Table of Contents

List of Figures; List of Tables; List of Contributors; Preface; Acknowledgements 1. Designing for Culture, Learning, & Community I. Foundations, Culture, and Wisdom 2. Theoretical Foundations of Online Learning Communities 3. Culture and Wisdom II. Components of the Wisdom Communities Learning Design Framework 4. Wisdom Communities Online 5. Communication 6. Technology 7. Distributed Co-Mentoring 8. Learner Support 9. The Collaborative Inquiry Cycle 10. Transformative Learning & Wisdom III. Assessing, Evaluating, and Researching Learning in Wisdom Communities 11. Methods for Assessing Collaborative Inquiry-based Learning by Linda Barril 12. Visualizing Knowledge Generation and Innovation through Concept Mapping 13. Researching Social Construction of Knowledge & Group Dynamics by Damien M. Sánchez IV. Building Online Wisdom Communities Across Cultures 14. Needs Assessment and Infrastructure Analysis by Damien M. Sánchez 15. Design and Development 16. Learner Assessment and Evaluation by Linda Barril 17. The Future of Wisdom Communities

About the Author

Charlotte Nirmalani Gunawardena is Distinguished Professor of Distance Education and Instructional Technology in the Organization, Information, and Learning Sciences Program at the University of New Mexico, USA.

Casey Frechette is Assistant Professor of Journalism and Digital Communication at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg, USA.

Ludmila Layne was Associate Professor at Simon Rodriguez Experimental University, Venezuela, and currently serves as the Managing Director of Armone Solutions, LLC.

Reviews

"This exciting addition to digital learning literature integrates cultural sensitivity into the instructional design process. The book builds on previous work by including case studies, mentoring guidelines, and the authors’ WisCom framework, an excellent tool for creating global, collaborative, inquiry-based online learning. Culturally Inclusive Instructional Design is essential reading because of its timeliness, global perspective, and clarity. Highly recommended!"
—Marina McIsaac, Director of International Relations at the Center for the Advancement of Research and Development in Educational Technology and Professor Emerita at Arizona State University, USA"The two greatest challenges facing us are clashes resulting from different cultural perspectives and the need to acquire wisdom to deal effectively with the environmental challenges created by 8 billion humans living together on this planet. This books speaks directly to both of these challenges. Only if learning matches, reflects, and enhances our cultural experience will it empower us to meet global challenges. The book is a must-read for anyone designing learning for both global or local contexts."—Terry Anderson, Professor Emeritus in the Centre for Distance Education at Athabasca University, Canada"This book offers a design framework to address and challenge persistent gaps faced by marginalized students while holding high expectations for all educators. WisCom is a student-generated framework that not only applies to everyday instructional design tasks but also helps transform learners to change themselves and the world. A must-read for instructional designers!"—Afsaneh Sharif, Distance/Open Learning Director at the Canadian Network for Innovation in Education and Faculty Liaison of Project and Faculty Partnerships at the University of British Columbia, Canada"This book provides a much-needed framework for placing the elusive but central concept of culture in the core of the process of designing online learning communities. Dr. Gunawardena and her colleagues present a living model of cultural communication that emanates from sharing perceptions and experiences among learners from diverse cultural backgrounds. Embedded in this formative process is a well-structured learning design strategy and a specific method of development and evaluation for building wisdom communities. The book embodies the clarification and resolution of global cultural experiences that are often perplexing and even contradictory by employing specific collaborative learning and mentoring methods that lead learners to wisdom—the apex of their educational experience."—Farhad Saba, Professor Emeritus of Educational Technology at San Diego State University, USA"In Culturally Inclusive Instructional Design, the authors have shared their longitudinal design processes and functional design conjectures of an online course that highlights and integrates cultural diversity in collaborative inquiry-based learning. The book presents a solid discussion of the theoretical foundations of online learning communities and culture, and a detailed description of each core component of the culturally inclusive online course design model. Specific design protocols and exemplary materials have supported the design conjecture discussion. The book will help to enrich the design knowledge base of online learning community development and culturally inclusive instructional design."—Fengfeng Ke, Associate Professor of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems at The Florida State University, USA