| Abstract Detail
Education and Outreach Pigg, Kathleen [1], Weaver-Bryant, Annie [2], Tuyisenge, Marie-Fidele [3], DeVore, Melanie [4]. Two models for teaching online courses on plants and people. Content and course flow for online classes on plants and people can be developed by two models. In the first model a single instructor communicates to a diverse learning community of students. In the second model a small corps of individuals of diverse backgrounds collaborate to present a topic from different cultural views. Deciding which of these models to use depends on the type of student audience. We teach at campuses with different demographics: Arizona State University (ASU) is a large urban university with a diverse population; Georgia College (GC) is a smaller liberal arts school with a more homogeneous group. Centrally led courses that incorporate the value of individual student experiences use students' prior knowledge and interests to lead them in an organic way to understanding course content. Where the population of students is diverse, this approach asks the individuals to identify their cultural identities through exercises where they discuss such things as their favorite fruits and vegetables, or their all-time favorite textile items (blankets, blue jeans, etc.) and discuss these preferences with one another. For this class we had students introduce themselves with a 3 minute video and took screen grabs from these introductions. To personalize the students in a course size of 110, using photoshop we created cartoon images of the students....with their dogs, cats, pet iguanas and cacti. The second model is taught by a corps of individuals from multicultural representation who work collaboratively to present case studies of how their own culture responds to a common factor, for example the mechanics and historical developments of agronomy and technological relationships among people and plants. Here a homogeneous student guild is exposed to different cultures and new ways of thinking and provided the opportunity to see a broader view of the world with its variations and commonalities.
1 - Arizona State University, School Of Life Sciences, PO Box 874501, Tempe, AZ, 85287, United States
2 - 417 S Hardy Dr, Tempe, AZ, 85281, United States
3 - 105, Rwanda, H, 105, Rwanda
4 - Georgia College & State University, Biological And Environmental Sciences, Campus Box 081, Milledgeville, GA, 31061, United States
Keywords:
cross cultural education
Online Education
Economic Botany.
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Number: EO2015
Abstract ID:518
Candidate for Awards:None |
