Transcript Distributed Agile Software Development
A Distributed Multicultural Network for Teaching Information Society: Cultural Diversity Aspects
Kerstin V. Siakas
Alexander Technological Educational Institution of Thessaloniki, Department of Informatics
This work is carried out as part of the
NETIS
(Network For Teaching the Information Society) project, sponsored by the
Leonardo daVinci
.
Programme
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein
Agenda
• Aims & Objectives • Challenges - the NETIS approach • Cultural Diversity • Greek Educational Culture • NETIS in Greece • Conclusions & Further work
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• This paper
Aims & Objectives
–
Analyses the NETIS Approach with regard to the actions required of the EU member states
–
Reports on the Greek experiences from
• the collaborative development of the Network for Teaching the Information Society (NETIS) • teaching the NETIS project in the department of Informatics at ATEI Thessaloniki – Emphasizes the importance of taking the
existing cultural particularities
into consideration in order to adapt to local environments
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Particularities and differences
• National ICT environment • National Information Society adoption levels • Institutional regulations • Disciplines (students from informatics & social sciences) • Language • Attitudes and values • Operational issues, such as numbers of students that will participate in the Information Society course in the different countries
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Continuous improvement
• The
main aims of the project
are to contribute to the emerging EU requirements of promoting an inclusive information society by developing a life-long open networked technology-based teaching-and learning environment • The NETIS approach combines classroom experience and research evidence aiming for continuous improvement • Experiences, both from students and from educators are evaluated and reported
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Today’s challenges: Lisbon Objectives
• In today’s
rapidly changing
and
highly competitive global environment
,
governments, organisations and citizens
face more challenges than ever • These challenges are closely related to the
Lisbon objectives
, launched in 2000, of evolving Europe to “
the most competitive and dynamic knowledge based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion
” are closely related to the Information Society (IS)
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Society attributes to education and training
• The Education Council (2001)
“the development of the
individual
, who can thus realise his or her full potential and live a good life ”
•
“the development of
society
, in particular by fostering democracy, reducing the disparities and inequities among individuals and groups and promoting cultural diversity ”
•
“the development of the
economy
, by ensuring that the skills of the labour force correspond to the economic and technological evolution ”
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Today’s challenges: the Bologna Process
• In addition to
– political cooperation on the future objectives of education and training systems in Europe, – developments in ICT, – the globalisation – the objectives of the
Bologna Process
have also set
new demands on education
, requiring a new paradigm of educational systems and pedagogic processes
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The NETIS approach conforming to EU requirements (1)
•
Promote the European dimension of the joint development of Higher Education (HE) curricula
: • The interdisciplinary, intercultural online course provides a European education experience and promotes the dimension of joint development of HE curricula Council Resolution of 13 July 2001 on eLearning, Official Journal C 204 of 20.07.2001 available at http://europa.eu/scadplus/leg/en/cha/c11052.htm
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The NETIS approach conforming to EU requirements (2)
•
Capitalise on the potential of the Internet, multimedia and virtual lifelong learning environments:
• The Open Source teaching-and-learning platform
Moodle
, is used to allow asynchronous user-centred lifelong learning possibilities • The platform will be available for download, use and eventual further development after the end of the project Council Resolution of 13 July 2001 on eLearning, Official Journal C 204 of 20.07.2001 available at http://europa.eu/scadplus/leg/en/cha/c11052.htm
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The NETIS approach conforming to EU requirements (3)
•
Encourage the development of high-quality digital teaching and learning materials to ensure the quality of resources available online:
• The digital teaching and learning materials in English, Greek and Hungarian are enriched with learning objectives, squeezes and self-assessment possibilities to motivate learners for active involvement and increase learning effectiveness Council Resolution of 13 July 2001 on eLearning, Official Journal C 204 of 20.07.2001 available at http://europa.eu/scadplus/leg/en/cha/c11052.htm
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The NETIS approach conforming to EU requirements (4)
•
Support the development and adaptation of innovative teaching that incorporates the use of technologies:
• The NETIS approach comprise blended learning by integrating different degrees of technology based learning with traditional education for facilitating political and cultural divergence as well as different learning preferences Council Resolution of 13 July 2001 on eLearning, Official Journal C 204 of 20.07.2001 available at http://europa.eu/scadplus/leg/en/cha/c11052.htm
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The NETIS approach conforming to EU requirements (5)
•
Take advantage of the communication potential offered by ICT to foster European awareness:
• Digital libraries and electronic online European information and statistics are actively used for the performance of the tasks aiming to increase awareness of European and Information Society issues Council Resolution of 13 July 2001 on eLearning, Official Journal C 204 of 20.07.2001 available at http://europa.eu/scadplus/leg/en/cha/c11052.htm
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The NETIS approach conforming to EU requirements (6)
•
Support virtual forums for cooperation and exchange of information:
• Both project members and students use virtual ICTs for cooperation and exchange of Information. • In addition they are encouraged to use social networking tools included in Wiki 2.0, such as blogs and chats, for knowledge transfer (see e.g. http://netis.edublogs.org/ and http://socializeit.gr/) Council Resolution of 13 July 2001 on eLearning, Official Journal C 204 of 20.07.2001 available at http://europa.eu/scadplus/leg/en/cha/c11052.htm
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The NETIS approach conforming to EU requirements (7)
•
Monitor and analyse the process of integration and the use of ICT in teaching
: • The use of ICT in teaching is monitored partly by the Moodle teaching-and-learning environment • The results are analysed together with metric data from other sources, such as number of emails, blog posts etc.
