Convergence of Technology and Diversity: Experiences of Two Beginning Teachers in Web-Based Distance Learning for Global/Multicultural Education

Teacher Education Quarterly, Winter 2006 by Gaudelli, William

Multicultural education which also emerged in the 1960s was originally constituted as ethnic studies. In the United States, multicultural education grew out of social context where issues of prejudice, discrimination, and violence were of great public concern. Multicultural discourses also arose, particularly in what is referred to as the West, though the national contexts that sparked these diversity movements are unique (Cushner, 1998). As multicultural education has increasingly become institutionalized in education, it has evolved from an ethnic-focused, tolerance-promoting orientation towards a broader definition of diversity and a more ambitious agenda to promote social justice. While there are differences in emphases within the fields of multicultural and global education, four themes are congruent among the sub-fields: cultural pluralism, social justice, affirming culture in pedagogy, and striving for educational equity (Merryfield, 1996, 2002).

Education in the United States is notoriously deficient with respect to teaching for global civic competence, diversity, and social justice (Diaz, Massialas, & Xanthopoulus, 1999;Sleeter, 1992;Tye, 1999). Global and multicultural educators have long recognized the peripheral quality of these knowledge bases, specifically in P-12 curriculum. Beginning teachers lack a comprehensive preparation to teach for global diversity (Adler, 1991; Boston, 1997). Professional development of beginning teachers, generally defined as the first three years of teaching, is perhaps the most critical stage, as teachers, in a desperate effort to survive, may use teaching that will "calcify into ineffective teaching methods" (Chubbuck, Clift, Allard, and Quinlan, 2001, p. 373). Particularly with respect to global/multicultural learning, teachers often lack sufficient background to engage students effectively with these curricula, which may in turn lead to simplistic teaching that can undermine the knowledge, skill, and affective goals in these fields.

A Web-based Global/Multicultural Course

The focus of this study is the experiences of two beginning teacher in a Webbased course in global/multicultural pedagogy.1 The title of the course was Distance Learning for Global and Multicultural Teachers (DL-GE/MC). The course was offered using WebCT software and included six goals for participants:

1. Prepare for teaching through collaboration with diverse partners.

2. Critically assess the ways in which culture is presented in media and materials used in schools.

3. Implement diversity in teaching using current sources of information.

4. Include diversity and global thinking into future pedagogy.

5. Develop exemplary lesson plans to teach about multicultural diversity.

6. Share the information learned in the course with colleagues in current teaching assignment.

Twenty-four students were enrolled in the course from throughout North America and Europe. DL-GE/MC lasted for nine weeks. The professor who taught the course employed technical assistants, international students, and discussion leaders. Technical assistants maintained and updated the online resources with input from the international students and professor. International students served as guides for learning about particular cultures, responding to questions and interacting in dialogs. Discussion leaders, who were graduate assistants, facilitated conversations about issues that arose related to the course, such as how to interact with guest speakers. Most course resources were provided through an annotated Webliography. Annotations offered teachers and teacher candidates a critical analysis of the information provided by each site and tips about where to find useful information therein. The instructor provided links to articles that illustrated the nature of global/multicultural education. Students completed six assignments: (1) posting an explanation of their views about teaching, (2) writing creative lesson plans that incorporated course material, (3) developing a plan for implementing what they have learned about technology and diversity, (4) posting reflection about their current K-12 students, (5) researching a controversial global/multicultural issue, and (6) participating in online discussions.