Third Place Learning

A volume in Teaching<~>Learning Indigenous Intercultural Worldviews:International Perspectives on Social Justice and Human RightsSeries Editor: Tonya Huber-Warring St. Cloud State University MinnesotaThe hybridity and dynamism of today's interconnected interdependent and culturally diverseworld pose challenges and opportunities for learning and communication. This book introduces anapproach to facilitate global learning opportunities while facing these challenges. The approach isbased on the cage painting metaphor for dialogic coconstruction of meaning and understanding ofmultiple perspectives. Resolving disorienting dilemmas or preconceptions requires a dialectic flowof thinking since the root of the problem may be situated deep within a person's beliefs and values.Such experiences might be transformative in their nature involving: a change in the person's perspective; better understanding theculture of themselves and other people; reflection and bodymindful inquiry into one's worldview- third place learning.Misunderstandings are more prevalent when using technology-global reach-between people from distant locations or differentcultures. To prepare people for these challenges the authors offer a Web 2.0-based instructional design blueprint. Depending on thecontext and content of the planned activities the cage painting and global learning processes may be facilitated simultaneously orsequentially. The approach to improving intercultural/global communication and collaboration presented in this book has attracted theinterest of educators in different disciplines as well as human resource leaders. This approach emerged from six years of studying waysin which authors and their colleagues from 25 different countries integrated global learning into classrooms in a range of disciplineareas. In this book the authors explore the competences needed to communicate interculturally and to avoid the effects ofpreconceptions on communication and collaboration.