New Educational Environments Aimed at Developing Intercultural
Understanding While Reinforcing the Use of English in Experience-Based Learning
Nuevos
entornos educativos destinados a desarrollar la comprensión
intercultural y a reforzar el uso del inglés mediante el aprendizaje
basado en experiencias
Leonard R. Bruguier*
University of South Dakota, USA
Louise
M. Greathouse Amador**
Benemérita
Universidad Autonóma de Puebla, Mexico
*Retired and deceased since March 23, 2009.
This article was received on October 16, 2011, and accepted on April 12,
2012.
New learning environments with communication and
information tools are increasingly accessible with technology playing a crucial
role in expanding and reconceptualizing student learning experiences. This
paper reviews the outcome of an innovative course offered by four universities
in three countries: Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Course objectives
focused on broadening the understanding of indigenous and non-indigenous
peoples primarily in relation to identity as it encouraged students to reflect
on their own identity while improving their English skills in an interactive
and experiential manner and thus enhancing their intercultural competence.
Key words: Communication technologies, experiential learning, identity,
indigenous peoples, intercultural understanding.
Cada vez es
más fácil tener acceso a nuevos entornos de aprendizaje que
utilizan herramientas de comunicación e información en las que la
tecnología desempeña un papel crucial en la expansión y la
reconceptualización de las experiencias de aprendizaje del estudiante.
En este artículo se revisa el resultado de un curso innovador que se
ofreció en cuatro universidades de tres países: Canadá,
Estados Unidos y México. Los objetivos del curso se centraron en ampliar
la comprensión de los pueblos indígenas y no indígenas, en
particular en relación con la identidad. Esto alentó a los
estudiantes a reflexionar sobre su propia identidad, a la vez que mejoraban sus
habilidades del inglés de una manera interactiva y experimental,
logrando así mejorar su competencia intercultural.
Palabras clave: aprendizaje experiencial,
comprensión intercultural, identidad, pueblos indígenas, tecnologías
de la comunicación.
Introduction
Daily interaction with people having different values,
gestures, social mores, and ways of perceiving reality seems to have become
without a doubt the norm rather than the exception in a world where we seem to
be living in each other’s backyards (Finger & Kathoefer, 2005;
Friedman & Berthoin, 2005). In an increasingly more globalized and
consequently more culturally diverse world, finding effective ways to help
students acquire meaningful intercultural competence has become an important
goal.
This paper reports on a project that involved
undergraduate students from four universities in three neighboring countries;
the United States, Canada and Mexico, who used technological resources to
create an intercultural community of mutual learning. With the aid of technology
and telecommunications, the opportunity to create an intercultural classroom
where learning networks were constructed became a reality. The overall aim of
this project was to encourage students to reflect on their own identity,
interactively and experientially, and thus enhance their intercultural
competence, improve their skills in English as a foreign language, and cross
cultural borders, all through the use of computer technology, which enabled
them to communicate actively in a virtual environment. Helping our students
communicate with other students of different nationalities and cultures
required aiding them in developing themselves “as intercultural speakers
or mediators who are able to engage with complexity and multiple identities and
to avoid the stereotyping which accompanies perceiving someone through a single
identity” (Byram, Gribkova & Starkey, 2002, p. 10).
Recent advances in information and communication
technologies, particularly the effective use of virtual classrooms and the
Internet, have given new meaning to geographical boundaries as distance becomes
increasingly irrelevant. This paper demonstrates how a mediated collaborative
educational endeavor using communication technology can help students acquire
experience and skills in intercultural communication, foreign language learning
and computer-mediated communication, thus fulfilling several important
educational objectives. According to Grosse (2002, pp. 22-23) “learning
how to handle the technology and dealing with different cultures can pose the
biggest challenges”. The project described in this article gave our
students the opportunity to experience some of these challenges first-hand
through an approach to ‘using’ experience for learning. The results
and implications of this project will be discussed.
Background
of the Closing the Distance Education Project
In late 2002 the Closing the Distance Education
Partnership Project (CDEPP) was first conceived by a group of university
professors who were interested in providing their students with the opportunity
to learn and work with students of different cultural, ethnic and racial
backgrounds without having to rely on their physical presence in the classroom.
In the summer of 2003 a partnership was formed among four institutions of higher
education: the University of Wisconsin-Stout, USA (UW-S), University of South
Dakota-Vermillion, USA (USD), First Nations University of Regina, Saskatchewan,
Canada (FNU) and the Benemérita Universidad Autonóma de Puebla,
Mexico (BUAP). Representatives of these four universities—in three
neighboring countries with very different historical experiences and cultural
heritages—met together in a virtual class experience over a period of 18
months, communicating via Internet and phone calls. They then came together in
Puebla, Mexico, in the summer of 2003 to sit down and develop a
multi-disciplinary course that would satisfy the general and specific interests
of each.
