44 icie chapter 36 page 327-335

8/6/2019 44 ICIE Chapter 36 Page 327-335

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CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Using information technology to create global classrooms:Benefits and ethical dilemmasYork W. Bradshaw, Johannes J. Britz, Theo J.D. Bothma & Coetzee Bester

The global digital divide represents one of the most significant examples of international inequality. In North America and Western Europe, nearly 70% of citizens use the Internet on aregular basis, whereas in Africa less than 4% do so. Such inequality impacts business and trade, online education and libraries, telemedicine and health resources, and political information and e-government. In response, a group of educators and community leaders in

South Africa and the United States have used various information technologies to create aglobal classroom that connects people in the two countries. University students, high school students and other citizens communicate via Internet exchanges, video conferencing and digital photo essays. The project has produced a number of tangible benefits and hasdeveloped a model for reducing inequality in global education, at least for those institutionswith the technological resources to participate. We also present several recommendations for expanding the initiative and thereby increasing the number of people who can benefit from it.

Contents

Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 328 Theoretical issues ............................................................................................................................. 328

Background ....................................................................................................................................... 328

Early lessons learnt ........................................................................................................................... 329

First global classroom: University of Pretoria and University of Memphis ...................................... 330

Broadening the scope: Subsequent global classrooms .................................................................... 332

Conclusion and recommendations ................................................................................................... 333

Authors details

Prof. York W. Bradshaw: College of Arts and Sciences, University of South Carolina Upstate, Spartan-burg, South Carolina, United States

Prof. Johannes J. Britz: School of Information Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee,Milwaukee, WI, United States; and Department of Information Science, University of Pretoria,Pretoria, South Africa

Prof. Theo J.D. Bothma: Department of Information Science, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, SouthAfrica

Mr Coetzee Bester: Africa Institute for Leadership, Research and Development


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Introduction

Global inequality is an enduring reality, andnowhere is this more evident than whenexamining the global digital divide. Across Afri-ca, for example, only 3.6% of the population use

the Internet, well below the world average of16.9%. At the upper end of the world system, 24countries (primarily in North America andEurope) have Internet usage rates that exceed60% and five countries have rates higher than70% (Internet World Stats, 2007). This globaldigital divide impacts business and trade, onlineeducation and libraries, telemedicine and healthresources, and political information and e-government.

Inequalities in information technology (IT) clear-ly represent an ethical issue (see Britz, 2007). Thewired world has distinct advantages over theunwired world in terms of access to resourcesand opportunities. These advantages perpetuateglobal inequality and make it more difficult forthe developing world to catch up. As discussedbelow, solutions to the global digital divide areextremely difficult to implement for a variety ofreasons.

This chapter discusses an ongoing project thatuses IT to facilitate greater equality in globaleducation. More specifically, for more than five

years, a group of university professors, second-ary school teachers, government leaders and non-governmental organisation (NGO) leaders inSouth Africa and the US have formed a uniqueglobal classroom that facilitates internationaleducation and intercultural understanding. Wediscuss this project in substantial detail and thenexamine its implications for ethical issues relatedto development, equality and social justice.

Theoretical issues

There is no question that IT has altered the worldeconomy in many ways (see Sassen, 2006).International capital flows, global trade and theexchange of electronic information have changedthe way that companies and individuals conductbusiness. Distance and place are becoming in-creasingly less important factors, as ITs facilitateconnections between people and companies,regardless of their geographic location. Theproblem, of course, is that not everyone hasaccess to these technological resources. Lack of

access to computers, the Internet and other formsof electronic information makes it virtuallyimpossible for some countries and their citizens to participate fully in the global economy (Britzet al., 2006). Moreover, because informationtechnology is associated with better health andoverall quality of life, the many countries withlow levels of IT are at a distinct disadvantagerelative to economically developed nations (Brad-shaw et al., 2005).

A number of scholars argue that informationpoverty is an ethical issue a moral issue pre-cisely because it is correlated with other types ofpoverty (Capurro, 2000; Britz, 2004; Britz &Blignaut, 2001). Remedying the global digitaldivide is, according to this perspective, a matterof social justice. IT is part of the formula fordeveloping poor regions, a process that is ham-pered by the fact that rich and powerful countriescontrol the global information system.

