sarah spangler's List: 895 Blog List

• teacher-centered; students from such cultures can find a discussion-centered classroom disorienting.
• The authors maintain that overall the interaction between local culture and cyberculture helps decrease conflicts because "before learners get involved in online education, the process of assimilation and accommodation between their own cultural background and cyberculture in daily life will have prepared them to participate and deal with cultural conflicts in online education" (246
• particularly titles related to instructional technology and intercultural communication
• Interpretive approaches treat culture as socially constructed, recognizing that it is not only brought into but also created in online environments.
• the authors start with studies about learning styles in online environments and then move into studies that examine how culture interacts with learning styles in online classes
• For instructors new to cultural considerations in teaching, this chapter gives a comprehensive survey of topics, articles for further reading, and considerations for course design and activities that are inclusive of culturally diverse students.
• With the sections on “contributions and limitations” for each approach, the chapter avoids giving an overly simplistic treatment of culture, yet the pedagogical suggestions help avoid a feeling of instructor helplessness in the face of those cultural complexities.
• Instructors, researchers, and students alike have noted the advantages of online discussions for second language writers who have trouble with face to face discussions: the online environment allows the students to compose and revise their contribution before sending it, which overcomes student concerns about accent and grammar.
• • It's interesting to hear this statement coming from a graduate student.  And, sad, really.  I'm a major a gabber in class, but it's truly not because I like to hear myself speak.  I just get passionate about whatever I'm reading and discussing!  But, I try to hold back.  I hate to think that I could potentially be a barrier to others making a contribution whether or not they happen to be ESL or simply shy and reticent. :/
• Ware highlights that claims about the advantages of online discussions for language learners treat this group of students as homogenous
• what had been intended as a positive opportunity for social interaction into a formal display of her writing, meticulously prepared for the public scrutiny of her peers” (460).

9 more annotations...

• Students had to adapt their arguments to the adopted/assigned role they assumed and elaborate their own viewpoint on the issue under consideration.  
• which in turn will be followed by role play or forced discussion
• Consequently, the authors attempt to address the question of how to evaluate quality online interaction in a fully online course.
• The authors indicate that the extent and quality of online learning is, to a large extent, dependent on the quality of the interactions taking place among participants in the discussion forums.
• his brings us to the seminal issue “of quality of interaction” and how it could be defined by setting authentic criteria that would assist students in their online discussion engagements by rendering instructor/course expectations vis-as-vis student participation explicit.
• They conclude that combining “student-centered” and instructor-centered discussion” would be more pedagogically effective for students than either approach per se (27).

4 more annotations...