Instructional Design for Culturally Diverse Online Learners Devshikha Bose Department of Educational...

Instructional Design for Culturally Diverse Online Learners

Devshikha Bose Department of Educational Leadership and Instructional Design

Idaho State UniversityUnited States

[email protected]

04/19/23 1Devshikha Bose~ Global Learn Asia Pacific 2010

Brief overview

• Cultural differences• Culture and the use of technology• Culturally sensitive instructional design• Multiple intelligences• Conclusion


Cultural differences

• Increase in globalization• Educational materials and technology created

in one part of the world can be useful in another ?

• Instructional designers fail to recognize cultural diversity

• Alienation of many learner groups



• Learners coming from diverse communities may bring with them culturally ingrained concepts about learning and how learning is achieved

• Hall’s division of cultures into groups – high and low context

• Internet is not a culturally neutral space



• Communication gap created by a cultural gap between culturally diverse participants

• Difference in the acquisition and developmental patterns between conversational and academic language

• The concept of literacy is acquiring new dimensions with the advent of growing technology



• Visual and electronic literacy are new genres which are neither oral nor written but lie intermediate


Culture and the use of technology

• Access to technology is not evenly distributed throughout the world

• “Technology divide” between the technological haves and have-nots

• Hofstede’s ideas about individualism verses collectivism, and individual ambiguity tolerance/intolerance level as a cultural dimension on online learning



• Cultural dimensions are significantly related to some perceptions about culture in an online learning environment

• Western notions of efficiency and may prove inefficient for international students

• Electronic communication lacks certain basic human communication elements like context perception, parallel visual channels, direct eye contact, use of gestures, and side talk



• Certain groups are found to be better online communicators than others


Culturally sensitive instructional design

• Learning is a form of enculturation - Vygotsky• Lave and Wenger’s concept of situated

cognition • Henderson’s (1996) multiple cultural model of

instructional design • Design should reflect the multicultural social

realities, include multicultural ways of teaching-learning


• Designers should not unintentionally misuse symbols, colors, or metaphors which may offend or alienate learners

• Keep the tone, style of communication, design, and layout of user interfaces as culturally sensitive as possible

Culturally sensitive instructional design


Design considerations

• Learner’s familiar environment• Cultural concepts of the use and view of time• Expectations from and the role of the teacher• Kinds of assessment tasks• Role of feedback• Rewards• Locus of control• Cognitive style,



• Planning for flexibility and adaptation• Flexibility of learning goals and modes of

assessment • Acquire a deeper understanding of

(designer’s) own culture and ancestry• Preconceived notions about the target

audience’s culture should be removed



• Remind oneself about his/her prior knowledge about human beings and social interaction in general

• Design should not be based on what one believes to be true but should rely on facts

• Context of the situation and the background of the target audience should be noted



• Be creative in approach while keeping in mind design foundations like the ADDIE

• Collaboration with indigenous community members may help reduce cultural misunderstandings

• Students’ capacity to construct their own knowledge should be recognized



• Authentic learning activities should be designed which build on already existing skills, community values, and problems

• Create an interactive, dialogic approach which involves the community

• Collaborate on authentic tasks and projects • Flexible tasks • Learners to share the knowledge they have

constructed with others



• Authentic services like create websites for community organization or engage in “chat” sessions with other learners from diverse cultures

• Different forms of support both within and outside the community which can help scaffolded learning

• Awareness of learner needs especially of those learners who are new to the online environment and need technology skills support



• Websites and other electronic media should have maximum clarity and ease of use

• Simplicity and clarity of design, with the requirement for minimum technical equipment should be the aim

• Provide for multiple modes of communication with tutors and other students



• Aim should be to design a human-human rather than a human-computer interaction system

• Cultural stereotypes and expectations attached to them should be avoided

• Predictable regularity in activities and assignments expected from students

• Rules or standards of good net etiquette should be established in order to avoid possible misunderstandings.

04/19/23 Devshikha Bose~ Global Learn Asia Pacific 2010 19


• Learner control over learning and realization of self-progress

• meta-communication within the course design, where the content and process of the course can be discussed and suggestions for change included.

• variety of resources so as to ensure that learners are able to get multiple views of the subject matter


Multiple intelligences (MI)

• All humans possess at least eight different types of intelligences which provide them a variety of ways valued by a community or culture, to learn and demonstrate their learning

• Learner-centered teaching and problem-solving activities


Multiple intelligences

• MI classroom can be especially useful for learners coming from diverse cultural backgrounds which have unconventional parameters of judging intelligence


MI & ESL

• Four advantages of applying the theory of MI for teaching ESL students– help learners better appreciate and assess their

personal strengths – learning preferences– needs– goals


MI & ESL

• Use MI as a theoretical base to structure courses which can cater to the requirements of a wide range of learners

• Collaborative learning and communicative activities

• Learner can take control over his/her own learning by working with the teacher to identify learning styles, preferences, needs, and goals


Conclusion

• Culturally sensitive instructional design approaches should be applied to meet up the challenges of creating a culturally unbiased curriculum.

• Learner-centeredness and flexibility of design and execution is the key to attaining success when dealing with diversity.


Instructional Design for Culturally Diverse Online Learners Devshikha Bose Department of Educational...

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