"Going global": The complexities of fostering intercultural understanding in a rural school using videoconferencing technology

Lee, M. M. (2004). "Going global": The complexities of fostering intercultural understanding in a rural school using videoconferencing technology. Unpublished dissertation, Indiana University, Bloomington.

Chapter 1. Introduction

• Emphasis on internationalization of curricula
  
  • social change
  • general goals (Tye, 2002): a. broadening students' horizons; b. building critical thinking skills; better preparing young people for productive lives in a nation that belongs to an increasingly interdependent world community
    
• Problems
  
  • Access & opportunities (Kim, 2001)
    
  • Individualization v. universalization (Kim, 2001)
    
  • cultural consciousness (Banks, 1997)
• Midwestern State, Henderson School & International Studies for Henderson State Schools (ISHS)
• Framing the study (p. 5)
  
  • Intercultural Education (Cushner, 1998)
    
  • International studies (Merryfield, 2001)
  • Videoconferencing technology (Cuban, 1986; Reznich, 1997; Roberts et al., 1990; Yoakam, 1995; Tiedemann, 2002 - 4 benefits of videoconferencing: a. It is direct communication with experts to enhance understanding of a subject matter; b. it heightens interest which improves motivation and retention; c. it overcomes time and distance constraints; d. it improves the spontaneity of guests)
  • ISHS
  • Interaction as instructional strategy (Lee & Paulus, 2001; Moore, 1993; Vygotsky, 1978 - ZPD; Bonk, Oyer & Medury, 1995 - social constructivist; Garrison, 1993, p. 16 - interaction; Gilert & Moore, 1998 - interaction)
    
• Significance of the study
  
  • No research to substantiate the impact of ISHS
  • Rurual school's isolation
  • The findings provide insight into the understanding of complexities associated with cross-cultural encounters; suggest possible implications of this type of program for educators who want to develop learning environments where the students can be empowered with a sense of intercultural competence as members of a multicultural society
• Research questions
  
  • How does a middle school social studies teacher in a racially homogenous middle school integrate an international sutdies program into his World Geography curriculum?
  • How do the middle school students understand and interpret their encounters with people from other countries through interactive videoconferencing technology?

Chapter 2. The Design of the Study (p. 18) ( qualitative research - Lincoln & Cuba, 1985; Merriam, 1998; Wolcott, 1992)

• Definition of Ethnography (Creswell, 1998; Tedlock, 2000; Chambers, 2000)
• My stance as a critical theorist (Critical theory - Poskewitz, 1999a, p.2) - look at the program as either
  
  • an intervention, the effectiveness of which is assessed by measuring the change in students' perception about other cultures (attitudinal change), or
  • an opportunity to introduce the students to other cultures in order to see their reaction to such an opportunity (naturalistic ethnographic approach)
• Methodological implications
  
  • ethnographic method is helpful in providing detailed info about participants & their surroundings
  • Individualized interaction techniques (building rapport)
• The research design
  
  • Outline of the study
    
    • Phase 1: Search for possible locations using Henderson State demographic statistics and select 5 possible sites
    • Phase 2: Meet w/ Mr. G and obtain his agreement for the implementation of ISHS into his curriculum
    • Phase 3: Make observations and acclimate to the setting (continued until Phase 7)
      
    • Phase 4: Begin ISHS. Conduct sutdent/teacher interviews. Begin observation and engage in preliminary analysis
    • Phase 5: ISHS presenters' interviews (for causal feedback). Ongoing observation.
    • Phase 6: Transcription of data and search for emerging themes. Ongoing observation.
    • Phase 7: Data analysis. Ongoing observation. (themes from interviews were compared to the observation - basis for coding. Triangulation)
    • Phase 8: Further interviews w/ the students (questions drawn upon based on the preliminary analysis). Ongoing observation.
    • Phase 9: Analysis and write-up.
  • Research site
    
    • Selection criteria (purposive sampling): a. social studies class in rural high school; b. teacher agreement on using ISHS for entire school year; c. culturally isolated & racially homogeneous
    • Instructional characteristics of the Eliot School (school vision)
      
