Cultural Diversity, Academic Engagement, and Technology?

Is it now possible to use teaching/learning strategies enabled by new educational technology options to respond to cultural differences - in face-to-face, online, and hybrid courses? To help modify undergraduate courses to increase student engagement by responding more effectively to cultural learning differences and workstyle differences?

PLS SUGGEST USEFUL RESOURCES, ISSUES, OR QUESTIONS! Click on "comments" at the bottom of this posting. I’ve quickly assembled some resources – as a starting place:
http://www.tltgroup.org/DangerousDiscussions
/diversityengagementtechnology.htm
NOTE: Unfortunately, I could find very few references to educational uses of technology in these resources, and I’ve probably omitted some “obvious” excellent resources. WHICH ONES HAVE I OMITTED? WEB PAGES, BOOKS, ARTICLES, PEOPLE....? ANYONE WILLING TO ADD TO, ANNOTATE, OR OTHERWISE IMPROVE THIS LIST?

THIS WEEK - CONNECTING CULTURAL DIVERSITY, ACADEMIC ENGAGEMENT, AND TECHNOLOGY
I'm heading to Dallas tomorrow morning for the week - mostly for the Educause conference and to run a workshop on Cultural Diversity, Academic Engagement, and Technology for Eastfield College of Dallas Community College District on Friday (10-13-2006) in the morning. Fortunately, Naomi Story of Maricopa CC will be co-presenting via the Internet.

A few of us are also developing a panel and and an online workshop for January, 2006 about how it is finally becoming possible to develop realistic options for modifying undergraduate courses to respond to findings and goals that have been accumulating for decades about cultural learning differences and workstyles. We are especially interested in finding and sharing resources already available that can be easily adapted and used for these purposes – and in identifying related research questions. [MORE EXPLANATION BELOW.]

Thanks in advance for your help.
Steve Gilbert

Many colleges and universities are striving to find ways of building students’ academic engagement at the same time that they are trying to serve more diverse student bodies and improve educational uses of information technology. Few institutions have yet begun to integrate these important inter-dependent efforts. Fortunately, some recent educational uses of information technology make it feasible to respond to differences in students’ learning styles and needs within college-level courses with heterogeneous enrollments. However, most efforts do not yet focus on learning differences associated with students’ cultural backgrounds. It is finally becoming possible to develop realistic options for modifying undergraduate courses to respond to findings and goals that have been accumulating for decades about cultural learning differences and workstyles.

We are especially interested in finding and sharing resources already available that can be easily adapted and used for these purposes – educational uses of technology that enable teaching/learning strategies responsive to cultural differences – in face-to-face, online, and hybrid courses. We are also attempting to identify and articulate research questions that others could address to advance this goal.

Success in this effort depends on effective collaboration among those with expertise and experience in multiculturalism, educational uses of technology, and professional development, shaping the curriculum, and finding and organizing resources. We hope to engage faculty members, librarians, and other academic professionals who share our commitment to this integrative purpose. Please help!