After considerable discussion of the different
interests involved, the participating professors and authorities from the four
universities named the course: The
Peoples of North America: Identity, Change and Relationships, which
reflected the main themes to be studied in the course. The primary goal of this
cybernetic course was to provide students of diverse cultural backgrounds
opportunities to enhance their learning by bringing the diversity of the larger
world into the classroom. The objective was to use experiential learning
methodology applied in a nontraditional way to create a sense of community
within the virtual classroom, despite the distance and variations in culture
and language among the students. Central to accomplishing this task was the
understanding that increasing intercultural awareness among students
contributes to the overall education of all students, whatever their cultural,
racial or ethnic background. In today’s pluralistic world, which is
becoming closer and smaller through technology, it is believed that those whose
education has prepared them to work effectively and respectfully in a diverse
global community will be more successful.
The general description of this course leaned heavily
upon exploring relationships among both indigenous and non-indigenous peoples
of North America (see Appendix). One variation in the title
and course description on the part of First Nations University by instructor
William Asikinack was: Systems of
Indigenous Identity, Culture and Society, with the following course
description: This course will examine concepts central to Indigenous identity,
including those categorized as cultural, social and psychological. The holism
of Indian perspectives will be demonstrated.
In the UW-S syllabi the following details about the
course were given:
This is an
experimental course and for most of you unlike any other course you have taken.
Perhaps the best skill you can bring to the course is a sense of adventure and
a sincere desire to learn. Because of the experimental nature of the course,
we, your instructors, cannot predict exactly where we will go or where we will
end, except to say that we will most certainly have a profound learning
experience. No one else in North America has been enrolled in a course of this
nature. You are the first.
At the BUAP information was sent to students in
different career areas of social science and the humanities, who, having shown
a good command of the English language, might be interested in participating in
the course. The invitation stated:
Come and take part
in a new, experimental, multicultural course where you will have the
opportunity to interact with students from Canada, and the USA and actively
practice your English. This course aims to foster intercultural understanding
and appreciation of native and non-native cultures through unique experiential
learning experiences available through the “magic” of technology in
a virtual e-learning classroom.
Our interest as educators was to establish a dialogue
among students coming from these three North American countries with 3
different official languages and many differences in their diverse
socio-economic, racial, ethnic, geographic and political backgrounds. By
creating an uncommon experiential learning environment through the use of the
latest technology and telecommunications tools, we hoped to provide our
students a creative, rewarding educational experience that would ultimately
succeed in preparing them to live and work successfully in a global society.
Our hope was that the experiential learning
experiences offered by this course would supplement overall classroom-based
learning experiences and give students the opportunity to cross cultural
borders and put the theories they were learning in class into practice.
Although students participating in the CDEPP were not engaging in an
experiential learning experience in the classic sense (e.g. a study-abroad
experience), they in fact coming face to face with experiential learning every
time they entered the classroom and met with their classmates and teachers from
different cultural, ethnic and racial backgrounds. While learning theory is
important, real-life experience offers students opportunities to encounter the
complexities of intercultural communication, to connect what they learn in
class to what occurs in the real world, and to question their own beliefs and
assumptions when dealing with behavior and practices that may not fit their
pre-existing ideas. According to Cheney (2001, p. 91), “experiential
methods are ideal for intercultural communication precisely because culture is experienced” (emphasis
was given in the original). “Ultimately, the intercultural journey seems
to be one of facing ourselves as we become aware of and responsible for the
meanings we create and through which we then interpret our experiences”
(Seelye, 1996, p. 12).
In this article, we shall first assess the relevant
pedagogical uses of communication technology in the creation of a non-typical
experiential educational experience and review the important role that
experiential learning plays in a long-distance intercultural classroom setting.
Next, we will present the course objectives and describe the way the course was
organized. We shall conclude by discussing the outcomes of the project, hence
exploring the overall implications with respect to learner interaction
throughout its duration.
Literature
Review
Computer
Technology—A Pedagogical Tool
It is increasingly obvious that information and
communication technologies (cellular telephones, iPod Touch, iPads, etc.) have
become an essential part of life—at home, at work, or in almost any
setting—for a great number of people in the world today. The Nielsen
Company, a market research group, affirm in their
Social Media Report (2010) that social networking is the number one activity
online, and it has increased by 43 per cent since 2009. Accordingly, Americans
spend one third of their time online, networking and communicating through
social networking sites (over 906 million hours a month).
It has been found that using technology as a teaching
tool promotes student participation and interaction (Absalom & Marden,
2004; Boles, 1999; Campbell, 2004). Absalom and Marden (2004, p. 421) found
that having their students engage in e-mail exchange “encourages the most
reticent students to participate”. Computer-mediated technology and live
online interaction can open up and create educational spaces that entice
students to communicate in different, creative ways, and to explore and learn
about other cultures. Through computer technology collaborative learning is
enhanced (Eastman & Swift, 2002; Li, 2002) and it has acquired a new
meaning. In addition, “collaborative learning promotes higher achievement
as well as personal and social development” (Li, 2002, p. 504).
