This study examines literature relevant to adult and intercultural training and education, and teaching online, and explores the implications of this delivery medium in the context of a graduate institution preparing students for cross-cultural service. The theoretical and practical issues discussed are applied to the creation of a subset of an online cross cultural teaching seminar for graduate students. This seminar is intended for students with no prior teaching experience and has no prerequisites.
As such, it explores the philosophical foundations of teaching adults, particularly in a cross-cultural context, and helps students develop an understanding of the competencies required to design and lead cross cultural training experiences (such as workshops) to share knowledge and skills to those of other cultures who may want to develop similar competencies.
Developing countries and communities around the world are faced with the challenge of meeting the needs of their multilingual, multicultural populations. Language program planning, sociolinguistic planning, community literacy efforts, multilingual and multicultural education, and literature promotion are becoming increasingly important to minority communities. These planning and development needs, though great, are being addressed by interested agencies and individuals in many different ways and in many different countries, as people of different national, ethnic, and institutional backgrounds and affiliations accept the challenge to meet them.
As these challenges become more readily apparent to a broader audience, this increasing global awareness is highlighting the need for training in these areas; however, the availability of qualified resource personnel continues to be limited. Expanding specialized training opportunities to prepare these development workers to serve as consultants and trainers is of critical importance, so that minority language communities themselves can take charge of, and responsibility for, their own sociolinguistic and multicultural education needs.
Download
An Application of Online Course Methodologies to a Cross Cultural Teaching Seminar
