BeyondLabels

This article by Jana Noel (California State university, Sacramento) examines the idea that students construction of identity can be linked to their understandings of multicultural education. This article was written from the prespective of the teacher/educators in the sense that they need to have a good understanding of why our students have such a wide range of definitions of multicultural education. This article ties in really well with my PhD in the sense that, one of my dimension is looking at the identity implication form the learner perspective as well as teacher's perspective. There are not as many discussion around in terms of teacher's identity compared to learners's identity.

Jana discussed how she found out for the first time from her 'student teacher' ......" I don't need to take Multicultural Education, because I'am in Agricultural and we feed the world". Such perception about multicultural eduation is and if it is part of the 'student teacher' thinking has made Jana more determined to gain a better understanding of why her students have such a different understanding of multicultural eduation.

So I have got there MC-DIP Question set now complete, and uploaded to Plone project site, for those I have been working with on the project - Al, Anna, Mike, Steve etc.. Massive task as the diagnostic cuts across three theoretical lenses - Multicultural education, learnign styles and creativity. The logic behind the questions sets that the diagnostic software will be built around is supporting pedagogy equity for educators and learners. In the environment I work in an imbalance on the teacher and on the Web you can see in many circles an imbalance on the learner through what is frequently termed 'autonomous learning'. The Diagnostic 2.0 software is about intervening for positive educational action for social change and hence fits well with much of the e-learning 2.0 developments and for me logical fit with Knownet software apps.

Just a little more on the background need for such an approach and underpinning thoughts. .....

For me the challenge is to create learning environments that maintain the cultural integrity of every person while enhancing their educational success. At the classroom level, culturally responsive teaching essentially involves using students’ cultural experiences and background as a medium for helping them learn important academic skills. There has also been a general agreement that the development of individual cultural identity is a major process of acceptance of the cultural norms, beliefs, attitudes and values of one cultural group rather than another. Hence multicultural education is important and necessary in order for students to be able to develop personal autonomy. To create inclusive education we need learning environments to re-configure to be in a proactive position to support diversity and equality.

Thats enough for now.. Will be posting over next week specifically on Multiculturalism, Learning Styles and eLearning 2.0 from how I see things..

The general focus for the talk is around ‘opening up’ education. My main area of multicultural education research is focused on pedagogy equity in the context of learning styles, education & identity and intercultural dialogue. In this talk I will explore some tensions and opportunities between multicultural education, learning styles and Web 2. Give you an insight into my experiences in integrating learning diagnostics into the teaching process and finally share some lessons I have learnt. Some broad but central questions for my collaborative research are: (1)How do you deal in an equitable way with the increased diversity in our classrooms? (2)How can we deal with discriminatory practice in our teaching and learning process? (3)And finally how can we use technology to enable pedagogy equity? Being a teacher in the University sector it is clear we have moved a long way in supporting diversity but as we all operate directly or indirectly in ever increasing globalised society/communities this has significantly influenced the form of the educational provision required. The diversity in our communities and institutions requires proactive responses towards equality and this has to be in-tune with our regional communities. With no change in educational practice the implications of diversity may be oppressive to many. Many policy documents from the EU also call for greater integration between informal to formal learning and it is viewed that technology has an instrumental role in widening opportunities for people and meeting regional priorities. In addition understanding the informal and formal learning process and supporting integration between them also offers the opportunity to increase understanding of the changing needs of business and the community. For my research specific to ethnic minority groups and social migrants, and as a teacher, I feel undertaking community based education offers provides knowledge to increase depth of understanding of changing society needs for marginalised groups with high risk of being disadvantaged in our communities and in the workplace Before moving into the education perspective we should also consider some important milestones in England that informs and influences my research perspective. •Scarman Report (1981) - Commission as a response to understanding what was termed the race riots across the England. Did not find evidence for institutional racism and rejected •Swann report (1985) – ‘Diversity within unity’ and the need to identify common values and norms. Racism was seen as a major barrier to education for all. •Stephen Lawrence (1999) Enquiry – A response to the death of an innocent man in the ‘hands’ of the police that led to the MacPherson report. Institutional racism accepted as being in our organisations and institutions The above states the driving questions for the research and the climate that re-enforces the need for multicultural education research to enable changes to pedagogy practice in our classrooms and workplaces. So why multicultural education and learning styles? The rationale is to directly deal with the balance between the teaching and learning process. Multicultural education is viewed as a pedagogic perspective (critical anti-discriminatory perspective) and based on teaching styles. Even though the learner is integral to the pedagogic practice this is clearly based, in most instances, on teaching style and approach. Learning styles is view as integral to multicultural education provision and there is a lack of research directly exploring multiculturalism and learning styles. This talk is about exploring learning styles through using learning diagnostics as an intervention to raising awareness of learner needs in the multicultural pedagogic design process. This has the potential to deal positively with increasing diversity and education for all.

Really enjoyed the presentation from Graham and the chat. The summary of Graham supporting information also useful for me. Suggest a read.

Also much respect and thanks to my lovely friends from Ethnic Minority Cultural Initiative and the Mighty Zulu Nation Theatre Production Company. Look forward to working with you all again soon