Reich and Daccord (2008) point out that the best use
of technology comes when “teachers are doing less of the teaching and
students do more of the learning” (p. xvii). Activities that require
students to work in groups with one another via computer technologies are being
used more and more to encourage peer collaboration. Student-centered activities
with a technological component foster creativity and empower students to take
charge of their own learning. In the e-learning model students not only work
individually, but also engage in collaborative learning for gathering
information, examining issues and resolving problems.
Communication technology has added a new dimension to
intercultural education, offering students and teachers the opportunity to step
out of the classroom and transcend geographical boundaries without need of a
passport or visa. It is clear from the literature reviewed that the influence
of communication technologies on teaching and learning goes beyond the
classroom. E-mail, chat rooms, Facebook, computer conferencing and so on are
tools that can “offer contemporary students and faculty truly
extraordinary potential for re-designing and expanding the learning
environment” (Bazzoni, 2000, p. 101). Computer-mediated communication
provides a framework for teaching and learning from a distance.
The
Importance of Experiential Learning in Acquiring Intercultural Competence
Intercultural competence is essential for good
communication with people from a different culture. In a
broad sense, being interculturally competent means being open to trying to
understand and respect people from other cultures when communicating with them
in any form. All the participants of the CDEPP considered exploration of
the intercultural dimension of people from different cultures as something of
utmost importance since that was the driving force that brought us together to
design and teach The Peoples of North
America: Identity, Change and Relationships.
The intercultural
dimension is concerned with -helping learners to understand how intercultural interaction
takes place, -how social identities are part of all interaction, -how their
perceptions of other people and others people’s perceptions of them
influence the success of communication -how they can find out for themselves
more about the people with whom they are communicating. (Byram et al., 2002, p.
15)
Helping students develop skills for discovery and
interaction, behaviors that constructively express feelings e.g. tolerance,
respect, empathy, compassion, and flexibility, which will ultimately lead them
to understanding the “other” (Seelye, 1996, p. 14), clearly
expresses the fundamental views that the CDEPP were founded upon:
In such work, we
are leading and supporting people to explore new views of reality and to
develop new frames of reference for categorizing and explaining behavior. We
are suggesting that one can adjust to new ways of being and doing and that life
will be richer and deeper for having encountered differences. We call attention
to strategies for encountering change, unfamiliarity, and ambiguity in creative
ways. Our work demonstrates that it is both possible and positive to realize
that what is taken as “common sense” is indeed “cultural
sense”. It becomes possible to see that the consensual reality in which
one lives is only real to the extent that one believes and accepts the power of
that consensus. And we suggest that such realization is partner to the
development of consciousness, that is, the capability to become self-reflective
about habits of heart and mind and the ways these are expressed in daily life.
The importance of introducing students to new
perspectives beyond those of their particular community is fundamental to
successful learning. Experiential learning requires reflection and critical
analysis of experiences in order to make the experiences educational (Mintz
& Hesser, 1996; Silcox, 1993; Welch, 1999). In preparing them for living
and working together in global communities it is important that students are
given the opportunity to search other points of view and ways of thinking. When
dealing with problem-based education it is clear that this is crucial, for it
is impossible to solve a problem without first analyzing and understanding the
nature of it. The initial analysis leads to the development of a hypothesis,
which must be tested on some kind of action. This then requires further
analysis and reflection, as it is in this reflection that learners come to make
sense out of the new information and experiences (Silcox, 1993).
Much of the literature that revolves around
intercultural learning strongly emphasizes problem-posing education. This kind
of learning involves the whole student on both the affective and cognitive
levels because it engages the learner in the learning process by connecting the
subject matter to the student’s life or way of thinking, which is strongly
influenced by his/her cultural, ethnic and racial background. Consequently,
Shor (1993, p. 26) notes that, “Through problem-posing, students learn to
question answers rather than merely to answer questions. In this pedagogy,
students experience education as something they do, not as something done to
them”.
Philosophies of experiential education built upon Jean
Piaget’s model of learning and cognitive development take into account
learning in different contexts. Learning takes place as people test concepts
and theories based on experiences they have lived, and from these experiences
develop new concepts and theories. As denoted by Piaget, there must be a
balance between these two processes. Citron and Kline (2001) place learning
“in the mutual interaction of the process of accommodation of concepts or
schemas to experience in the world and the process of assimilation of events
and experiences from the world into existing concepts and schemas”.
Similarly, organizational theorist Kurt Lewin (1952) argued in the 1940s that
personal and organizational development results from a process in which people
set goals, theorize about prior experience, then test their theories through
new experiences, and finally revise their goals and theories after evaluating
the results of the new experiences.
