Professional Community of Inquiry (PCI): Culture, Learning, and Technology

A PCI is a group of people who share a concern or passion on a particular topic and are energized by inquiry and deep learning about concepts and practices that inform that topic. Designed to be flexible and developmental, PCIs accommodate a range of topics and different levels of rigor and participation.

The PCI read “Culture, Learning, and Technology” (Benson, Joseph, & Moore, 2017) over the 2020-2021 academic year. The book explored the theoretical and philosophical views of culture, learning, and technology (CLT), presented research that examined various aspects of CLT, and showcased projects that employed best practices in CLT. The PCI aimed to learn more about online teaching and served as a forum to share ideas and advice to navigate challenging moments and situations as educators.

The PCI met via Zoom on the following dates and times:

Friday, October 9, 2020, Noon to 1:30pm
Friday November 13, 2020, Noon to 1:30pm
Friday, December 11, 2020, Noon to 1:30pm
Friday, February 12, 2021, Noon to 1:30pm
Friday, April 9, 2021, Noon to 2:00pm

The general structure of each session opened with check-ins to share successes and challenges in their teaching, followed by guided discussions of specific book chapters, and closed with independent reflections. The reading group participants facilitated discussions for specific chapters.

PCI Participants

Patrick Pieng, PCI Facilitator

EunMi Cho, PCI Facilitator

Blaise Parker

Sayonita Ghosh Hajra

June Hee Kwon

Carolyn Pickrel

Tina Jordan

Book Chapters Reviewed	Discussion Facilitator(s)
1 - Introduction to Culture, Learning, and Technology: Research and Practice	Patrick & EunMi
2 - Critical Pedagogy and Educational Technology	Blaise & Patrick
3 - Revisiting Instructional Technologists' Inattention to Issues of Cultural Diversity among Stakeholders	Carolyn
4 - Globalization, Ironic Binaries, and Instructional Technology: Toward the Emergence of a Robust Critical Theory of Technology	June Hee
6 - Examining the Use of an Online Cultural Module to Increase Learners' Intercultural Sensitivity	Sayonita
7 - How Cultural Factors Influence the Use of Social Constructivist-Based Pedagogical Models of Distance	Tina
8 - Culture and Computational Thinking: A Pilot Study of Operationalizing Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT) in Computer Science Education	Tina & EunMi
9 - Foundational Theories of Social Media Tools and Cultural Competency: A Systematic Literature Review	Blaise
11 - Boys and Video Game Play: Re-engaging Boys in the Classroom	Carolyn
13 - Students Making Science Games: The Design Process of Students Incorporating Science Content into Video Games	Sayonita
14 - How the Cultural Clash of Essentialism and Progressivism Shaped Technology Adoption: A Case Study of Culture, Learning, and Technology	June Hee

Sample Reflections

"I like the idea of thinking about cultures as fuzzy sets, where boundaries are fluid and constantly changing based on interaction with the environment. I also made a note for myself about the characteristics of meaningful learning. I learned about two different forms of technology-- process and project." ~Sayonita

"Culture = fuzzy. There are no boundaries and culture continues to grow and expand with experiences, growth and maturity. Two forms of technology (process and project) I would like to utilize this." ~Kimberly Grogan (only able to attend the first PCI session)

"This chapter made me rethink “what the school culture is”: on the one hand it requires discipline while on the other, it aims to cultivate individual talents and creativity. Boy’s culture or behavior pattern is not simply “gendered” but it really is up to how children have gotten exposed to stimulation and built habits of how to respond to different stimulation given to them; thus it should not be through by gendered behavior patterns, but by what made them behave that way from the early age." ~June Hee

"I am so glad that all of us deal with the conflict between what we can do the change/accommodate students within what is in our control (classroom) and how difficult it is to change the structure/culture of the system overall. Often I feel alone in this conflict." ~Carolyn

"I appreciated the application of the variety of developmental models to the realm of social media technology." ~Blaise

"I always have to hack the technology to make it fit with my discipline’s cultural values (e.g., contract grading). This is because 3]the technology, learning management system, assumes certain things about learning and grading." [Chapter 3]

"This article is a bit old in Chapter 9; I think that social media had the potential for bringing us cultural competency, but if recent events are any indicator, social media has further isolated everyone in their bubbles. You have to make an effort to get various perspectives." ~Carolyn

"Video games can be incorporated in learning mathematics. Research has shown that students' understanding of science topics grew in the process of making video games." ~Sayonita

"I liked the idea from chapter 13 about learner/mentor/instructor. I also like the idea of gamifying activities so they are more fun for students. I think I can use the learner/mentor/instructor idea with my portfolio for first year students. Students can investigate and learn how to do some aspect of creating the portfolio (some technical aspect) and then mentor and teach other students. That way there are students who are experts in different parts of the technology. I don’t have to be the expert in all of it." ~Carolyn