(Page 1 of 2) - Introduction to Four Accomplishments: a Principled Web-Based Unit authored by Le, Fushun.

Walton Presentation Prize Application

Introduction to “Four Accomplishments”: a Principled Web-Based Unit

This paper discusses a web-based unit of college-level Introduction to Chinese Culture
and its supporting pedagogical theories and principles. The purpose of developing this
web-based learning environment is to use computer technology and web resources to
make up for the limited time in the classroom and more important, to enrich student
learning. The unit, however, indicates that with current technology, Introduction to
Chinese Culture can be designed as a distance learning course, which is not limited by
learner locales and thus may increase enrollment. The unit is made up of five lessons:
four on Chinese calligraphy, painting, poetry and music, which were considered the
“Four Accomplishments” in traditional China, and one on Chinese symbolism, an
extension of the calligraphy and painting lessons. Each lesson consists of an introduction,
lesson outline/teacher information and various individual and collaborative multimedia
tasks.
The design of the unit is supported by relevant pedagogical theories and principles in
culturally sensitive learning, learning styles, learning assessment, web-based instruction,
and learner age. Culturally sensitive learning addresses the five dimensions of
multicultural education proposed by the Banks (1995): knowledge construction process,
content integration, prejudice reduction, an equity pedagogy and an empowering social
culture. Many activities in the unit “acknowledge and incorporate learner input and
perspective-taking” (Ngeow and Kong, 2002), which follow the principles of the
constructive learning paradigm, and Henderson’s (1996) “multiple cultural paradigm”, as
they value students’ different perspectives and encourage them to share. In this unit on
culture, students acquire not only multicultural literacy (i.e., facts about another culture)
but also multicultural competence (i.e., ability to interact with people of another culture)
as they need to, e.g., evaluate Chinese paintings, communicate with and learn from
Chinese art students/artists. Prejudice reduction is achieved by teaching students to
perceive things and people in a specific cultural context. An equity pedagogy is reflected
by requiring students to learn about Chinese culture with a purpose of appreciating and
spreading it, tasks of which engage students in in-depth thinking and applying their newly
acquired knowledge and skills. An empowering social culture is built through
collaborative projects on the course blog, discussion forum on Ning network, Podcast and
YackPack voice environment. The learning styles accommodated are those described in
“the Dunn’s model” (Chau, 2006): visual, auditory, tactile/kinesthetic, individual and
collaborative styles

A combination of formative and summative assessment is used to

evaluate student learning, as the latter is far from sufficient to effective instruction
because it can not inform the instructor about student learning progress and the suitability
of instructional content and strategies. The unit has many components required by an
effective instructional website: interactive projects, a consistent, clear and concise layout,
easy navigation, noticeable links, ALT tags, etc. As the target audience is undergraduate
students at an American university, the design of the unit is in line with most of the
undergraduate education principles developed by Chickering and Gamson (1987), e.g.,
student-faculty contact, cooperation among students, active learning, prompt feedback,
high expectations, and respect for diverse talents and ways of learning.