It is important to remember that experiential
education is embedded in constructivist theories of teaching and collective or
cooperative learning.
Constructivist theory proposes that knowledge is
constructed individually and collectively as people reflect upon their
experiences, thereby converting experience into knowledge (Geary, 1995).
According to this theory, meaning is not intrinsic in experience. Rather,
knowledge is socially constructed as people observe and interpret it (McNamee
& Faulkner, 2001; Searle, 1995). Kolb (1984, p. 41) agrees when he states
that “learning is the process whereby knowledge is created through the
transformation of experience”.
Kolb (1984) illustrated a “simple description of
the learning cycle” based on the above-mentioned work of Kurt Lewin
(1952), which is still relevant today. As can be seen in Figure
1, the cycle begins with a concrete experience, followed by observation and
reflection, which are assimilated into the formation of abstract concepts and
generalizations from which suggestions, ideas or implications for action are
realized. Lastly, these lead to testing the idea or implications of concepts in
new situations, followed by another concrete experience, which starts the cycle
anew.
According to this model of experiential learning, in
order to transform experience into knowledge, learners must begin with their
own concrete experience. They then engage in reflective observation and move to
a stage of abstract conceptualization, during which they begin to comprehend
the experience, which finally brings them to active experimentation of the
concepts. In this model, observation and reflection IS an essential component
of experiential education.
The cycle is implied as a continuing spiral, where the
learning achieved from new knowledge acquired is formulated into a prediction
for the next concrete experience. Within the CDEPP we found that as students
approached a new intercultural experience, the first part of the cycle was a
type of absorption or immersion in the actual “doing” of the
readings, questioning or direct interaction. The reflection stage was stepping
back from the experience and noticing differences, comparing and contrasting
the familiar with the new.
In terms of academic assessment, the most important
stage is conceptualization, where students generalize and interpret events by
asking: What does this mean?
Understanding general principles and theories is central for explaining the
experience. In the last step testing the new theory or principle in new
situations is essential to the learning experience. At this stage, the student
has an opportunity to change behaviors or thinking and apply these changes to a
new set of circumstances. Specific actions can then be made from direct or
inferred reflections that have been refined based on the initial concrete
experience. This process involves intentional preparation and the transfer of
new knowledge to concrete actions (Montrose, 2002).
Experiential learning is being taken into account more
and more by many educational institutions since the relationship between
experience and reflection in the experiential learning process insures
significant long-term learning. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO) endorses this fundamental approach to
student-centered learning for a sustainable future claiming that experiential
learning engages students in a concrete experience that involves the learner to
make a critical analysis of the situation and enables them to shape new
knowledge so that it can be used at a later time when a similar situation is
encountered. What makes this an educational endeavor is not so much the
activity in and of itself, but it is the analysis of the activity that is made
through personal reflection, discussion, writing, or projects that assist the
learner to make the transition from experience to integrated meaning and
consequently to understanding (Cox, Calder & Fien, 2010; Montrose, 2002).
According to Montrose (2002), experiential learning
methodology is intended to promote and encourage a solid academic agenda, where
justifiable grades, academic course credit, and concrete experiences can all be
integrated, not only in terms of the curriculum and the syllabus, but in daily
activities as well. This learning model of obtaining educational results from
direct experience can be and is structured, allowing academic credit to be
awarded. The experiential learning that takes place in the CDEPP stems from
pedagogy that actively engages the student in the phenomena that they are
studying. When students develop their own research agenda, engage in critical
thinking and test their interpersonal skills, they directly encounter an
alternative world view, learning through analysis and reflection, including the
consequences of the larger social and ethical implications of this knowledge.
This learning approach engages students in an intentional process of critical
thinking and hands-on problem-solving. It often develops with the smallest
amount of the common institutional structure being presented to the student
before the actual learning experience. Students in an experiential learning
situation do not memorize and parrot back information: They create and produce
their own ideas and work through possible solutions to complex problems. This
integration of concrete action, analysis and reflective thought makes possible
the evaluation of the overall learning experience through intentional,
measurable learning goals and objectives (Montrose, 2002). As Itin (1999, p.
93) points out: Experiential education engages “carefully chosen
experiences supported by reflection, critical analysis, and synthesis”,
which are “structured to require the learner to take initiative, make
decisions, and be accountable for the results”.
The Project
Described in this section are the participants of the
CDEPP project and how the course was set up and carried out.
Participants and
Class Composition
The students and the two professors participating from
UW-S were non-indigenous Caucasians, who primarily came from families that had
immigrated to the USA from a Scandinavian country at least 2 generations before
(the class at UW-S started with 24 students and ended with 18). The
participants of FNU were indigenous and included 6 students. Two of the
students and the teacher were from the Anishinaabe indigenous group, and the
other 4 students were Cree. Of the six students enrolled in the course from
USD, 2 were Dakota (Sioux) and 3 Lakota (Sioux) and one Caucasian,
non-indigenous; the instructor was mestizo, indigenous-American. The students
participating at the BUAP were a mixed group: 7 native Mexicans (mestizo:
Spanish-indigenous), 1 exchange student from California who considered herself
“Chicana” (daughter of Mexican-born parents who moved to the USA,
where she was born), 1 Russian-Ukrainian, and 1 Nicaraguan student. The two
participating professors (authors of this article) at the BUAP were
Cuban-American, and Native American-Lakota, Sioux from the Yankton Sioux
Reservation in South Dakota.