Interestingly, this view is consistent with both thecyber-optimist and cyber-pessimist theoriesoutlined by Pippa Norris in her book, Digitaldivide: Civic engagement, information poverty, andthe Internet worldwide (2001). On the one hand,cyber-optimists assert that IT is a positive force inthe world today, associated with economicgrowth, health, democracy and other featuresthat typically characterise societal development.On the other hand, although cyber-pessimists donot disagree with these sentiments, they assertthat rich countries maintain control over IT andensure its unequal distribution globally. Thus,rich countries utilise IT for their own benefit, atthe expense of poor countries.

Below, we discuss an innovative project that hasthe capacity to create greater equality of access toeducational resources through the use of IT.

Background

In October 2002, Johannes Britz attended aconference on Ethics of electronic informationat the University of Memphis in the US. At thetime, he was a Professor in the Department ofInformation Science at the University of Pretoria.One of his major research and teaching interestsfocused on information poverty as an issue ofsocial justice. During the conference, Prof. Britzmet York Bradshaw, Chair of the Department ofSociology at the University of Memphis. One of


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Prof. Bradshaws research and teaching interestsexamined the impact of IT on development andquality of life in poor countries. Over the nextfew months, Profs Britz and Bradshaw continueda dialogue that ultimately expressed a desire toinitiate the following: Connect classes at the two universities through

the use of IT. In the classes, examine the effects of IT on

various social, political and cultural issues. Animportant question would be whether inequal-ities in access to IT are correlated with inequal-ities in development.

Examine all of these inequalities in an ethicalcontext. For example, information povertyrepresents an ethical challenge because ittranslates into a poorer quality of life in thedeveloping world.

During January to March 2003, Profs Britz andBradshaw began talking to colleagues aboutthese issues. Prof. Britz enlisted the collaborationof Prof. Theo Bothma (Chair of InformationScience at the University of Pretoria) and MrCoetzee Bester (Executive Director of the AfricaInstitute of Leadership, Research and Develop-ment and a former Member of the South AfricanParliament). Prof. Bradshaw enlisted the colla-boration of Dr Wanda Rushing, an AssociateProfessor of Sociology at the University of Mem-phis. The larger group began to work together tooutline a curriculum for a course that wouldaccomplish the objectives noted earlier.

The group decided to launch its first globalclassroom during September 2003. From May toAugust, the following was accomplished: Two courses were identified as the ideal for

the new initiative, namely Information anddevelopment at the University of Pretoria(taught by Prof. Britz and Mr Coetzee Bester)and Globalisation, culture, and informationtechnology: Is place still relevant? (taught by

Profs Bradshaw and Rushing). Profs Bradshaw and Rushing travelled to

Pretoria to work with their South African col-leagues on the course content and objectives.The group decided that the two classes wouldshare about 60% of the overall course content.In other words, both sides would collaborateon 60% of the global classroom course andkeep 40% of their courses separate. This wasnecessary because their respective academiccalendars are different. The Pretoria courses

begin and end nearly a month before theMemphis courses do.

Pretoria students enrolled in the Informationand development course and paid local feesto the University of Pretoria, whereas studentsin Memphis enrolled in the Globalisationcourse and paid local fees to the University ofMemphis.

The faculty members worked out commonreadings (for the 60% of the course that wouldbe shared), course assignments and assess-ment guides. The group also decided on a webdesign for the course, which was hosted at theUniversity of Memphis. All students fromboth universities who were enrolled in theglobal classroom course were given full accessto the course website. Because WebCT waswidely used on both campuses, it was selected

as the course platform.After ten months of dialogue and about sixmonths of intensive planning and curriculumdevelopment, the Universities of Pretoria andMemphis were ready to launch their first trulyglobal classroom initiative.

Early lessons learnt

Even before the course officially commenced, wehad already learnt several valuable lessons that

have endured through the years. We considerthese issues a must for a successful globalclassroom experience that relies heavily onmodern technology: Both sides should have at least one cham-

pion who will sell the course to colleaguesand upper-level administrators; collaboratewith others to work out details for the course(including all substantive, logistical and tech-nical issues); and troubleshoot when chal-lenges occur (and they will!). Profs Britz andBradshaw served this role in the beginning.

