Cross-Cultural Connectivism 1
Cross-cultural connectivism: Encouraging learning environments to better incorporate technical
and professional communication in a global context
Tiffany Price
East Carolina University
Cross-Cultural Connectivism 2
Introduction
With the intent of including the overall mission found within the Journal: Rhetoric,
Professional Communication and Globalization, a centralized issue that can be focused on
within the technical and professional communication realm is one dedicated to reaching across
cultural boundaries to produce a learning environment that is welcoming and engaging for a
diverse population. Given the advancement of technical and professional communication, we, as
instructors, professors, or learning advocators, need to come to the conclusion of meeting the
global needs of a broad network learning environment through adjusting pedagogies that allow
us to explore intercultural communication. As Duin and Moses (2015) state, “Amid a digitally
connected world, an additional landscape of globalization has emerged – one that might be
termed networkscapes comprised of digital connections among people, materials, and resources”,
we are forced to face the fact that in today’s society, we are intricately involved with a web
based world that is internationally evolving (p. 35). Getto (2014) gives us insight to the
countries in 2010 that are expanding on their use of broadband through figure 1 (p. 49), where he
goes to further this point by saying, “As Sun (2012) argued, findings like these should indicate to
researchers that there are few givens when approaching today’s technologically driven
communication situations, especially when considered from a global perspective (p. 8)”, which is
further proof of the expansion happening globally, evidencing the need for a form of effectively
teaching technical and professional communication across cultural barriers (p.50). Through
synthesizing Duin and Moses’s, and Getto’s research problems, questions, and methods,
conclusions are shaped by understanding the different cultures that are met within a learning
environment, recognizing the cultural needs, utilizing solutions to meet cultural needs, and
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identifying collaborative roles between instructors and students in an educational world
dependent on adequate technical and professional communication.
Research Problems, Questions, and Methods
There are obvious similarities and contrasts within the two articles that have been
synthesized for the use of creating a research statement based on adequately teaching technical
and professional communication in a culturally diverse setting for a globally evolving world.
Duin and Moses (2015) based their research on the development of new communication and
technology advancements, and the requirements needed to encourage interaction across cultural
differentiation (p. 29). The research questions used to help progress this line of theory is best
dissected through “…the evolution of definitions of networked learning and their influences on
intercultural competence” (Duin and Moses, 2015, p.34). The conclusions best reached through
the questions that Duin and Moses pose in their research arrived due to methods particular to the
use of Personal Learning Networks (PLNs), which was proven to increase intercultural
competence, but strung along by the process of blogs, and the analysis of sample documents
from other cultures (2015, p. 38).
Getto (2014), on the other hand, dedicated his research to the problem faced in a
classroom that includes several different cultures, with different learning capabilities; and how to
adequately teach a group of internationals who lacked, in the case of studying at an American
university, an international focus (p.51). The questions for this research to be unearthed were
collaborated best when recognizing what helps, “…intercultural rhetoricians understand how
they can contribute to culturally sensitive communication design” (p. 45). Questions can arise
from Getto’s statement, “The focus of this growing body of literature is tracing and articulating
the complex interconnections between specific cultures and communication media…the goal is
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understanding the culture specific communication practices, not the creation of universal
communication paradigms that will presumably work in all situations” (2014, p. 47). Although
the research methods conducted by Getto did include [micro]blogging platforms, much like the
concept of blogging in Duin and Moses’s (2015) research, but Getto (2014) also used the form of
questionnaires (p. 54-55) and interviews (p. 48) to reach research conclusions that would best
assist in his effort to cross cultural barriers and persist through seemingly impossible teaching
circumstances.
Ultimately, Duin and Moses’s (2015) research, which faces issues within cultural
connectivism, that is “the thesis that knowledge is distributed across a network of connections”
(p.30) and how to bring global awareness of technical and professional communication to a
culturally diverse educational center, combined with the knowledge attained through Getto’s
research surrounding a personal attempt to “accommodate a community of users that was, by its
very nature, a hybrid community, both technologically and culturally” (2014, p. 57) allows for
the dissection of better understanding different cultures, recognizing the cultural needs, learning
appropriate methods of reaching a diverse cultural, and identifying collaborative roles between
instructors and students with adequate technical and professional communication incorporated.
Cultural Differences
When attempting to measure the importance of adequate technological and professional
communication in a culturally diverse context, it is essential to define the cultures that compile
any educational realm. Duin and Moses (2015) describe six dimensions of natural cultures
(p.30):
Intercultural communication scholars have extensively documented
Hofstede’s model of six dimensions of national cultures: power distance;
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uncertainty avoidance; individualism and versus collectivism; masculinity
versus femininity; long-term versus short-term orientation; and indulgence
versus restraint (Hofstede, Hofstede, & Minkov, 2010).
With a knowledge of the different dimensions of cultural diversity that is witnessed in any
diverse learning environment, students will able to identify their cultural dimension and use that
defining category to “break-out” of their ethnocentrism with the assistance of a professor,
instructor, or learner advocate (Duin and Moses, 2015, p. 38).
Given the cultural differences within the classroom, it is also essential to identify the
types of attitudes, behaviors, and dispositions that will be faced in order to overcome hurdles that
will inevitably arise when striving to teach in a culturally diverse environment. Getto (2014)
says, “It is unclear how a single interview, even one conducted in a home or workplace, could
unveil all the complex interactions between even a single user and the infrastructure he or she
utilizes on a daily basis, infrastructure that in many parts of the world may include mobile, home,
work, television, hardwired networks, wifi, landlines, and a variety of other technologies and
media, not to mention a wide array of beliefs, attitudes, and cultural identities and practices that
become entwined with this infrastructure as it is utilized in daily life” (p. 49). In terms of
incorporating personal learning networks (PLNs), Duin and Moses (2015) state, “…upon
examination, these PLNs begin to indicate the cultures and cultural dimensions of importance in
their learning plans. Participants in intercultural learning environments may hold wide-ranging
attitudes toward cultural difference” (p. 40). Overall, it is essential to evaluate the attitudes and
behaviors that will arise in any given educational environment that includes a variety of cultural
representations in order to provide a welcoming and engaging environment capable of adequate
technical and professional communication.