Council Resolution of 13 July 2001 on eLearning, Official Journal C 204 of 20.07.2001 available at http://europa.eu/scadplus/leg/en/cha/c11052.htm
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Cultural Diversity
Two views: 1. The internet creates
converge values
and managing and operating ICT in a global context is largely the same as managing and operating ICT in a domestic localized context 2. There are
differences depending on cultural aspects, different business and legal environments, different languages and varying technology availability
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What is culture?
• • A shared system of meanings
that guides
– – –
How world is perceived How self is experienced How life itself is organised that dictates
–
what groups of people pay attention to Individuals of a group share patterns that enable them to see the same things in the same way Networked Learning Conference 2008, Halkidiki 5-7 May
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Culture
• Culture is a collection of shared characteristics caused by similar background
– similar socialisation practices – educational procedures, and – life experiences
•
“Culture is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one human group from another”
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Three levels of human mental programming
Specific to individuals Specific to groups Personality Inherited and learned Culture Learned from social environment Universal Human Nature Networked Learning Conference 2008, Halkidiki 5-7 May Biological
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Culture
• •
Two different views: The anthropological view
considers that culture is static and the fundamental values are inherited from generation to generation and change only slowly
The sociological view
considers that different values in society interact with changing economic and political conditions, and thus the culture is believed to be dynamic and evolving by culture negotiation/formation through intercultural interactions, multiple cultures perspective and multilevel cultural dynamics
In both views the underlying basic values are considered to remain unchanged Networked Learning Conference 2008, Halkidiki 5-7 May
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Culture and learning
Recent research indicates that • Culture creates the
context for social interaction
and
shapes the processes by which new knowledge is created, legitimated and distributed
•
Communication
,
knowledge sharing learning
and are profoundly influenced by cultural values of individual stakeholders
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Greek educational culture (Geert Hofstede)
• In Greece education traditionally is about
learning how to do things
opposed to learning how to learn • Education is
teacher centred
, praising the excellence of teacher. Students depend on teachers, who initiate communication in class, and are seen as gurus who transfer personal wisdom. Self-efficacy is low rated by students, who seek structured learning situations and right answers supposed to be known by teacher. Students
expect to be told what to do
, individual initiatives are discouraged and they do not speak up in class or large groups. • Motivation factors are
security and fear of failure
. Task preferences are those with
clear instructions and sure outcomes.
• The
diploma provides social acceptance
holder and to his/her in-group and is considered to provide
entry to higher status groups
and honour to the • Students’ performance is important and
good students expect to be rewarded Networked Learning Conference 2008, Halkidiki 5-7 May
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NETIS in Greece Autumn Semester 2007 - 2008
2h contact time in laboratory class per week – 13 weeks – Approx. 1 hour power point presentation by teacher / students – 1 hour discussion in class room
In the beginning
• Students were very reluctant to the new way of teaching/learning • They felt enormous insecure about what was expected from them
After a few classes
and having repeatable explained the new way of working the students made their choices of way they wanted to participate in the course
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NETIS Teaching in Greece Autumn Semester 2007-2008
• • •
Blended Learning
Clear learning goals and expectations on learners were announced in the beginning of the semester
Traditional teaching/learning
presentation by educator per week with final exams in the end of the semester) (1 hour theory
Active learning
(1-2 students produce in total 7 papers (chosen from a list including 7 groupings and totally 35 subjects) written according to conference requirements; present the papers and take part in discussions).
Research
(preparation of an Information Society subject to be included in the textbook of NETIS
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• • •
NETIS Teaching in Greece Autumn Semester 2007-2008
Enrolled students: 143 Participation in theory classes is optional: weekly 10 - 20 students
Traditional teaching/learning
– traditional teaching with exams – Students read the learning material (books, notes etc) and give a final exam in end of semester. If they fail they have a second chance
Active learning
– 7 assignments – 11 groups (7 groups with 1 student, 4 groups with 2 students) -15 student
Research
– – – full chapter for text book
5 abstracts accepted in end of November (1 drop out) 4 final chapters
•
written in English under the supervision of lecturer
Outcome and Impressions:
– Frequent meetings with students – Some students wrote first in the Greek Language
Difficulties
– English language – How to write scientifically – Professionalism / ethics (sources, references) – Time-tables (Big pressure put on students to finalize during Christmas holiday because laboratory exams start immediately afterwards)
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Conclusions
• The educational system in Greece does not embrace open ended teaching methods, in particularly not on pre-university level. • The transition from the traditional pedagogic environment towards more participative , active and open-ended learning situations based on adaptive project-based learning and collaborative activities , with exercises supporting reflective thinking, problem-solving skills
fundamental cultural change
and productivity entail a • The results from the NETIS approach was encouraging – The students liked the new way of working – The students considered that they learned more than by traditional approaches – The new possibilities were interesting & challenging for teacher – The workload of the teacher was increased considerable
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Further work
The
Informatics and Society
course at the department of Informatics at ATEI Thessaloniki • is included in the department curriculum • will continue to be taught with the NETIS learning material in the future • the pedagogic approach will continuously be improved to meet student needs – emphasis on flexibility – A student centred approach is adopted – Student requirements and learning outcomes are balanced – Knowledge sharing and reflective thinking are highlighted – Student satisfaction of course are continuously measured t – The course is adapted to student needs
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Thank you…
Kerstin V. Siakas, [email protected]
ATEI of Thessaloniki, Dept. of Informatics
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