Fertile Zones of Cultural Encounter in Computer Science Education

We explain certain learning difficulties in computer science education as resulting from a clash between the students' culture as computer users and the professional computing culture. We propose the concept of fertile zones of cultural encounter as a way of overcoming these learning difficulties. This pedagogical approach aims to bridge the gap between cultures by designing interventions that are appreciated by members of both cultures, yet also guide the student to engage in the practices of the professional culture. The learning difficulties are demonstrated by a detailed analysis of episodes taken from an advanced high school computer science course in concurrency. We show that fertile zones of cultural encounter can be successful in significantly improving learning of this subject.     

Action learning in East Africa: new encounters or impossible challenges?

Action learning is extending its reach internationally and is increasingly used in distinct cultural settings. This paper explores action learning in an African context and examines how action learning as a cultural product is biased towards Western values and practices. We draw attention to the political, cultural and social encounters of internationalizing action learning which are often glossed over in current debates. The paper illuminates the historical development of pedagogical practices in Africa to elucidate how the social, political, cultural and economic processes have influenced and informed learning in African societies. Second, we review action learning and question its relevance and transferability in non-Western contexts. Finally, we will reflect on the potential of action learning in Africa, and its implications for future research and practice.     

Curricula and pedagogic potentials when educating diverse students in higher education: students’ Funds of Knowledge as a bridge to disciplinary learning

With the massification of higher education in a knowledge-driven economy, Western universities have struggled to keep pace with the cultural, linguistic, educational and economic diversity of university students and the complex realities of their lifeworlds. This has generated systemic inequities for diverse or ‘non-traditional’ students, and left academics with pedagogic uncertainty. This paper reports on action research that examined curricular and pedagogic practices that made elite academic codes explicit, and utilised students’ Funds of Knowledge as assets for disciplinary learning, in an Australian university. The action research confirmed the potential of creating bridges between the cultural practices and literacies of diverse students and the acquisition of disciplinary knowledge, facilitating their negotiation of multiple literacies and the successful participation of all students. Institutional arrangements – governed by economic, cultural and socio-political conditions – that enabled and constrained these potentials were highlighted, suggesting areas for negotiation for the pedagogies’ ongoing and wider use.     

Shifting Practices,Shifting Selves: Negotiations of Local and Global Cultures Among Adolescents in Northern Thailand

Around the world, adolescents increasingly grow up as members of local and global cultures. Little is known, however, about how precisely adolescents in rapidly globalizing societies blend local and global cultures. Interviews with 40 (16- to 19-year old) Thai adolescents, evenly divided between rural and urban communities, were analyzed alongside participant observation data for the interplay between local and global linguistic and dietary practices. Results revealed that urban adolescents inhabited differentiated selves, alternating between local and global practices based on interactional partner. The activation of each assisted them in navigating—and in some cases, reshaping—hierarchies encountered in everyday relationships. Findings contribute to the developmental science of globalization and point to the utility of interrogating cultural practices as sites of self-negotiation in rapidly changing cultural contexts.     

Systemic action and learning in public services

Complex, systemic issues continue to challenge public services without respect for organisational and professional boundaries. In practice, collaborative working with others who have differing professional cultural norms and systems confront members with the need to learn about each other's values, priorities and practices. This paper explores the potential of action learning for the development of systemic leadership capabilities within public services. Starting from core principles it is argued that action learning be seen not simply as a small group process for problem-solving or individual development, but as a collective process for inquiring into and taking action on projects and practices within their complex, multi-agent contexts.     

Food and Culture: A Pedagogical Approach to Contextualizing Food‐Based Activities in Multicultural Counseling Courses

Pedagogic approaches that draw on reflective practices and experiential activities are valued for their perceived ability to enhance multicultural understanding. The use of food‐based assignments is not uncommon in multicultural counseling courses; however, the authors contend that although these activities may be experiential in nature, they are often devoid of any meaningful in‐depth discussion about related contextual elements, such as power dynamics, economic systems, familial structures, cultural values, and religious meaning. This article describes a food‐based assignment used in a multicultural counseling course incorporating firsthand experience with members of various cultures. Anecdotal evidence, as well as suggestions for practice, is included.     

Bildung and educational action research: resources for hope in neoliberal times

This paper draws upon empirical research to provide insights into current teacher learning practices under broader neoliberal conditions, and how the latter might be resisted. The paper contrasts neoliberal approaches to teachers’ learning with the Nordic tradition of educational action research and ‘Bildung’ as alternative resources to guide teachers’ and principals’ collective learning practices in schools, and draws upon empirical research to provide evidence of the benefits and challenges of doing so. The paper draws upon research into the learning practices of primary teachers in Australia, early childhood teachers in Sweden, and principals in Finland. The research reveals the influence of more Bildung-informed conceptions of educational action research, even as these are challenged by existing administrative cultures, and neoliberal pressures. The research presents ‘resources for hope’ to promote collective learning based on democratic values, not in an idealized or abstract manner, but in a way which is simultaneously cognizant of empirical realities.     