The champions must have the support ofkey administrators to accomplish course andprogramme objectives. Administrators canprovide crucial resources and support, andthey can open doors (or close them!) whentroubles emerge. Prof. Britz had the strongsupport of his department chair (Prof.Bothma), who enlisted the support of his dean.As chair of his department, Prof. Bradshawenlisted the support of his dean. Great ideas,strong champions and excellent adminis-


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trative support are musts when organisingglobal classroom experiences.

Although champions are vital, team effort isimportant, especially as the project continues.Each side needs its own team and therespective teams need to work with each otherto function as a global team. The teams neednot be large, but they do need to have clearobjectives and work well together. We havealready discussed how the teams workedtogether to plan the course and develop thecurriculum.

Part of the team effort includes strong supportfrom the IT departments at both institutions.Equipment between institutions must be com-patible and the academic part of the coursemust be coordinated with relevant technicalissues. For example, if part of the course is

Internet based, several questions must beanswered. For instance, what platform will beused WebCT, Blackboard, or something else?Which institution will host the site? Who willdesign the website? Who will upload photo-graphs and other materials that might beused? And, if part of the course utilises videoconferencing, several additional issues need tobe addressed: Does each institution have anadequate video conferencing facility? Whattype of connection can the institutions make(ISDN, IP, etc.)? Can the institutions work

around the large time differences in the twolocations? Who will pay for ISDN connections,which are expensive?

First global classroom: University of Pretoria and University of Memphis

The global classroom course occurred primarilyin September and October 2003. For two weeks,students focused on various theoretical issuesrelated to the effects of IT on development. Forfour weeks, students examined whether place(i.e. local history and culture) still matters in anincreasingly global society. And for two weeks,they studied ways to increase IT around theworld, especially in countries that lack adequateresources.

A major part of the course not only studiedinformation technology, but also used IT toconnect the students across nearly 8 500 miles.Throughout the course, two different asyn-chronous discussion rooms were available. One

was an open chat room, where students couldtalk about virtually any topic. Most of the dis-cussion revolved around non-course material,such as popular music in South Africa and theUS, sports, leisure activities, types of parties thatthe students attended, and so on. The other dis-cussion room focused on the video conferencesthat were a vital part of the course. Prior to thevideo conferences, one or more of the instructorswould post a set of questions or a short lecturethat outlined the main issues pertaining to theconference. Following the video conference, thestudents continued their discussion online. Therediscussions were frequently more intense thanthe actual video conferences and lasted forseveral days sometimes longer!

An interesting example of inequality of access toIT emerged early in the course. The Memphisstudents sent frequent messages to their col-leagues in Pretoria, and it was often several daysbefore they received a response from most ofthem. This frustrated the Memphis students, whoinitially saw this to be a sign of apathy on behalfof the Pretoria students. But, as they would soonlearn, this conclusion was incorrect. During avideo conference, the instructors asked: Howmany of you have a computer at home that isconnected to the Internet? The hands of morethan 70% of the Memphis students went up, butfewer than 20% of the Pretoria students. 1 To

communicate with their counterparts, students inPretoria had two options either go to an Inter-net caf and pay for a connection (which is notfeasible for many students who are on a tightbudget), or send messages from a campuscomputer lab during class time. Recognising thechallenge, Prof. Britz and Mr Bester gavestudents an opportunity to respond during regu-lar class time. The computer labs were over-subscribed and therefore students were seldomable to use the labs outside of class time.

Although students enjoyed communicating viathe Internet, it paled in comparison to thepopularity of the live interactive video confer-ences. Four times during the course (about everytwo weeks), the students would talk to each otherfor 75+ minutes on a wide range of topics

1 Fortunately, in 2007, the instructors conducted asimilar poll, and nearly 80% of hands in both classeswere raised.


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associated with the course. 2 The instructorswould determine the primary topic well beforethe video conference and would post a questionor two on the discussion board in advance.

Each video conference also began with a short

lecture of about 10 minutes by one of the facul-ty members. The first video conference addressedthe theoretical issue, Are you a cyber-optimistor a cyber-pessimist (i.e. is IT good for theworld, or not)? The second video conferenceexamined the role of place, seen in globalperspective. The third looked at the effects of ITon health, education and overall quality of life.The fourth focused on possible solutions to theglobal digital divide.