    • Technology use in the Eliot School
    • Participants (students, teachers)
• Data collection
  
  • Observation (regualr classes without ISHS; class during the ISHS sessions; hallways & cafeteria; school functions such as athletic events; school area & nearby towns) ; to minimize the researcher's obtrusiveness (as an Asian) by regrulating her visits to the public areas of the school so that the students would become accustomed to her presence; examples of the observation data
  • Document analysis (textbook; class assignments)
  • Interviews (student, teacher)
• Data anaylsis (p. 45)
  
  • Reconstructive analysis & diglogical data generation (emerging themes; check understandings with teachers & locals)
  • Coding (repeated reading of the data - preliminary analysis; topics compared across the data and grouped into emerging themes. Peer debriefing; discussion with the faculty)
  • Discovering system relations (findings compared w/ larger social context - Carspecken, 1996): Hermeneutic-reconstructive anlysis emphasizes action orientations such as interpretive schemes within a culture; systems analysis emphasizes action consequences and the distribution of action conditions broadly throughout society
    
    • The findings from the school site were compared w/ info about the neighborhood & the town (community)
    • The findings were compared to the dominant discourse of the period that sutdents were exposed to from media sources and conversation w/ others outside of the school
• Possible limitations of the study
  
  • Focus group interviews w/ the students (group form may have inhibitory effects)
    
  • My role as researcher/participant (3-fold role - involvement in the implementation; worked as presenter; conducting the research process)
  • The novelty factor of the videoconferencing technology
  • Myself as an international student (Hawthorne effect)

Chapter 3. "Bringing the world into the classroom": The ISHS program in session (p. 50)

• Sections
• Discussion
  
  • Emphasis on interaction
  • "Personalized narratives
  • Uses of other technologies
  • Presenter's characteristics
• Other instructional interventions for intercultural awareness
  
  • Career talk with the ISHS outreach coordinator
  • Ms. Hilary's diversity program

Chapter 4. "Making it relevant": The teacher's use of the ISHS program (p. 82)

• The teacher's personal values and views on education
  
  • Being a coach vs. being a teacher
  • Being tolerant vs. having strong moral convictions
• 'No Child Left Behind' & issues of parental responsibilities
• On instructional strategies
  
  • Increasing student motivation
  • Student-center pedagogy
  • Bringing in current affairs
• "Making relevant": Integrating ISHS into the curriculum
• The future use of ISHS (p. 101)
• Discussion
  
  • ISHS as a "live" resource
  • Understanding Mr. Gordon's identity

Chapter 5. "Meeting the real person": The students' interpretation of the ISHS program (p. 105)

• Students' interpretation of the "other": Constructing difference in school (Identity - Mead, 1934; Habermas, 1981; Kanpol & McLauren, 1995, Hall, 1996; Taylor, 1994; Schutz, 1970; Sleeter & Grant, 1991; Hall & du Gay, 1996)
  
  • Groups & labels (social class variations - Brantlinger, 1993) - being popular
  • Homosexuality (Allport, 1979, p. 87 - well-deserved reputation theory)
  • "Being popular": Power & legitimacy (Allport, 1979; Kanpol & McLaren, 1995)
    
  • Racism
• Difference & the ISHS videoconferencing programs (Self-Other relations - Fine, 1994)
  
  • Interest in the exotic (Ashcroft et al., 2000, p. 94)
  • Americanized cultural forms & U.S.-centrism
  • "Coming from a real person": Authenticity & group essentialism
  • Differentiating vs. "othering"
• Discussion
  
  • Popularity & racism: The discourse of exclusion (Sarup, 1996, p. 59)
  • Making sense of the difference (Cushner, 2003 - difference as diviation generates the sense of fear)
  • Oversimplification of other cultures
• Possible reasons for the interpretation (p. 139)
  
  • Culture-specific approach to understanding other cultures (Cushner, 2003, p. 42)
  • Emphasis on ethnicism or "national character" (internally homogenous - Brah, 1997, p. 129)
  • View of culture as static (Kanpol & McLaren, 1995)