At the end of the course, a total of 40
students—17 men and 23 women—had participated from beginning to
end. The majority of the students were in their 3rd year of undergraduate
studies and there was one Master’s level student. The youngest student
was 20 and the oldest 47. The majority of the students were in their
mid-twenties. Four men and 2 women professors participated in the course along
with 1 special guest speaker, Joseph Marshall III, a Lakota scholar and writer from
Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation in South Dakota.
Class Procedures
The class was held every Tuesday morning from 9 A.M.
to 12:00 P.M. (in Canada an hour earlier) for 13 weeks and was structured in
the following manner:
• Segment
one - Live television lecture led by instructor(s) at one of the universities:
30 minutes.
• Ten
minute break.
• Segment
two - In-class discussion at each site with video and audio turned off: 30
minutes.
• Segment
three - Interactive live television session with all students and professors
participating for 45 minutes.
• Five
minute break.
• Segment
four - online chat/email exchange for 30 minutes, arranged in six groups
consisting of students from UW-S and students from USD, FNU, and BUAP.
Total: 180 minutes.
All class sessions were taught in English with all the
professors participating in the course. Facilitation alternated among the
participating professors (see the course outline at the end of this work with
the list of topics presented in this course) in each of the universities.
Joseph Marshall III, a visiting professor at the University of South Dakota
during the semester in which the course was given, gave the opening class. His
presentation was important in several aspects. Conceivably, however, his most
valuable contribution to the course was the precedent he set for all the
classes to follow, which was one of total respect, collaboration, and wonder,
which invited us all to join in and explore this new unfamiliar territory.
Marshall, a very gifted story-teller, used his talents as such in giving this
first class. At the end of his presentation, imparted with calmness and
clarity, he answered questions. He was very willing to clarify words and
concepts not understood by the Spanish-speaking participants and he expanded on
many of these to help the non-indigenous students, especially those from UW-S,
who, not wanting to offend their indigenous class- mates at this first
encounter, were unsure of the appropriate terms to use. An important discussion
opened on this first day of class, which revolved around the best way to refer
to indigenous people of Canada and the USA and from this discussion many
misconceptions were aired, reviewed and changed.
The different ideas concerning appropriate vocabulary
reflected the cultural differences and stereotypes that students possessed.
Examples of these came up often throughout the course. Such pre-assumptions
were discussed repeatedly, appearing as important themes in long threads of
comments made in e-mail interactions. While the Spanish-speaking students had a
good grasp of the English language and were able to receive clarification when
needed, the class as a whole seemed to be constantly immersed in an ongoing
negotiation of meanings commonly encountered in intercultural situations. And
although English was the language of the class, many words and meanings in
Spanish and of the 4 indigenous languages spoken by the students in the class were also brought into the virtual classroom, into
e-mails and chat session interactions. This opened windows of opportunity for
participants to explore and understand each other more fully.
Course Evaluation
Students’ overall grade for the semester was
based on the aggregate of three portfolios and was determined by the professor
in charge of their class in their home university. Basic rules and requirements
for all students participating in this course were the following:
Students were required to keep a weekly process
journal that included thoughtful and critical reactions to the following parts
of the course:
• readings
• live television lecture
• in-class discussion at Stout
• interactive live television session involving all four
universities and three countries
• online e-mail exchanges and chats
Three times during the semester students were required
to turn in a formal portfolio in which they organized the ideas and
observations from their weekly process journal into a cohesive narrative
showing what they were learning and how their understanding changed. Students
were expected to include in these journals quotes from the readings in support
of their ideas. Each of these portfolios received a grade.
• Portfolios 75%
• Classroom
Citizenship & Attendance 25%
Analysis
Qualitative data from approximately 700+ online chats
generated in segment 4 of the class, responses to open-ended questions, and
information from students’ portfolios were all collected and categorized
according to themes. These were reviewed and analyzed using the thematic analysis
technique. Thematic analysis allowed us to identify themes based on three
criteria: recurrence, repetition, and forcefulness (Owen, 1984). Recurrence
refers to the same thread of meaning, in different words, coming up in
different parts of the text being analyzed. Repetition refers to the same word,
phrase, or sentence, representing an idea or concept, occurring in multiple
places. Forcefulness refers to the emphasis given to a particular idea to show
its importance or the intensity of the speaker/writer’s feelings.
