Module 04: "Culture," Context, and Instructional Design

The readings on context were helpful to my understanding of this complex but important foundation in instructional design. I found the Tessmer and Richey article helpful in conceptualizing instructional context. The Rickertt piece displayed the chaotic nature of context in instructional design. I was surprised by the many factors that were out of her control while designing instruction. I was also interested to read that there were elements of context that were under her control but not known at the time. Communication with all stakeholders seemed to be an important aspect to designing instruction in another culture. It seems it is only through experience that a designer can learn what questions to ask from whom and when to ask them. The Tessmer and Richey Context-based Model goes far to define, isolate, and control issues of context. Yet, when applied in the real world they come against many elements in instruction that might be hard to predict. When a different culture is added things become even more unpredictable. While reading the Arias & Clark article as well as other readings I came to the conclusion that besides a SME a designer may find it useful to know a CME (Cultural Matters Expert) to help a navigate the uncharted waters of a different culture.

I was especially interested in Perkins’ idea of “area of responsibility.” If students mind holds part of the context of learning, can an instructor expect to fully comprehend each nook and cranny of background knowledge and future goals and desires? While an instructor must consider context and scaffold students in instructional situations, a student should also become proficient in adapting to different forms of instruction. Student responsibility is where I see motivation as being of utmost importance. If a student finds purpose in a particular unit of instruction, he or she may be more likely to make adjustments that an instructor may not be able to foresee. You can see in the Rickertt article students exceeding the expectations of the designer. The unexpected motivation of the students really pulled together the whole instructional experience.

The discussion on culture and context was interesting to me as I was able to pick a few classmates brains about how they view culture in teaching from experience. One student mentioned that it is impossible to fully understand and meet the needs of all the cultures in his classroom. Instead a holistic approach is more appropriate. Also, an understanding the things that might offend or detract from learning are important to consider when managing a classroom of so many different cultures.

The readings and discussions this week have caused me to think more about how I consider context and culture in each of my lessons and how I can better do so in my future endeavors. After five years in my current teaching position I am able to say I have a pretty firm understanding of the culture in which I teach. This took a fair amount of time, reflection, and effort. Next year I will be teaching in a brand new setting an international school in Hungary. I will have students from all over the world and will be teaching in a new setting. I am trying to decide how I can best approach this teaching situation with what I learned from experience and research. Here are my thoughts broken into a few quick points:

Design instruction with as much understanding and sensitivity to the cultures of my students as possible

• Be flexible and willing and ready to adjust
• Provide an eclectic variety of learning experiences (Collis, 1999)
• Make observations, talk to students, parents and fellow educators
• Be patient, reflect on lessons and learn from mistakes
• Understand that I cannot control everything in educational setting, and should not attempt to do so

I hope to look back on this posting before I start teaching and I hope to take time to reflect amongst the whirlwind of events that will occur in the next half of a year.

Module 03: Exploring a Regional Perspective

During this three week module in I explored two very different topics to International ICTs, both of which I will address in this post, standards in ODL and ICTs in Hungary.

Standards in ODL

As a class we considered standards for open and distance education (ODL). We looked at ways international standards could be developed to help guide stakeholders in these educational institutions. Among many topics that I found interesting is this idea of “diploma mills.” I haven’t really looked into or thought about these ideas very often before this module. I am surprised at some of the seemingly unethical practices that exist in academia. These types of situations show a need for international standards to guide organizations practices. Our instructor set up an interesting problem by suggesting that barriers have importance, but that they can also provide too much protection and isolate ODL institutions and students worldwide. He suggested among other ideas that research-based best practices should be incorporated to ensure quality programs and creating informed international standards for ODL.

Despite the education of so many in the balance, and risk to the sustainability of ODL programs, I have trouble seeing how international standards for ODL could be created, agreed upon by all stakeholders, and more importantly enforced. There is a lot to consider when it comes to this complex issue and I cannot say I understand it fully. One remedy in sight at least in the U.S. is the regulation of unethical practices in ODL. Yet, this is also a foggy battle in Washington D.C. which pits wealthy advocates for for-profit against those interesting in protecting educational practices in America and abroad.

This applies to me personally because it helps me to understand the importance of standards in organizations, especially those in the field of education. It helps me to see education in a more systematic fashion. As a teacher I come into a system everyday and teach my lessons. If the system is not guided by standards guided by empirically based best practices my role as a teacher even could be less effective. In the future before I teach for a school I need to be fairly critical of guiding practices and make sure it aligns with my own philosophies. In the future I also hope to be much more accepting of any standards imposed upon me or with which I am asked to comply. In summary, because of this module I now think of education a little more systematically.

ICTs in Hungary

Individually we explored a regional issue in ICTs. Because of my future endeavors will lead me to Hungary, I chose to look into to ICTs in Hungarian education. Though I have never actually taken an “economics class” during my time in academia, I have been increasing interested in geo-economics after listening for sometime now to a favorite NPR radio program called “Plant Money.” I enjoy the complexity of situations economics imposes on a person/people group/government/etc. During our introductory week of this class we looked at ideas like “knowledge-based economies.” As a future cog in the Hungarian economy my interest in how Hungary’s communist past affects its current economic status lead me to research these ideas and develop the following thesis: When implemented well, ICTs can have a positive effect on economic development in Hungary. After reading a number of peer-reviewed articles, government documents, and various other research I narrowed down the role ICTs in secondary schools for f economic development in Hungary to three ideas. Basically, I believe ICTs will allow a decentralization of information flow, exposure to knowledge building tools, and a generation of interest for research, development, and innovation. All three of these factors have shown an ability to grow and economy and could lead to more growth in Hungary.

I am really glad for the freedom we had to choose a topic and time that I took to do this research. I learned a great deal about society and the economy of Hungary through this project. I now better understand Hungary’s position as a former communist power, present EU nation, place in global economics, public and private ICT infrastructure, digital divide issues, public school system and many more odds and ends that will help me better understand the culture.