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Cultural Needs
Getto (2014) states, “Users and their diverse purposes and needs should always be the
starting point for engaged design inquiry…” (p.51). Getto also creates a series of maps in figure
3, figure 4, and figure 5 which help us to determine the connection between local and global
understandings of culture and technology, which apply to all needs found within the classroom
(2014, p. 54, 57, & 59). “The goal of creating such a map is to differentiate which technological
and cultural contexts are most important to the current project or process. These maps should be
created with users in order to help them articulate which cultural and technological values are
most important to them” (Getto, 2014, p. 54). Through determining the cultural needs with the
use of the local and global, culture and technology maps, the instructor is able to better
communicate with the culturally diverse environment, and therefore cater to the technical and
professional communication needs of the class. Through the research done by Duin and Moses, it
was discovered that “These definitions of networked learning—with the evolving focus on
making sense from one’s experiences and view of the world via connections between people—
might well represent an additional “landscape” of globalization” (2015, p. 35). With this
profound statement, we can easily surmise that different cultures have different needs; and these
differentiated educational needs can be seen through an understanding of local and global culture
and technology, and through making connections between people that create a landscape of
globalization. Understanding that there are different needs, and approaching those needs with an
attempt to encourage cultural diversity will allow an instructor, professor, or learner advocate to
create a well- rounded educational environment through technical and professional
communication.
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Meeting Culturally Diverse Needs
When faced with the fact that culturally diverse communities present a variety of varying
needs that should to be met in the classroom, Getto (2014) gives insight as to how this can best
be accomplished: “…the only way for designers to understand user needs and purposes,
particularly in a culture-focused way, is for them to get involved in the complex lifeways of
actual users to the extent that designers begin to understand exactly what user needs, purposes,
and values are” (p. 51). To feed off of Getto’s theory, and further it to include the learners
responsibilities, Duin and Moses bring to light the purpose of a competent intercultural learner:
“We propose to shift focus away from building environments that accommodate different
cultural values toward building ecologies in which participants create and share knowledge and
make their cultural values toward knowledge, information, and learning as transparent as
possible” (2015, p. 32). Duin and Moses continue to certify the importance of competent
communicators in a culturally diverse setting through their research done on Scott’s
comprehensive literature review (2010): “The ultimate goal of these approaches is to help
students become interculturally competent communicators…. A competent intercultural
communicator is one with an awareness of the complexities of culture and flexibility in coping
with challenging communication situations (p. 84)” (2015, p.32).
Collaboration between Instructors and Students
When placed in a culturally diverse learning environment, in order to create a welcoming
and engaging atmosphere that encompasses all human activity, both the instructor and the
students have essential roles to play, but in terms of personal learning networks, the levels of
divided responsibility should be blurred. Duin and Moses (2015) claim, “Unlike traditional
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classroom constructions of learning in which learners follow a prescribed path toward a
curricular destination, participants who create PLNs have the opportunity to transcend
instructor/student roles and infuse emergent knowledge with personal identity” (p. 38). Getto
(2014) has another way of putting a similar prospect into practice with his use of engaged design.
“What I am calling engaged design—in contrast to participatory or culture-focused design—is a
hybrid design framework that encourages messy, back-and-forth conversations with actual users.
What most differentiates it from previous design paradigms is that engaged design encourages
real investment by users within the design process, rather than participation in an a priori process
led by a design team or the dialogic adaptation of existing design paradigms to a specific culture”
(Getto, 2014, p. 52). Essentially, Getto (2014) is claiming to, in a similar manner to Duin and
Moses (2015), redesign a hybrid style writing class to seek the global aspect in a local classroom
from the stakeholders input, without seeing the stakeholders, or partners as “customers,” “testusers,” or “end-users,” but actual design partners in the course layout (p. 52). This idea of
collaboration between the instructors and students will assist in the fulfillment of a welcoming
and engaging culturally diverse atmosphere geared towards adequate technical and professional
communication.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Getto (2014), and Duin and Moses’s (2015) research is instrumental in
determining the problems, questions, and methods that arise due to a globally evolving,
culturally diverse environment that is in dire need of appropriate technical and professional
communication. The world is advancing quickly in terms of technical development; thus the
western world is not the only cultural viewpoint that should be promoted in a learning
environment. This statement poses the need to dive deep into the conclusion that instructors
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need to understand an arrayed representation of cultures in a classroom, the cultural needs of this
diverse learning community, and certain solutions that can be attained to meet the cultural needs
if the instructor is capable of collaborating accordingly with the stakeholders of the classroom in
order to create a constructive learning environment built on adequate technical and professional
communication.
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References
Duin, A.H., & Moses, J. (2015). Intercultural connectivism: Introducing personal learning
networks. Rhetoric, Professional Communication and Globalization 7 (1), 29-46.
Retrieved from http://rpcg.org/index.php?journal=rpcg&page=index
Getto, G. (2014). Design for engagement: Intercultural communication and/as participatory
design. Rhetoric, Professional Communication and Globalization 5 (1), 44-66. Retrieved
from http://rpcg.org/index.php?journal=rpcg&page=index