Thematic analysis was very helpful in discerning not only themes that emerged
within each of the participant’s data, but also themes that we found
common among all of our students who participated so actively in this course
(Zorn & Ruccio, 1998).
Initially to help them
interact outside the virtual classroom setting with other students and
teachers, students were organized into 6 groups of 6 students each: two
students from the UW-S and one student from each of the other universities.
Teachers were involved with all the groups. After 2 sessions, this format began
to change. Without any teacher intervention, the groups opened up to each
other, creating a “free-for-all” where all students eagerly
participated. From this point on, all e-mails were sent to everyone in the
class and anyone from the class was free to reply to any of the letters and/or
all e-mails.
E-mails were answered in different ways and from
contrasting perspectives e.g. according to the student, her/his cultural
background, language and form of expression. These online discussions were
almost all written informally, consisting of a question being posed or an
answer to a question already posed. Often the great amount of feedback about
comments regarding an email would open to other topics, some related to the
class and some not, but all clearly demonstrating a healthy curiosity about
what others in the group thought about a topic. Some students became messenger
buddies with other students, engaging in online chat sessions, which were usually
carried out in a written form, though there were also verbal exchanges. The
Mexican students especially enjoyed the verbal exchange although they commented
that they inevitably summed up what had been said in writing.
The following is an excerpt of a chain of e-mail
exchanges demonstrating how they were conducted, the type of themes that were
discussed, how these were started, and how they opened to other related topics
dealing with students’ interests and concerns. Students’ names have
been changed to protect their identity. Their enthusiasm and interest in
sharing their thoughts on the different class themes can be traced in the
following email exchange that begins with comments about the class, thoughts
about multicultural metaphors and a bit of family background and interrelated
reflections:
Hey ya’ll...
Just like everyone
else, I’d first like to say that this class is taking off quite well.
About the comment from Carl (maybe the wrong spelling, sorry sir): I silently
disagreed with your statement that the United States of America is still a
“melting pot”. I have come to the conclusion that differences in
cultures should be celebrated… I apologize for the generalization, white
people were the ones that wrote the books, and coined the term “melting
pot”. For them, this “melting pot” was a way for the United
States to justify our apparent lack of understanding other cultures. For
example, try to imagine what this shows America as saying: “I don’t
care about my culture, so why should you?” I for one/do/care about my
culture, and I want to learn more about it. Thanks guys ;)
Hey everyone,
My name is Andy
Wilson. I am currently enrolled into the Telecommunications program here at University
of Wisconsin-Stout… The main point I would like to address is how most of
us from UW-S feel we do not have very strong cultural beliefs. Although, this
may not be obvious to us, of course we have all gained some culture from our
past. I think we are more susceptible to look past what we have gained from the
past and look at what we have gained from our own lives and beliefs we feel we
have decided on. For example with me, I feel work ethic has been a quality and
belief that has been engrained in me. This type of quality seems to be part of
most of Wisconsin and the Midwest, since we have been acknowledge for our hard
work. For instance people within the south and some amongst the east coast have
acknowledged Wisconsin for their ideals and hard work. Thanks, Jake
Hey- its Janet and Ginger from Stout. We found today’s discussion
really interesting because there were many points of view expressed.
My name is Janet
and I’m from St. Paul MN. I am Dutch, Welsh, Irish and German. I
don’t have that strong of a sense of my cultural background but I was
introduced to the Mexican culture when I was younger. My best friend/ neighbor
since I was 3 wks old is Mexican and we basically grew
up together and I took part in celebrations and meals. I have visited Durango
Mexico 3 times and stayed for about 3 weeks at a time. I am very interested in
either studying abroad or living in Mexico in the future. Although this
isn’t my heritage, I find it to be a very important part of my life.
My name is Ginger
and I’m from Spring Valley, WI. I am German and a little bit Polish. I
don’t know too much about my cultural background. I am however exposed to
different cultures on a regular basis. I work at a hotel so I have the
opportunity to meet different individuals from all over the world and they are
very willing to discuss their culture. I also work with Mexicans and have a
learned a lot about the Mexican culture and their traditions. Please E-mail us
back and tell us a little about yourselves.