简析冷战后的美国文化霸权

冷战结束后,美国运用文化这个“软权力”与政治、经济、军事手段一起,共同构筑其世界霸权。其推行文化霸权的手段主要是借助网络和通过文化产品的输出传播其价值观。在全球化时代,自觉抵制美国的文化霸权．保护本国文化主权,将是世界各国一项长期而艰巨的任务。     

全球网络的文化与交流：文化多元性，道德相对主义，以及一种全球伦理的希望

网络空间越来越多地表现出文化认同、传统、意见、观点、习惯等方面广泛的多元性,任何在信息伦理学领域中构建这种普世规范和价值观的努力都只能取得部分的成功,并且被限定于多元文化之间不可通约的差异范围内,而这些差异必须在尊重文化完整性的名义下得到承认。制定国际准则方面所取得的各类成果包含着令人鼓舞的明显迹象,即全球伦理是可能的。孔子提醒我们,理想人格(君子)追求的是：和而不同。正是这样一种“和”构成了一种值得期待的全球伦理模式,因为这种“和”不仅寻求克服民族中心主义和分化离析的动力,而且积极保护不同的伦理敏感性,保持各个国家和民族的传统。     

Culturally Appropriate Education: Insights From Educational Neuroscience

Culturally appropriate education focuses on educational competence needed in a global world and respect for different world views of learners and teachers from different cultural contexts. The relationship between gene, brain, and culture is complex and dynamical. Cultural experience and learning sculpts the anatomy and function of the human brain and shapes human behavior. This neuroplasticity is the basis of educability in human beings. Education reform should reflect cultural diversity and embed teaching practices into the cultural history of a nation and should promote positive inclusion of minority and indigenous history so as to maximize successful adoption by teachers and parents. This tenet is at the core of the concept of “culturally appropriate education.” Successful educational reform and pedagogy require that teachers become culturally and neuroscientifically literate.     

Investigating the curriculum through assessment practice in higher education: the value of a ‘learning cultures’ approach

It is widely acknowledged that the curriculum and knowledge in higher education (HE) are especially visible through (and often constructed by) assessment practices. If this is the case, it matters greatly what perspectives and theoretical tools are brought to bear on the task of understanding these practices. Having briefly set out three perspectives on assessment in HE (the technical, humanist and interactionist), this paper introduces a ‘learning cultures’ perspective, drawing upon the work of Bourdieu, developed as part of a recent research project on English Further Education. The application of this perspective in HE is introduced through a vignette outlining a recent assessment episode and notes on how it may be explored. The paper argues that whilst some contemporary work on HE assessment incorporates elements of a cultural perspective, there are potential practical benefits to a more thoroughgoing adoption of a ‘learning cultures’ approach.     

The social character of knowing and learning: implications of cultural psychology for educational technology

Abstract

A cultural-psychological view of knowledge and learning is presented. Its concerns are defined by comparative discussion of other theoretical traditions in psychology. The cultural view frames intelligent action as something that is mediated. This renders knowledge as participatory, distributed, and socially guided. It is argued that adoption of this perspective has implications for the support of learning and the design of resources, such as those associated with educational technology. It is suggested that a number of innovations of computer use within education implicitly endorse this cultural view of knowing. However, the cultural-psychological emphasis on social aspects of learning urges more careful protection of some educational practices from unplanned consequences of re-mediations with information and communications technology – particularly as these may arise within networked learning. Four traditional arenas for educational practice are analysed in order to illustrate the subtle nature of such social grounding     

Exploring the dynamics of cultures of learning in internationalised higher education

ABSTRACT

One of the main drivers of internationalisation in higher education (HE) is the intention to facilitate the development of intercultural competence (IC) among students and staff. However, previous research shows that higher levels of IC are not automatically achieved by participating in internationalised educational settings. Drawing on the results from a bi- and trilateral collaborative project, we combine cultures of learning and small culture approaches to analyse how participants’ previous educational experience may have influenced the learning process in internationalised HE classrooms. This article argues the necessity of a non-essentialist view of teaching and learning practices in internationalised classrooms. Our analysis demonstrates how academic practices and classroom norms are (re)negotiated in these new contexts, forming new evolving ‘small’ cultures of learning. The role reciprocity plays in working towards cultural synergy in internationalised HE is also addressed. Striving towards equality in power distribution proves to be significant in achieving cultural synergy.     