Prior to the video conference, it was very import-ant for instructors on both sides to have their

students thoroughly prepared for the daystheme. Students needed an understanding of thecontent as well as the technology being utilised.For example, we talked about the differenttechnologies that can connect video conferencepartners (ISDN, IP, etc.), along with the pros andcons of each approach. If students are not pre-pared for such technology, they may freezedue to the wow factor that video conferencingbrings to first-time users, who are often surprisedby the real-time reality of the experience.

Following the short lecture that started each con-ference, the faculty member would normally askan initial question (or questions), to which eachside would respond. The faculty member on theother side would then have the opportunity torespond and ask a question (or questions), towhich each side would again respond. Once thediscussions begin, it is essential to have goodleaders on both sides. The leaders must worktogether to give both sides an equal opportunityto speak, and they must take advantage of theimpromptu topics that enrich the discussion.They must also allow students to ask each other

questions, which can lead to very interestingdiscussions.

A particularly valuable and moving segmentoccurred during the final 2025 minutes of thelast video conference. All the students were givenan opportunity to express their sentiments about

2 At that time, the connections were made via an ISDNconnection that cost about US$500 per conference the two universities split the costs.

what the video conferences meant to them.Students on both sides said that the conferenceshad opened their eyes, reduced stereotypes (suchas Americans are all rich and arrogant andSouth Africans are unsophisticated and live inthe bush), enhanced intercultural understandingand made them much more interested in visitingeach others country.

Moreover, and importantly, the course forcedeach side to look more intensively at its ownchallenges. For instance, upon learning moreabout apartheid and race relations in SouthAfrica, the Memphis students observed (pri-marily during private class sessions) that Mem-phis still suffers from some of the same chal-lenges. Racial tension is very real in Memphis, areality associated with history, poverty andviolence. One Memphis student commented,We still have our own apartheid right here,whereas other students disagreed with this view.The point is that the video conferences promptedan excellent discussion of race relations in theother place.

In addition to video conferences and Internetdiscussions, the students used one other form ofIT to work together. Specifically, for their finalassignment, they completed a photo essay thatrequired good-quality digital photographs. Theclasses were divided into five global teams,each of which had students from the Universityof Pretoria and the University of Memphis. Eachteam decided what topic it wanted to investigate a task accomplished through intense emailnegotiations! The Pretoria students then tookrelevant photographs in the Pretoria region andthe Memphis students took photographs inTennessee. The photos were exchanged over theInternet and each student was required to writehis or her own essay from the topics. Topicsincluded The fight against HIV and AIDS,Providing healthcare to poor communities,The role of religion in society, Internationalcuisine as an expression of culture and Popularculture and society.

In conclusion, students were assigned a grade (ormark) for each section of the global course (Inter-net discussions, video conference participation,and photo essay). The Memphis students weregraded only by their instructor (Profs Bradshawor Rushing) and the Pretoria students weregraded only by their instructors (Prof. Britz andMr Bester). Although instructors from both sides


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shared comments about the students overallperformance, there was never a desire for oneside to grade the other sides students.

Broadening the scope: Subsequent globalclassrooms

Following the success of the initial global class-room, the project has been repeated and ex-panded in three ways.

Continued projects

First, the global classroom concept has continuedat the University of Pretoria and the University ofSouth Carolina Upstate (USC Upstate). Mr Coet-zee Bester assumed primary responsibility for thecourse at the University of Pretoria (after Prof.Britz moved to the University of Wisconsin-Mil-waukee) and Prof. Bradshaw assumed primaryresponsibility for the course at USC Upstate(when he moved there). The two universitiesheld a global classroom in SeptemberOctober2005 and again in SeptemberOctober 2006.Although the topics and themes have changedslightly since the initial course in 2003, the overallorganisation and format have remained the same.Moreover, the same information technologies(Internet discussions, video conferences and digi-

tal photography) have been utilised in all threecourses.