Hello everybody,
This is Ana from
Mexico and I would like to say that this is being a great experience for me. I
find this course pretty interesting. I must confess that I wasn’t aware
of many things that have been discussed during these two sessions. And I hope
to keep learning more about them. I’d like to learn more about identity
and all the factors that influence over the acculturation situation. Ana
Hi to everyone,
this is Tere from Mexico I didn’t come last class so I couldn’t
send you a message, so I just want to say that I’m so glad to be in this
class, to know you and to learn more about the different cultures represented
in this big class. I’m so sorry for the mistakes in my grammar if there
is one; you know that I’m still learning. Thank you. bye
I admire you and
our classmates in Mexico for taking a class being conducted in a language that
is not your first language. I have understood everyone very well. My English
isn’t perfect either and I am a terrible typist so I hope you understand
me, too. Professor at USD
Students’
Reflections on Their Learning Experience
At the end of the course all students were asked to
fill out a questionnaire regarding their learning experience. The majority of
students who completed the questionnaire (n=36) found the course very
interesting (96%), valuable, meaningful and/ or worthwhile (98%), and
motivating and fun (95%). They felt that the email and chat exchanges helped
them to further understand themes discussed in class (98%), they enjoyed doing
the final portfolio project (92%), and they reported they were glad they had
participated in the course (98%). 98% said they felt that their opinions about
the groups represented in the class had changed significantly and in a positive
way. The questionnaire results were supported by comments made in their
journals and portfolio reports, but more substantially they came from responses
made in email exchanges during the last segment of the class period.
Other questions asked referred to what the students
had most enjoyed about the class. Many mentioned having the opportunity to see,
hear, talk to and exchange thoughts, questions and ideas with someone from
another part of America and a background different from their own. They enjoyed
learning about history, culture, current events, and life in general from real
people, not simply from a book, a movie, or a talk show. Our conclusion, based
on many of these comments, is that the project indeed fulfilled our objective
as it encouraged our students to examine more closely their own beliefs,
attitudes, values and feelings. As the course developed they became more keenly
aware of any personal ethnocentric feelings they might have or have had, and
they began to understand how this could be an obstacle or wall blocking their
understanding of others (Gudykunst & Kim, 2003). This type of self-reflection
about their own self-awareness is also reported and discussed in a research
project on email discussions between Taiwanese and American students by Ya-Wen
Teng (2005). As noted in the literature related to effective intercultural
communication teaching, it should include reflection on one’s own culture
(Cheney, 2001) to ensure optimal learning.
According to the majority of students’ comments
about the project, they felt that on the whole, the course allowed them to
study, evaluate, and even re-evaluate, different topics and issues from diverse
points of view and compare them to their own. Students voiced opinions about
their increasing awareness of several ethnocentric attitudes they had had
before the course, and how they were able to analyze them with clarity, coming
to an understanding of their origin and an awareness of the influences that had
sustained them. One student commented:
When I was in
Germany in the summer of 2002 I heard the term “towel-heads” in
German used to describe people of Islamic faith (mainly Taliban) also is to
describe the near two million Turks in southern Germany which differs from the
catholic majority. I don’t know about Canada or Mexico but there are
other countries that have used racial/ethnic denigration. This discussion has made
me think about these kinds of attitudes and examine some of my own…surely
not all Arabs are terrorists and not all white males in the Milwaukee area are
Jeffrey Dahmers.
Conclusions
The interaction during class time was very lively and
interesting, and the participants were very motivated. The voices of the
indigenous students were active during the televised parts of class, though in
the part of the class that pertained to exchanging written commentaries via
email they were not as active. Students at the University of South Dakota
seemed slow to engage in the written exchange of comments, but by mid-semester
they became quite active. Students in Canada participated
a bit less, although the professor participated on a more regular basis,
speaking about the situation of the First Nation people of Canada. We suspect
that the lack of Internet involvement could have been attributed to
insufficient computer and Internet connections and to students’ hesitancy
to add to the flow of thoughts and ideas.
Professors participated freely in the class and in
email interaction, sharing information, clarifying doubts that arose and
answering specific questions. There was always plenty of space available for
students to carry on the interactions.
At first, the students at the BUAP were a bit timid
during the televised sessions and in their written messages. These students
felt somewhat apprehensive and shy about speaking and writing in
English—a foreign language for most of them. However, after the first
couple of sessions they felt more comfortable and engaged in making more
comments during the televised part of class as well as in emails.
The students at UW-S were for the most part the quietest of all the
students during the televised part of the class; even when directly asked,
their participation was low-key. This reaction did not change during the
course; however, these students were very active in their Internet
communications. They asked questions, expressed
thoughts, revised thoughts and opened up much more than we saw in the televised
sessions of the class.
When the UW-S students were questioned about their
silence in the classroom sessions they answered via email. Here are a few
examples of what they said:
Hi Everybody! I
just wanted to comment on why Wisconsin, Stout doesn’t comment. For me
this is all a learning experience, we are able to learn so much about other
cultures. The real stories. I feel bad that we
don’t learn more of other cultures throughout high school, before
college. I feel that is part of the ignorance of the US; it’s all about
us. It seems a lot of the things we learned are only the “good”
stories the whites did for the Native Americans. Hopefully through this class
we will be able to take our learning farther and one day we can all be a
“community”. Not so unknowing of each other’s countries. And
hopefully this will encourage better political interactions, one not so
dominant. I love learning about the other cultures; it has definitely broadened
my horizons!
