3.2: Introduction
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Learning Outcomes
- Understand the steps and processes in setting up a partially online and webconferencing course.
- Know the challenges and difficulties in setting a webconferencing course.
- Be aware of the technologies needed in setting up a webconferencing course.
“While Canadian Communications scholar Marshall McLuhan put us all in a ‘Global Village’, the benefits of the village appear to elude a sizeable number of the villagers as the digital divide between the technology-haves and technology-have-nots has been growing ever wider and wider”. – Charles Quist-Adade (2008)
While Canadian Communications scholar Marshall McLuhan put us all in a “Global Village”, the benefits of the village appear to elude a sizeable number of the villagers as the digital divide between the technology-haves and technology-have-nots has been growing ever wider and wider. Knowledge and ideas flow in a unidirectional, North-to-South (from the Developed World to the Developing World) fashion with little going in the opposite direction. A lopsided flow of knowledge, values, and ideas creates an atmosphere of mutual suspicion and recrimination, with some of the villagers complaining of “cultural imperialism” and others fending off such charges by saying they are only promoting the ideas of “democracy”. But for the cultures of the “Global Village” to flourish in a tolerant, mutually beneficial fashion, it is imperative that there be real sharing of ideas, knowledge, and values.
Globalization has been described as an ideology and practice of corporate expansion across borders and a structure of cross-border facilities and economic linkages, which focus on the imperialistic ambitions of nations, corporations, organizations … and their desire to impose themselves on various geographic areas (Ritzer, 2003). While this description may sound cynical, and points to the vulnerabilities of the concept, it is imperative to extend and expand the intellectual realm of Globalization on the crest wave of the ever-evolving information revolution to the benefit of students and countries worldwide.
There is no better forum to address the everincreasing need for mutual understanding and mutual respect across cultures and national borders than via collaborative learning.
Formal education systems, in the developing world in general and Africa in particular, are taxed by minimal resources and extensive responsibilities. A “conspiracy” of factors—limited financial resources, the brain drain which has affected tertiary institutions the most, the dearth of information communication technological (ICT) facilities, among many others—makes clear the need for new and alternative approaches. While the use of ICT may increase the likelihood of improved learning only so much, its capacity to alter the status quo is unparalleled. “Using technology to attract and facilitate connections and interaction among communities, regardless of where they are located or who they are, can promote flows of information and knowledge, creation of ideas and initiatives, and ultimately a healthier society” (African Universities Initiative, 2005).
This project will offer Canada a fine opportunity to play its part in bridging the digital gap between a developing country and a developed one, while facilitating mutual enrichment of the life experiences of Canadian and Ghanaian students, improving and innovating pedagogical methods of educators in Canada and Ghana.
The course will be guided by the more benign conceptualization of globalization as “the worldwide nexus of practices, expansion of relations across continents, organization of social life on a global scale, and growth of a shared global consciousness” (Lechner, 2003, p. 72). It will be a cost-effective and innovative way to exchange knowledge across continents, allowing for the “interpenetration of the global and the local,” which will bring about unique outcomes in different geographic areas (Ritzer, 2003, p. 73) As a micro academia in the global academic world, it will offer the best opportunity for both students and faculty to contribute to the global “stock of knowledge” through an active cross-fertilization of cross-cultural ideas.
Already, increasing numbers of institutions of higher learning and non-profit organizations in collaboration with ICT companies have developed free resusable online resources which allow for the sharing of academic knowledge, pedagogical practices, course resources not only between institutions, but also between students and educators in different countries. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has perhaps one of the leading global collaborative learning projects. MIT’s Open Courseware (OCW) provides free, searchable access to MIT’s course materials for educators, students, and self-learners around the world. The Singapore-MIT (SMA) is a classic example of how collaborative learning and teaching can revolutionize the global exchange of knowledge and help train innovative leaders of the world. In the words of Professor Schmalensee, SMA “joins students at the National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, and MIT in a virtual classroom taught—via Internet2—by professors from all three universities. SMA was founded in 1998 to promote global engineering education and research while providing students with unlimited access to exceptional faculty expertise and superior research facilities. While students may sit in classrooms at different sites, they share course lectures, online materials, and research opportunities with over 90 faculty—half from MIT.” MIT has expanded its project to include Korea and Mexico and it’s now eyeing Africa, precisely Ghana (alumweb.mit.edu/opendoor/200011/degree.shtml).
In Canada, BCcampus has developed a leading edge technology that allows the free searchable access to courses across the Province. Through BCcampus, students, educators and self-learners can access services, resources, and online courses from several participating institutions. In addition, users have access to the Online Learner Community, an online community that provides users opportunities “for collaboration, general interest, and special event use”. Through its SOL*R, BC public post-secondary educators can license, contribute, and access free online learning resources. As a repository portal, SOL*R facilitates the sharing, discovery, reuse, and remixing of course material—including course outlines, lecture notes, best teaching practices, etc. from a wide variety of disciplines and subject areas.