ICT in the service of multiculturalism

Theoretical Background

Much of the research on connecting among different cultures is based on the contact hypothesis (Allport, 1954), which lays down the conditions for successful contact between two or more groups. Allport claims that knowledge of differences between groups is not in itself enough to stop prejudice. In order to reduce prejudice and bias, it is necessary to become directly acquainted with people of the other culture/sect, etc., and his hypothesis stipulates a number of conditions that need

to be fulfilled in order to reach this goal: equal-group status within the situation, common goals, intergroup cooperation, and institutional support. Under these conditions, participants in information exchange and intergroup interaction “increase their knowledge of the outgroup and reduce intergroup anxiety, which in turn broadens the perceptual field to allow impressions of outgroups to become more accurate and more favorable” (Stephan & Stephan, 1984). Thus, previous stereotyping and prejudice toward the other culture is reduced. In fact, although studies claim that indeed there is a change in how an individual relates to another individual from a different cultural group, this change in attitude does not always lead to a change in the individual’s bias against the entire group. In order for there to be a change in global attitudes, there must be carefully controlled conditions (Brown & Wade, 1987; Hewstone & Brown, 1986; Riordan & Ruggiero, 1980; Scarberry, Ratcliff, Lord, Lanicek, & Desforges, 1997).

A number of computer-mediated communication (CMC) projects have been carried out among diverse populations, specifically populations in conflict, based on the contact hypothesis. Probably the best documented one is Dissolving Boundaries, carried out from 1999 to 2008 between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland (Austin, 2006). This project brings together online students from the different religious sectors of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland for joint study projects. The research concludes that sustained curricular and social interaction has an effect on childrens’ perceptions of each other and that the effect is most marked between two schools, one on each side of the border.

In Israel, efforts to use CMC between Arab and Jewish populations have met with inconsistent results. Mollov and Lavie (2001) and Mollov (2006) examined discussions that focused specifically on Jewish and Islamic religious practices through email exchanges between Israelis and Palestinians. They concluded that a one-to-one religious dialogue was a means for building Israeli-Palestinian understanding. However, group encounters that focused on political concerns did not result in reducing biases (Ellis & Maoz, 2007; Maoz & Ellis, 2001).

The OICH Model

The online inter-group contact hypothesis (OICH) model is based on an extension of the contact hypothesis (Allport, 1954). Its aim is to adapt the original contact hypothesis for online connections between groups in conflict. The model is applicable to various levels of professional/project-oriented collaboration among culturally diverse groups: academic staff at teaching colleges; trainees in the teaching colleges; teachers in schools, who are program graduates; and pupils in schools who collaborate on educational projects.

 

In order for the model to work, the project must meet a number of conditions, which are outlined below:

• be fully supported by each participating institution,
• involve collaboration among groups rather than among individuals,
• deal with general subjects and not with conflicts,
• be based on a need for participant collaboration rather than competition,
• ensure participants have equal status,
• progress gradually over a period of at least one year, beginning with exchanges via the Internet followed by text and voice exchange and finally, after a positive online experience, by face-to-face encounters among the partners, and
• employ teachers who themselves come from the different cultural groups and who “team teach” the course in a collegial environment.

The multi-collegial IT course offered by the Center annually since 2005 uses this model in a unique course that offers Israelis from diverse religions and backgrounds an advanced Internet learning environment, which focuses on computerized tools and online teaching methods (including forums, blogs, wikis, film editing programs, and more). Teacher trainees learn about applications of technology in teaching, and they practice these within the framework of a given topic or discipline of their choice.

Reference: http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/601/1207