文化建设的导向与"向外看"——与李德顺等同志商榷

我国的化建设不能一味地“向外看”,也不能“不向外看”。化建设的导向中的“西化论”的实质是主一切向西方化看齐,把西方资本主义的观念和制度全盘搬到中国来。如果不是这样来理解,就会导致对“西化论”这一概念的认识上的偏差。向西方化学习,也包括对其进步的价值观的学习。对“与国际惯例接轨”这一提法和做法,我们既不能笼而统这守肯定,也不能笼而统之地否定,而应进行具体的分析。在 许多经济技术领域及相关的法律领域,我们的“与国际惯例接轨”的做法不是过头了,而是还不够。     

The structure of teaching practices across countries: A combination of factor analysis and network analysis

Teaching practices are pivotal for student learning. Due to pedagogical traditions and national cultures, the structure of teaching practices may differ across countries. This study investigates the structure of teaching practices across 12 countries grouped into four major linguistic/cultural clusters. First, factor analysis is applied to investigate if the theoretical distinction between teacher-directed and student-centred practices is generalizable across countries. Then, network analysis is used to explore how individual classroom assessment practices relate to either teacher-directed or student-centred practices. Main findings include that: (1) teacher-directed and student-centred practices are two distinct factors across countries; (2) the overall structure and connectivity of teaching practices differs across countries, with smaller differences within linguistic/cultural clusters; and (3) assessment practices with the aim to structure and guide learning strongly relate to teacher-directed practices, whereas assessment practices with the aim to individualize instruction more relate to student-centred practices. We discuss the global patterning and implications.     

Understanding and Theorizing the Role of Culture in the Conceptualizations of Successful Aging and Lifelong Learning

Successful aging and lifelong learning are value-laden concepts that are culturally determined. To this effect, people with different value systems and cultural backgrounds may perceive and understand these two concepts differently, resulting in different definitions and conceptualizations by people in diverse cultural contexts. There have been studies of successful aging and lifelong learning that considered what role culture plays in these two constructs separately. However, there is a lack of research studying successful aging and lifelong learning alongside each other, using the same culturally relevant approach to examine the impact of culture on how these two constructs are understood and conceptualized. The aim of this paper is, therefore, two-fold. First, it will examine the concepts of successful aging and lifelong learning and consider the role that culture plays in the understanding of these two constructs. Second, it will present a culturally relevant theoretical framework to theorize and explain older people's own value systems and the predominant cultural values that have influenced their understandings and conceptualizations of what successful aging and lifelong learning mean to them in old age. Considering and examining the theoretical framework from the perspectives of elders themselves is necessary if we are to understand the ways in which culture shapes the experiences of aging and learning in later life.     

Promoting intercultural understanding and reducing stereotypes: incorporating the cultural portfolio project into Taiwan's EFL college classes

Learning about foreign language (FL) cultures is becoming an important objective in the FL curricula and national standards of different countries throughout the world. The purpose of the study was to examine the effects of the cultural portfolio project on: (1) students' concept development in their perceptions of the target language culture and their own; (2) students' evaluation of stereotypes towards English‐speaking cultures; and (3) students' self‐awareness and perception of EFL (English as a foreign language) and cultural learning process. Data were collected from students' cultural portfolio projects, classroom observation, and interviews. Results indicate that through the cultural portfolio project, students engaged in active learning, gained insight into specific aspects of the target language cultures and became more aware of the diversity within these cultures, and developed their ability to think critically instead of automatically accepting cultural information.     

An Autoethnographical Study of Culture,Power, Identity and Art Education in Post‐Colonial South Korea

This article reflects my experiences of learning art in the 1970s and 1980s and my teaching career in school art education in twenty‐first century South Korea. This autobiographical reflection shows how I have struggled with my identity as an art teacher in the post‐colonial context of Western influences on Korean society since World War II. There has been greater tension and a greater struggle for different values, practices and identities when new values and practices have been introduced into the particular socio‐cultural context of South Korea. My struggles with particular kinds of pedagogic identity valued within the rapidly changing political, economic and cultural context of Western influences on Korean art education demonstrate the hidden structural mechanism of the relationship between culture, power and identity in the post‐colonial world of globalisation. This study as an autoethnographical research provides critical insights into how identities are produced by pedagogic discourses and practices of art education that are constructed through the specific systems of practice and language which transmit and regulate such identities and values.     

Cultural awareness training for New Zealand counsellors

Counsellors working in a multicultural society need special training if they are to meet the needs of culturally different clients. Consciousness raising, knowledge of other cultural groups and learning appropriate counselling skills are all essential components of this training. The main focus of such training, however, should be on acquiring cultural self-awareness. Knowledge of one's own cultural values, beliefs and assumptions are essential before effective interaction with persons from other cultures is possible. Training methods should concentrate on experiential learning and discussion. There should be provision for some interaction with members of other cultural groups.     

Reflecting critically on the critical disposition within Internationalisation of the Curriculum (IoC): the developmental journey of a curriculum design team

ABSTRACT

Internationalisation of curriculum (IoC) practices promote students developing knowledge of other cultures, attitudes, values and ethics. This conceptual article argues that embedding critical reflection in the IoC program – through integrating insights from both IoC thinkers and critical reflection literature – may allow educators and students to not only gain understanding and/or competency in other cultures but better address questions of privilege, power and colonisation and thereby interrogate their own normative cultural understandings. Borrowing from debates within IoC pedagogy, as well as from Ahmed’s work on critical reflection, this article also argues that cross/intercultural understanding should be understood (and taught) not as a competency but a disposition towards thinking, analysing and understanding the world which is based on critiquing the ‘self’ and its relationship with the ‘other’.