Viewpoint

Citation

Hardaker, G. (2007), "Viewpoint", Multicultural Education & Technology Journal, Vol. 1 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/metj.2007.32201aaa.001

Viewpoint

Complexities of cultural diversity are interwoven into the social fabric of regions, states and transnational communities, and this is viewed as one of the most significant socio-economic challenges of this decade. In some countries and regions today's ethnic minority groups have become the majority, illustrating the unprecedented rise in both social and economic migration. Despite initiatives to foster positive and productive relationships among culturally diverse learners there is a distinct gap between theory and practice and this is compounded when considering the use of information and communications technologies. For example, this is evidenced by:

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  the unprecedented speed of growth of discriminatory practice across the internet;

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  technological inequity through unequal access to educational technology; and

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  limited support for the educational development of marginalised groups of learners.

At the same time, technology has enormous potential to address exclusion and inequality through proactive application. It follows that education provision needs to adapt to the ever changing cultural diversity in our communities.

Multicultural Education and Technology Journal (METJ) will undertake a role in supporting anti-discriminatory educational change through providing access to research and practice into multicultural education and the application of technology. Multicultural education is at the heart of METJ and it is viewed that the journal has an important role in supporting the process of pedagogy equity in the context of race, ethnicity, language, religion, gender, disabilities and other important areas suffering from discriminatory action. The importance of such an approach is eloquently illustrated in the following quote:

... in a globalised economy, the future lies with people who can think and act with informed grace across ethnic, cultural, linguistic lines (Hughes, 1993).

In this context, technology adoption and application is viewed to have the potential to alter the basic tenets of learning by eliminating the one-size-fits all and moving away from clear western biases in supporting individual needs and learning styles on multiple dimensions specific to multicultural education. Hence, multicultural education and technology design can undertake a significant role in the context of intercultural dialogue in helping combat prejudice such as racism and xenophobia. Multicultural education and technology research has the potential to significantly improve both work and social integration within our communities.

METJ aims to provide a voice for researchers and practitioners who are striving to combat social exclusion through discriminatory education provision. METJ will:

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  Provide direct support in raising awareness of learner's individual needs; act as a powerful catalyst for both teacher and learner motivation and competence development. For example, teaching ethnic minority groups where many pupils are socially excluded from both peers and in some cases educators.

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  Facilitate increase links between schools, colleges, universities, software vendors and disadvantaged groups in our communities; developing learning opportunities through the increased awareness of technology by teachers in bridging the formal education provision with the community and bridging the digital divide for many families.

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  Provide an opportunity to gain a greater understanding of multicultural education through promoting cooperative learning. Creating a greater sense of belonging for all learners.

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  Develop core competences in educators and learning designers; knowledge and skill in the best practice methods; disseminate effective and culturally sensitive e-learning practice. Creating a greater cultural understanding and awareness of the development process.

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  Engage standards bodies (such as the IMS, IEEE, SCORM) by attempting to express innovative pedagogies that support pedagogy equity principles. It is hoped that this may inform the future development of open standards.

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  Enable a “load voice” for developing countries such as in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia; where possible support research publications in our diverse world languages.

While education journals have offered significant opportunities to publish research on multicultural and inter-cultural issues in educational settings, currently there are no international peer-review journals that are dedicated to the specificities and challenges of technologies in multicultural education provision. In addition, learning technology journals have more or less demonstrated total disregard for cultural diversity related issues. It is clear there is a direct need for METJ in supporting researchers and practitioners in proactively using technology for multicultural education practice in combating discrimination in our formal and informal educational environments.

Glenn Hardaker

ReferenceHughes, R. (1993), The Culture of Complaint: The Fraying of America, Oxford University Press, New York, NY.