Interestingly, the global digital divide made thevideo conferences more challenging over time.As mentioned earlier, ISDN connections wereused during the initial global classroom project in2003. Both sides utilised this technology. Inrecent years, however, most US universities(including USC Upstate) have moved away fromISDN technology because it is usually not needed instead, IP connections are the norm and areessentially free! Unfortunately, however, IPconnections are problematic when, as in the caseof the University of Pretoria, there is insufficientbroadband capability to utilise this technology.Thus, the only way the University of Pretoria andUSC Upstate could establish reliable interactionwas for the former to utilise an ISDN connectionto a bridge that converted the transmission andmade an IP connection with USC Upstate pos-sible. The University of Pretoria normally used abridge in the Netherlands, and the cost of a 90-

minute video conference typically came to aboutUS$385. In other words, lack of broadbandcapability was financially costly to the Universityof Pretoria.

Participation by high schools

Second, and very exciting, the global classroomhas moved successfully to the high school level.For several months in 2006, USC Upstate workedclosely with both the Pretoria High School forGirls and Spartanburg High School to initiate avery successful project that has run much of the20062007 academic year. Since October 2006, thetwo schools have engaged in three video con-ferences and exchanged more than a dozen photoessays. The three topics investigated thus far are:Is information technology a positive force in theworld?; Is popular culture uniting the world?and War: when (if ever) is it justified? Thestudents have also exchanged hundreds of emailsover a dedicated discussion board on WebCT.

By all accounts, the global classroom for highschool students has been enormously successful.The students have taken the project veryseriously and participated at an impressive level.The successful interaction also resulted in an in-vitation to the headmistress of the Pretoria HighSchool for Girls to participate in an international

conference in Spartanburg, South Carolina inMarch 2007, as well as an invitation for twostudents and a teacher from the Pretoria HighSchool for Girls to attend a Youth LeadershipInstitute on the USC Upstate campus in June2007. Moreover, an exchange programme fromUSC Upstate would visit the school in Pretoria in June 2007.

It is important to point out that global classroomsat high school level face special challenges, mostof which ultimately relate to issues of equalityand ethics. We mention a few here:

High schools normally do not have videoconferencing facilities or software packageslike WebCT. Thus, they must partner withinstitutions that do, or pay substantial rentalfees. In the case of our high school globalclassroom, the Pretoria students used thevideo conferencing facilities at the Universityof Pretoria and the Spartanburg students usedthe facilities at USC Upstate. A grant awardedto USC Upstate from the US Department of


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Housing and Urban Development covered thecosts associated with the video conference.Moreover, USC Upstate hosted the WebCT sitefor the global classroom, and students at bothhigh schools were given passwords to the site,which could be accessed at no charge.

High schools also need partners who bringexpertise in technology and curriculum issues.In this case, the two high schools had exten-sive assistance from both USC Upstate and theUniversity of Pretoria on such issues. Prof.Bradshaw coordinated the effort at USCUpstate and Prof. Theo Bothma providedcrucial support at the University of Pretoria.All the lessons learnt in the university-levelglobal classrooms were applied to the highschool classrooms.

Although external support is important,

nothing is more important than havingcommitted teachers and administrators in thehigh schools. Just as with global classrooms atthe university level, both sides must have atleast one champion who will advocate forthe project at all times. They need to beoutstanding teachers who have the support oftheir respective administrators and who canwork well with people at different institutions.Ms Janis Haynes (Social Studies teacher atSpartanburg High School) and Ms JeanneCyrus (English teacher and debate coach at thePretoria High School for Girls) were truechampions of the global classroom and keptit going at all times. They also had strongsupport from the principals at each institution.

In the end, global classrooms will need human,capital and technological resources to succeed.Schools in poor areas will have difficulty insecuring access to such resources.

Occasional conferences

Third, in addition to formal classrooms, theglobal classroom concept can be used for oc-casional events. For example, in October 2005, weused video conferencing at an internationalconference held on the USC Upstate campustitled, Using information technology to globalisethe curriculum. During a session at the con-ference, a panel of South African experts (led byMr Coetzee Bester) talked via interactive videowith conference participants about a number ofsocial, political and economic factors influencing

South Africa. The panel broadcast from the videoconferencing facilities at the University ofPretoria. And, in June 2007, 50 high schoolstudents at a Summer Youth Leadership Instituteon the USC Upstate campus would hold a videoconference with youth leaders in South Africa,again using the facilities of the University ofPretoria and USC Upstate.

