Third Place Learning

A volume in Teaching<~>Learning Indigenous Intercultural Worldviews:International Perspectives on Social Justice and Human Rights Series Editor: Tonya Huber-Warring St. Cloud State University MinnesotaThe hybridity and dynamism of today's interconnected interdependent and culturally diverse world pose challenges and opportunities for learning and communication. This book introduces an approach to facilitate global learning opportunities while facing these challenges. The approach is based on the cage painting metaphor for dialogic coconstruction of meaning and understanding of multiple perspectives. Resolving disorienting dilemmas or preconceptions requires a dialectic flow of 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 the culture 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 different cultures. To prepare people for these challenges the authors offer a Web 2.0-based instructional design blueprint. Depending on the context and content of the planned activities the cage painting and global learning processes may be facilitated simultaneously or sequentially. The approach to improving intercultural/global communication and collaboration presented in this book has attracted the interest of educators in different disciplines as well as human resource leaders. This approach emerged from six years of studying ways in which authors and their colleagues from 25 different countries integrated global learning into classrooms in a range of discipline areas. In this book the authors explore the competences needed to communicate interculturally and to avoid the effects of preconceptions on communication and collaboration.