Chapter 6. Conclusions & implications for future research (p. 142)

• Tentative conclusion
  
  • Positive response to ISHS
  • resulted in interpretations of culture emphasizing the exotic in some cases and in the search for Americanization in others
  • didn't result in an awareness of, or challenge to, an already established framework for understanding differences
• Future implications
  
  • Providing a support system for the teacher
    
    • understanding how differnce is constructed
    • community of practice for social studies teachers (Wenger, 1998)
  • Implications for instructional design issues (Merryfield, 2001)
    
    • continuous implementation of ISHS
    • collaborative problem solving approach
    • teaching tolerance: providing instructional resources
    • collaboration between rural schools and universities
    • providing a panel of speakers
  • Administrative support for the ISHS program from the university
    
    • creating more tangible incentive for the presenters
    • creating additional partnership
  • For further research
    
    • further conceptualization of differences for particular contexts and learners
    • issues on curriculum design in social studies
    • teacher education for social studies
    • politics of international education

References

Appendix

• Sample interview protocol for students
• Sample interview protocol for teacher
• Pre-survey questions for students
• Reflection of the session (students)
• Summary of events
• Sample of preliminary analysis

Context in instructional design

Tessmer and Richey (1997) define context as “a multilevel body of factors in which learning and performance are embedded” (p. 87). The importance of context and its impact on the instructional equation were discovered through context analysis or environmental analysis (Dean, 1994; Tessmer, 1990; Tessmer & Harris, 1992; Tiene & Futagami, 1987). According to Tessmer and Richey (1997), the designer (or design team) conducts a thorough review of the environmental factors that have direct bearing on learning during context analysis, then follows the analysis with conscious, informed decision making procedures to change the learning environment during the instructional design process.

A context analysis can be either similar to or different from needs assessment or needs analysis. The similarity is nested in a broad view of needs assessment (Eastmond, 1994) in which needs assessment is defined as “a systematic inquiry into the most important needs to be met” (p. 88). However, Dick and Carey (1996) assert that the needs assessment tends to focus on “the exact nature of an organizational problem and how it can be solved” (p. 18). This notion implies the distinction between needs assessment and context analysis, while the latter is interpreted as an examination of “physical and psychosocial factors that affect learning…a phenomenological approach to instructional design in that it seeks to describe the learning ‘as it is’ in the real world…” (Tessmer & Harris, 1992, p. 15).


Tessmer and Richey (1997) proposed a general model of the dimensions of context in which the authors classified three context types: orienting, instructional, and transfer. The first dimension, orienting context, addresses issues that influence learner motivation and preparedness. The second dimension, instructional context, includes the factors that are “directly involved in the delivery of instruction, the immediate physical, social and symbolic resources” (p. 91) surrounding the learner. The third, transfer context, describes the environment in which the learner will use his/her newly gained knowledge. Embedded in each of the three types of contexts are three levels of analysis: the learner, the immediate environment, and the organizational environment. A combination of the context types and levels provides a framework of the “multilevel” nature of context as reviewed earlier.


Information for the context analysis can be collected in a variety of ways, for example, data analysis (documents), interviews, site visits, surveys, and small group (team) discussions (Tessmer, 1990, p. 61). The variety of data sources help an investigator triangulate and verify information about the context (Tessmer & Richey, 1997). Dean (1994) further outlines seven ways that context analysis might address instructional design concerns. Data from context analysis can:
1. Identify those who can help guide the instructional design process.
2. Provide another way of specifying instructional goals and objectives.
3. Assist in developing appropriate learning activities.
4. Define the format of a program and describe the availability of equipment.
5. Identify which methods of instruction people accept or resist.
6. Frame an understanding of learner evaluation methods.
7. Elucidate critical summative evaluation components. (p. 66)
Tessmer and Richey present another perspective on the use of context analysis data with the following five steps:
1. Identify criteria for “successful” instruction.
2. Mitigate effect of inhibiting factors.
3. Install missing factors.
4. Secure or exploit facilitative factors.
5. Monitor the contextual factors of orienting, learning and transfer context during their continued implementation. (p. 104)