Conclusion and recommendations

Based on case studies, this chapter has discussedthe use of global classrooms at the university andhigh school levels. In our view, the success ofthese international initiatives is due to twocommon characteristics: They rely on committed and well-trained

professionals who know how to create andsustain such projects.

They possess the financial and technologicalresources to make the projects possible.

Unfortunately, there are relatively few insti-tutions across Africa and the rest of the develop-ing world that have the resource capacity tolaunch similar initiatives. The impediments towidespread use of these global classrooms arerelated to issues of inequality. On the positiveside, however, this also means that global class-room initiatives could be much more prevalent ifseveral key constraints are overcome. We putforward three recommendations here.

First, teachers in the developing world (and, forthat matter, the economically developed world)need intensive training in how to incorporateinformation and communication technology intothe classroom. Although the acquisition of newcomputers, new servers and new satellite hook-ups would be a positive step, they are notparticularly useful without trained teachers whocan use them in an effective and creative manner.It is not just a matter of understanding the

technical use of equipment; instead, it is aboutdevising a curriculum that incorporates the newtechnology in a creative learning environment.

Training programmes for teachers need toinclude several components: Teachers need intensive training over several

weeks at institutions that have innovative pro-grammes in the area of teaching with tech-nology. It would be an invaluable opportunityfor teachers to see the programmes in action;


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receive instruction in relevant pedagogical andtechnical issues; talk to students and in-structors; and build networks that will servethem well into the future. These training op-portunities could take place at a venue any-where in the world with the requisite facilitiesand programmes.

Onsite training is also important. Visits byteachers and technology experts to schoolswith new technology would also be valuable.It would enable teams of educators from thelocal school and from outside the local schoolto work together on a variety of issues.

Online resources are also a crucial part of(continuous) training for educators throughoutthe world. Good online resources can be usedfor basic training in technology and cur-riculum issues, and also for a wide variety of

ongoing advanced discussions. Sophis-ticated discussion boards on teaching withtechnology, incorporating indigenous knowl-edge in a digital age and a myriad other topicswould be an outstanding resource for teachersin all regions of the world.

Second, institutions in the developing worldneed access to computers, servers, video confer-encing equipment and other electronic resources.It follows that if they acquire these resources,they need assistance maintaining them. The valueof many donations of equipment has eroded overtime because little or no provision was made formaintaining and repairing the equipment.Moreover, as was already mentioned, the lack ofbroadband access remains a difficulty that slowsconnectivity and increases the cost of doingbusiness. Greater resources, combined with well-trained human capital, would go a long waytowards resolving some of Africas most intract-able IT challenges.

It would be enormously beneficial if internationaland regional actors could provide the human,financial and technological resources to help localactors develop creative solutions to the digitaldivide. In Africa, for example, the NewPartnership for Africas Development (NEPAD)has launched a very exciting e-schools ini-tiative designed to connect 600 000 schools acrossthe continent through IT. NEPAD has alreadysupplied many schools with computers, satellitehook-ups, television monitors and video confer-encing equipment. The challenges ahead are thefollowing:

To provide the necessary resources in order tomaintain the equipment and train techniciansto repair it

To train teachers how to use the equipmentand, perhaps most importantly, to integratetechnology into the classroom in an effectivemanner

Third, partnerships are essential in buildingglobal classrooms. Partnerships expand human,capital and technological resources. In our case,the relationships among the universities and thehigh schools (and the key players at eachinstitution) made possible a unique globallearning experience. It is also important to pointout that some partnerships did not work outalong the way. This project attempted to recruitseveral other institutions and, for variousreasons, they opted not to be a part of theinitiative. Several expressed great interestinitially but then, when hard work and resourceswere required, they dropped out. This againunderscores our primary argument that globalclassrooms are extremely valuable and requiregreat commitment on the part of all partners.

Global inequality has maintained a serious digitaldivide that places developing countries at adistinct disadvantage. Addressing this inequalityis a matter of ethics and social justice, preciselybecause information poverty maintains othertypes of poverty. We hope that our initiativeswill play a small role in reducing poverty.

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