Intercultural creation and use of electronic learning media Luis Patron Educational technologist Uni

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Intercultural creation and use of electronic
learning media Luis PatronEducational
technologistUnited Nations University
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Overview

• Distance education, North and South
• Explore opportunities of an intercultural
  distance education system
• Examples

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Distance education in the North and South, a long
history

• North
• UK Open University
• Print, radio, video, etc.
• South
• Perceived as a way to leap frog and achieve
  national educational goals rapidly.
• Mexicos Tele-secundaria
• Satellite education for secondary education

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Distance education within national borders

• Designed and produced to be used by learners of
  the same cultural and linguistic background
• Within the same country
• In some cases, with some success adapted to
  regions that speak the same language and share
  similar cultures ( example UK, New Zealand,
  Australia, Canada ???)
• Canada 1 country 2 distinct cultures
• Athabasca University
• Teleuniversite du Quebec

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Distance education within national borders

• Results
• Effective at addressing the characteristics of
  the particular culture it was designed for.
• Effectiveness in an intercultural context not a
  priority.
• Formal education institutions traditional and at
  a distance contemporary trends towards
  globalization
• Globalization of content
• Internationalization of operations
• International students programs
• Sell online courses to an international audience
• Multicultural societies have made efforts to
  address the issues at different levels of formal
  education
• Multilingualism

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Environmental issues

• Environmental issues are global in scope,
  solutions are local and culture specific
• Complex and interconnected

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Explore opportunities of an intercultural
distance education system

• Achieve a more comprehensive understanding of the
  complexity and interconnected nature of
  environmental issues
• Online education could capture culturally diverse
  perspectives of experts and learners

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Development, training and capacity building

• Experience on working on an intercultural
  context
• Moving away from notions of direct knowledge
  transfer
• Inserting knowledge into empty places
• Moving towards capacity development
• Building on the foundations of existing
  capabilities and culture
• Moving from externally to internally driven
  development and local ownership of projects

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Development, training and capacity building

• For science education to be effective it must
  take much more explicit account of the cultural
  context of the society which provides its
  setting, and whose needs it exist to serve
• Wilson, 1981

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Partnership approach

• Develop and use online education interculturally
• Experts from South and North provide content
• Learners from South and North learning online

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Global distance education institution

• Educational institution
• Capacity development project

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Innovative project with challenges and
opportunities

• Moving between cultures to
• Create content (Subject Matter Experts)
• Manage online learning environments and guide
  learners (Tutors)
• Learn (Learners)
• Specially challenging when number of cultures
  involved increases and their differences grow
• Challenge to define and address characteristics
  of groups of culturally diverse learners

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Why definition of learner characteristics is so
important?

• New knowledge is constructed on the base of prior
  knowledge
• Risk Learning experience irrelevant to the
  culture of learners
• Lack of student participation
• Difficulties to apply scientific knowledge to
  everyday life
• Low level of enrolment in science and technology
  related academic programs
• Low participation in science and technology
  related employment

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Cultural differenceswithin a nation
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Cultural differenceswithin a nation

• Going from urban to rural
• Mexicos Community Learning Centers
• Designed by urban middle-class experts for poor
  rural learners
• Few resources allocated to address learners
  characteristics and needs
• Learners preferred to surf the internet !

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Cultural differenceswithin a nation
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Cultural differenceswithin a nation
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Similar culture, different national conditions

• REDMESO South to South initiative

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• Latin America same language and similar culture

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Different conditions depending on the country

• Technological infrastructure
• Computer capabilities
• Using computers
• Using computers in education
• Using computers to learn

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Final remarks

• Opportunities of an intercultural education
  system
• Environmental problems are global in scope
  solutions are local and culture specific
• Online education could capture diversified
  perspectives in order to achieve a more
  comprehensive understanding of environmental
  issues
• Intercultural skills

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Final remarks

• Innovative participatory approach to online
  course development
• Research conducted within such a project could
  provide new knowledge on the field of distance
  learning

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Key message

• Define and address in detail the characteristics
  of the target groups of culturally diverse
  learners.
• Build upon the cultural diversity of the
  participants to create an online educational
  project where learners can construct a
  comprehensive understanding of environmental
  issues.

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Thank you

• For more information
• Luis Patronpatron_at_hq.unu.edu