View 6 | International Issues and Informal Learning - MDDE 611/614

Overview

This final VIEW, my second dealing with international issues in DE, presents a team project created by myself and Sharon Hu for MDDE 614, as well as an individual project, created for MDDE 611, focused on mainland China. Together these projects focus on international issues and informal learning.

In writing these assignments, I believe I have touched upon the following MDDE competencies:

1. Problem Solving, Analysis, & Decision Making

1.1. Recognize problems.
1.2. Define the aspects of problems.
1.3. Formulate questions.
1.4. Find and access information.
1.5. Evaluate the relevance of information for a given situation.
1.7. Make reasoned arguments leading to rational solutions.
1.8. Justify these solutions.
1.10 Recognize the wider implications of specific knowledge.
1.11 Adapt solutions to suit varied situations.

3. Communication Technologies and Networking

3.1. Use a variety of communication and document sharing tools to create, reflect, and communicate with others.
3.2. Analyze and evaluate the various applications and implications of these technologies.
3.3. Justify the applications of these technologies in real-life contexts on the basis of theory and research.
3.4. Compare the relative advantages and disadvantages of these technologies in various distance education contexts.
3.5. Apply these technologies in distance education and in real-life instructional contexts.

4. Communication & Interpersonal Skills

4.2. Construct coherent arguments and articulate ideas clearly to a range of audiences, formally and informally, through a variety of techniques.
4.3. Justify and defend your ideas orally and in writing in meetings, forums, seminars, exams and other contexts.
4.4. Support the learning of others when involved in teaching, mentoring, moderating, or demonstration activities.
4.5. Participate effectively in collaborative group activities..
4.6. Demonstrate effective design, delivery and evaluation of presentations, computer conferences, or seminars.
4.7. Work cooperatively with diverse groups and individuals both within the university and/or in the workplace.
4.8. Organize, and convey your ideas effectively through a range of communication skills and work collaboratively and in teams.

Reflection on Competencies

For the team project available here in Flash and PDF form, Sharon and I were tasked with choosing a part of the world and creating a presentation on how to use DE for the benefit of people in that part of the world. Through synchronous chat and email (3.1, 4.8), we decided to focus our attention on the country of Malawi, in sub-Saharan Africa. We then chose to create a PPT slide show using Google Docs, and afterwards created audio for each slide and turned the whole thing into an online presentation using Adobe Flash (3.2 – 3.5).

In our presentation, we asked ourselves how DE could be used in sub-Saharan Africa. This question required careful thought about the population and the specific difficulties they face (1.1 – 1.4). Our research found a population suffering the ravages of poverty and disease, and this pushed us to look for ways that DE could integrate learning into their daily experience, rather than require that they be pulled out of it. Eventually, we settled on mLearning and community activism, because these concepts used the available infrastructure and fostered a sense of community involvement and independence (4.2).

Besides creating and posting our presentation on-line (4.6), we also mediated a week-long forum on its content and answered questions about our work (4.3, 4.4). I believe it was a very effective presentation (4.5, 4.7).

As for the individual project, I chose a more personal topic, which affected around the time of the birth of my son, Alex. This event made me realize what little importance was granted to breastfeeding in China (1.1, 1.2).

I therefore framed my research around asking what could be done to increase awareness of the importance of this practice (1.3). I then searched the library for information on the topic in the journals, and found a meta-study and a few independent articles offering insight into the current situation vis-à-vis instances of breastfeeding throughout China (1.4). I focused my attention on Guangdong (1.5), my province of residence, and begin to think of ways to increase awareness and generate support for breastfeeding mothers (1.7).

I settled upon a support group, similar to those in the west, coupled with information in pamphlet form, offered without pressure to expecting parents and their families. The issue of family support was pivotal, as it means so much in Chinese culture (1.8, 1.11).