Another student wrote:
I couldn’t
have said it better myself, actually! Most of the time I’m just absorbing
all the new information that is coming in! This class has been great;
I’ve learned so many things. Specifically, I’m very proud that I
was part of this class; I look forward to sharing my knowledge with others.
From Canada one of the students added to the
discussion saying:
I am glad that we
all can learn from this class. We need to be aware of different cultures in
order to understand. There needs to be a willingness to learn by the other
culture before this can happen.
When the course was over, students and teachers alike
participated in the overall evaluation. Many positive comments were made. The
only negative comments were in reference to the occasional technological
difficulties, such as seeing each other but having no sound or vice versa, that
occurred during the course. There was also the occasional difficulty in
receiving the readings with time enough to read, especially for the Mexicans
who needed more time to go through the material. As far as the course itself,
the overall evaluation was that it was a very successful and challenging course
that really propelled everyone to explore both within and beyond themselves,
their communities and their countries. It stimulated thought, challenged old
viewpoints and introduced new and different ways of looking at many issues.
Student participation in the class, both orally in the televised segments and
in the emails was most successful. Students grasped the conceptual framework of
the syllabus and commented succinctly on the subject matter. They found the
class not only informative, but fulfilling and enriching as well.
In closing, we have chosen one comment of the many
that students sent via email or wrote in a final paper relaying their overall
feelings about the course:
From a Mexican student:
Now that the course finished our task was to write
about all the things that we have been through in this course. First of all I
would like to start with some of the topics that were discussed in the course.
The theme that I was interested the most was “identity”. I remember
Mr. Marshall told us that being aware of whom and what we are is very
important. I totally agree with
this idea. I think that in order to be able to identify ourselves from others
first we need to know ourselves better, we need to know where do we come from
and finally taking into account all the process that we have passed through we
will be able to know what we have become. Although some of us may not like the
final product of that process, we still have the opportunity to make some
adjustments in order to improve ourselves. I learned the things that I expected
to learn and much more which makes me more than happy. I realized that I still
need to learn more about my country and others, it was very interesting to know
what other people think about my culture and it was more interesting to tell
them the way we see and think about them. I think that all of us learnt many
things about each other and everybody was interested on knowing more. In
general the course was amazing; I found it more than interesting, helpful and
fun. Also my English has improved A LOT!! I really enjoyed each session and I
would totally recommend other people to take it, during each session I could
learn something new and now I am able to use it in my daily life. This course
fulfilled my expectations and went beyond. Thanks to all in the course for
helping me to open my eyes and for making of this course an unforgettable
experience.
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About the
Authors
Leonard R.
“Horse” Bruguier was born on the
Yankton Sioux Reservation in Wagner, South Dakota. He held a PhD in history and
served as director of the Institute of American Indian Studies and Oral History
Center for 15 years and was History Department professor at the University of
South Dakota when he retired to live in Mexico in 2004.
Louise M. Greathouse Amador is a professor and researcher at the Instituto de
Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades Alfonso Veléz Pliego at the
Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla (Mexico) in the
graduate program in Langauge Sciences. She holds a PhD in Sociology, BA and
Masters in Applied Linguistics. Her research focuses on educational
alternatives for constructing a culture of peace based on “Humane
Education”.
Appendix: Description of the Course The Peoples of
North America: Identity, Change and Relationships
The main course objectives and outline for the course
that were agreed upon and later implemented by the four participating
universities in the summer 2003 meeting were:
Main Course
Objectives:
1. Broaden the
understanding and perspective of indigenous and non-indigenous peoples of North
America in areas of identity, change and relationships;
2. Prepare
students for service within their respective communities;
3. Prepare
students for the global society and workplace.
Course Outline:
I. Introduction
a. Course
overview;
b. Instructor
introduction.
II. Identity
Objectives:
a. Provide
students a means and method of understanding the relationship between heritage
and identity;
b. Introduce
students to the debates and discussions of concepts such as race, ethnicity and
multi-culturalism.
III. Ethnocentrism,
Stereotyping and Norming.
Objective:
Pose the question of how we think others perceive us,
and how we perceive others.
IV. Contemporary
Realities—Globalism/Colonialism
Objectives:
a. Expose
students to and discuss the various opportunities and threats presented by
globalization;
b. Ask
students to identify the forces that have contributed to their understanding of
race and ethnicity.
c. Introduce
students to the widening gap between the rich and poor, both intra-nationally
and internationally.
Content Area 1
-
Provide students a
means and method for understanding the relationships between heritage and
identity, and
-
Introduce students
to the debates and discussions surrounding the concepts of “race, ethnicity,
culture and multiculturalism”.
Content Area 2
-
Pose the question
of how we think others perceive us and how we perceive others.
Content Area 3
-
Expose students to
and discuss the various opportunities and threats presented by globalization.
-
Ask students to
identify the forces that have contributed to their understanding of race and
ethnicity.
-
Introduce students
to the widening gap between the rich and the poor, both intra-nationally and internationally.