles in one form or another.

The vision for multicultural online learning communities has quickly moved from a background role, to one of prestige and notoriety, based on the demand for global learning. In turn, the related behaviors, methods and approaches will undergo drastic changes which will encourage this type of learning environment to prosper.

BIBLIOGRAPHY -- Drafter: Lina; Reviewer: Alex

 * Insert BIBLIOGRAPHY here

IMPLICATIONS FOR TECHNOLOGY (Removed) -- Drafter: Bud; Reviewer: Lina

 * What are appropriate technologies to leverage?

IMPLICATIONS FOR DESIGN & IMPLEMENTATION (Removed) -- Drafter: Alex; Reviewer: ???

 * How to put it all together?
 * How do we know is working, as measured by
 * a.	Learning outcomes within higher education
 * b.	Performance outcomes within corporate training
 * c.	Integrated feedback mechanism
 * 1. Implicit (hidden)
 * 2. Explicit (solicited)
 * d.	Participant interviews
 * 1. Individual (one on one)
 * 2. Team (group of two to four)
 * What are the time and budget commitments?
 * How to assess readiness?
 * a. Piloting and test phase