Culture
To develop your cultural self-awareness, the first step is to understand what culture is, what cultural elements you have and where these elements may have originated.
This week you will:
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Develop your understandings of the concept of culture.
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Explore some research strategies that extend your current search skills.
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Start working on your first assessment task.
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Begin to get to know other students in your tutorial group.
Activity
Think back to when you were little (between 5-10).
What did you want to do/be when you grew up?
Can you remember why you wanted to be this?
When I was little.....
When I was little........
Activity
Think back to when you were little (between 5-10 years old).
What did you want to do/be when you grew up?
Can you remember why you wanted to be this?
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Post your thoughts in the blog for your tutorial group.
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Read and respond to at least two other students in your group.
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A response would be a question that asks for more information or a comment comparing their choice to yours.
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Feel free to introduce yourself to your fellow learners as these people will be there with you for the next 12 weeks.
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This activity is designed to get you thinking about how you have changed over time and for you to get to know your fellow learners.
Activity
What is culture?
Type your ideas in the AnswerGarden below……
NOTE: In the Garden you only have a maximum 40 characters so please ensure you are clear and concise.
Refine your ideas using the web…..
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Now search online the definition of culture using your normal Search practices, to expand / add /change the definition you have written above.
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So far you have used your own knowledge to come up with a definition and then you have refined it using the web.
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Now we will introduce the academic element. As well as the library there is also a search engine called Google Scholar where you can locate academic readings for your courses.
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Using the above links to try and find one journal article or book chapter that enhances your current definition of culture. Once you have found an article, please share it to our Google Drive for all to read.
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Update your definition.
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Now read this 'Editorial. Where Does Open Cultural Studies Come from?' (Miller, 2017) (click on the article image). This will provide you with a history of the word culture and will give you some necessary background to continue with the next activity.
How does your community view culture?
You have now came up with your own definition of culture using your knowledge, Google and an academic source, we would like you to take some time out and chat with people in your community and see how they define culture.
Things to think about.....
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Was their understanding different from yours?
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Did they provide you with a different perspective?
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Have you updated your own definition?
Compare your ideas.
Did you have any of the following ideas in your definition?
Culture is not a stagnant thing. As the human race has evolved overtime so too has culture.
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Expression: Culture is expressed through language, dress, behaviours, artefacts, architecture, the roles we play in society, institutions in which we work (external representations).
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Changing: Culture is situational, changing by the minute or through a prolonged change. The internet has had a major impact on culture. For example, once upon a time students had to attend the university campus for ALL learning materials where as now, one can simply study online from anywhere in the world.
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Understandings: It constructs our understanding of the world around us by influencing our perceptions and orientations, our moral and ethical positions and expectations of others.
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Internal representations: It shapes our attitudes, what we value and what we believe in.
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Learnt: Culture is a shared learned behaviour. Culture provides meaning that is transferred socially throughout our lifespan for the purpose of individual and social survival.(Marsella 2005)
Culture is a survival tool. It is a human construct and therefore it is human centred.
Now let's use a different persona to define the concept of family.
Choose a profile to use for this activity.
Activity
A
B
C
D
1. Take on the profile of the person you selected
Read the profile
Pretend this profile is you.
Think about how this person’s experience of family could be described.
2. Represent how your profile would describe the concept of family
From the perspective of this person, define the notion of family.
Draw, write or find an image that you think would represent your profile’s definition of family.
3. Share your ideas
Post your drawing /definition/ image in the Padlet below .
Label the post clearly with the profile letter eg Profile A
4. Compare your family definitions
Read at least two other posts of the same profile.
How similar or different are other posts to yours?
Why do you think that there would be differences?
Think about:
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How would you describe your persona’s culture?
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How would this influence some people understanding of family?
5. Further thinking.
How does culture influence the understanding of family?
Most people will instinctively associate their culture with family. Generally there is a strong relationship between family and culture. The family unit and our upbringing have considerable impact on our socialisation and expectations.
Think back to the first activity 'when you were little'. Did your family have a large influence on what you wanted to be?
As you grow you are exposed to numerous other influences which shape and reshape your cultural self. In this activity you took on limited knowledge of a person and tried to simulate how this person would define family however, your own understanding of family would have also influenced your definition. This is because our cultural selves are a big part of defining who we are as human beings and we are complex and multi-layered.
Let's recap....
So far this week you have,
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started to develop your understandings of the concept of culture.
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explored some research strategies that extend your current research skills and build on your current knowledge.
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started to get to know other students in your tutorial group and build a safe learning environment.
Now.............
We will begin to work on assessment one.
Assessment one: Developing your cultural Mind map.
The first assessment task requires you to develop a Mind map of your cultural self. You will be connecting culture, knowledge, experience and behaviour to demonstrate your cultural self. You will complete this task as you work through the learning activities for the next 4 weeks. Here is the marking rubric.
This assessment task assess your learning outcome 1, 'Use a range of digital tools to explain your cultural self".
For you to be culturally self-aware you must first be self-aware and mind mapping is an excellent way for you to collect and organise your learning and understandings of yourself.
There are numerous ways you can decide to present your mind map such as, free hand drawing, Sketchpad, Word, PowerPoint, Prezi, Zapier as well as a range of free online tools. The choice is yours.
Your Task today
Identify elements of your cultural self. These elements are essentially the foundation blocks of your cultural mind map, they may be family, sport, ethnicity, friends, there is no right or wrong answer as only you know what makes up your cultural self.
Download / create the first part of your cultural mind map with the elements that influence your culture.
One last thing for this week. we would like you to answer the following Poll.
Next week
We will be building on your learning and mind map by exploring the concept of knowledge and how we know these cultural elements you have put down make up your culture.
Have a great week and remember if you need help just ask.
