Week Eleven - Cultural diversity

As we discussed in the previous posts making our programs fair & accessible to all is a very important goal.

With cultural diversity we have I guess just a different slant on those fundamentals.

As we adapt our teaching method resources for different learning styles & cater for learning difficulties, location & disabilities we also must accept peoples backgrounds, cultural beliefs & commitments. These could include language, dress, holidays, prayer times etc, but also learning styles.

So far in my teaching career I would like to think that I have a collective view of my students but will try to accept the students as individuals who learn best at differing speeds and styles.

I don't prejudice anybody regardless of age, sex, race or religion.

Last year I had my first incidence of cultural discrimination.

The opportunity arose via the pacific island support centre to welcome 3 of my students to Otago Polytechnic & apply for grants totalling approx $1000.

I passed these applications to the students and consequently two of them received scholarships enabling them to enrol for year 2 of their quals , something both of them would be unable to do without funding.

When the other students found out about this there was some anger at why they were singled out but others who were unable to afford future enrolments could receive any funding.

This was a very difficult question to answer when indeed the scholarships are race based.

I spoke to a friend a Lecturer at Otago University about this and she spoke about positive discrimination & gave me statistics on education success rates within ethnic minorities & also crime & mortality rates which inturn can be linked to poverty. Obviously these problems are global. Although other students dismissed my answers to their questions I wholeheartedly believe in our efforts to not only accept people of all backgrounds but also to target those in need of specific help be it time, resources, funding or understanding.

Week Ten- Access & equity

Access & equity sounds easy enough to implement in a tertiary program but why isn't it in practice? Maybe because of the huge range of variables.
The European Journal of Open and Distance Learning (EURODL) article by Zondiros, Dimitris (2008) on Online, distance education and globalisation: Its impact on educational access, inequality and exclusion spells it out for me.

• "Access" means finding ways of 'bypassing' barriers to learning (DfES, 2002). There are many characteristics that can be considered as barriers (or structural features) to learning or education: income, gender, race, ethnicity, power, status, age, religion, physical or mental disability or any other characteristic.


• Levitas et al (2007) define social exclusion as "a complex and multi-dimensional process. It involves the lack or denial of resources, rights, goods and services, and the inability to participate in the normal relationships and activities, available to the majority of people in a society, whether in economic, social, cultural or political arenas.


• "inequality of opportunity" which is the lack or limited access to important social institutions (with education among the most important ones),


• "inequality of condition" which means that some people are disadvantaged from the outset because of one or more of the above mentioned structural features / circumstances into which they are born, and


• "inequality of outcome" which means that whatever the circumstances contributing to inequality, people end up unequal because there is insufficient compensation to remove the effects causing inequality in society. On the reverse, equality of outcome means that everyone should end up equal regardless of his or her particular circumstances

What does all this mean for Otago Polytechnic & to me.

After listening to Pam McBride's from "The Disabilities unit "recording basically it means we make our courses fair & accessible to all, regardless of circumstance. As she said thou, costs, grants & mandates can prevent us from meeting all our obligations & intentions in this quest.

For myself & my journey to provide more flexible learning, I need to insure that I can incorporate where possible techniques that can break down barriers to some people in our community. I could get digital media translated to other languages to reach new imigrants ?, ensure any media posted be it online or hard copy, is easy to read ie Larger font for people with limited sight,Braille, voice recognition or even just ensuring that we have a support person available for reader/writers. E-learning/distance learning in itself can be more than enough for people dissadvantaged by location.

WEEK NINE- Sustainability in flexible learning

I think I see sustainability in flexible learning quite clearly. Because of how I see flexible learning benefiting Otago Polytechnic.
In my opinion our organisation is looking at flexible learning as a way to increase enrolments by making them more affordable for students, more cost effective for the organisation & to meet government incentives to educate or up skill the adult population.
Using the triple bottom line sustainability model, I believe we can accurately design our programs accordingly.
PEOPLE- Making it fair and equitable, attainable & inclusive to people of all races regardless of location. Creating a skilled work benefits the country and raises the standard of living.
PLANET-Minimising the impact of what we offer and how we offer it, the electronic age has enabled us to send & receive copious amounts of info with very little paper trail, expending less non renewable resources eg paper, fuel etc.
PROFIT-With less student contact & more electronic delivery ,marking & support tutors could run multiple courses simultaneously thus helping to reduce labour costs on a per course basis.
Courses made more affordable could increase enrolments & encourage students to take up further courses offered by the institutions.

WEEK Eight - What does the modern internet have to offer flexible learning ?

I have mixed views on the modern Internet, in some ways I believe the opportunities created by the online era open up education possibilities for many people unable to find time or resources to study in the classroom or workplace environments.
However I also believe if too much emphasis is placed on e-learning there will be a greater demand for it , to the detriment of the student.
In lean economic times such as we are experiencing, people wish to further their education and up skill perhaps for higher wages or for better positions. Seldom do they want to leave work or take a sabbatical, but to squeeze in a course here and there and gradual chip away at it whilst still working.
To be perfectly honest ,I'm doing that exact thing right now & have to admit that I'm getting less out of this than if I was attending the program full time.
In The European journal of open, Distance & e-learning article on social software I related to the "Towards a student -centred approach to e- learning"
Where instead of integrating into a program, tools are accessible to students to enhance their learning and to facilitate networks between students. This I see as 1 tool in a toolbox of many possible teaching aids.
I agree with Mr Weinburger, re " cockroaches & no centralized gatekeepers " there is to much as he put it "More slander, porn, honour & love, more experts and more professionals"
In my words there is alot of crap to sort through to get to some of the brillant resources available to students, and that can be a big waste of time and a cause of big distractions.