Cultural Considerations

This class has provided overwhelming options to engage and connect with learners; if these learners have access and know how to navigate in the Web 2.0 world. So many do not, so I wonder how we as designers can become proponents/advocates for moving all learners into the ICT world. Even in the US (during lockdown), we had children sitting in parking lots, on hot pavement, with school-issued shared laptops to connect to a school bus that served as a hotspot, just so that they could learn. How can we better prepare these learners in a F2F environment for the eventuality of an ICT environment as they are further their education or enter the workforce.

I came across the ICT4E and ICT4D concepts in my EME 5601 class after reading an article by Heaster-Ekholm, Popular Instructional Design Models: Their Theoretical Roots and Cultural Considerations. What grabbed my attention was the cultural considerations piece. I knew about SCORM, but I had never heard about Information and Communication Technologies for Education/Development. Where ICT4D’s focus is on connecting the digital divide, ICT4E’s focus is on the plethora of solutions to strengthen education systems and processes in our marginalized communities. ICT4E has 10 criteria for education program development that are built on the concepts of principles, partnerships, and programs. The articles/blogs discussed COVID-19 adaptations made around the world to learning environments were fascinating and informative. USIAD is offering a series of short webinars on Navigating the Monitoring and Evaluation of Distance Learning Programming that might provide a non-developed world perspective on this topic.

 

Comments

  1. Abby FlowersJune 19, 2021 at 9:09 PM

    This same concept really struck me as well... I heard many similar stories about kids only being able to use their parent's phone to do all of their school work or only having one family computer that the parent and all of the kids needed to use for distance learning and WFH.

    These resources you shared are great to see how people are working to build up marginalized communities and create a more equitable environment for all, beginning within the educational systems. I actually really loved the UDL Model in that article because of it's focus on eliminating barriers by meeting learners where they are by designing instructional materials that are accessible to all.

    I'll have to check out those webinars as well. It's so important to understand that everyone doesn't have the same situation as us, being able to engage and connect with our class through a multitude of platforms at any hour of the day!

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