"The third (tutor) was luminary, and he told us that he'd
been to
WHAT IS THE WOVEN
BLANKET?
In one part of her interview with JonLee, Marie shares an insight into how Omani students expect a good community of students to function: For each person involved in the group or class, "[i]t's like you're part of this woven blanket, that keeps everybody together."
The first thing I think of when I hear the phrase "woven
blanket, that keeps everybody together" is that this is a lot like "culture" in
its purest sense. One definition of culture is "a
particular form
or stage of civilization, as
that of a certain nation or period: Greek culture." From a developmental point of view, we can
perceive how a culture made up of Omani students behave at this time in history
by looking at Marie's narration.
Another definition of culture is "the behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular
social, ethnic, or age group: the youth culture; the drug culture." In
reference to this second definition, we observe that "the
behaviors and
beliefs characteristic
of a particular social,
ethnic, or age group" in Marie's narration of her graduate school experience in
(1) One does not read the material before the lecture.
(2) One does not use the on-line component of the class to primarily talk about academia but rather uses it to build an emotional and support network amongst peoples who might be quite isolated from one another.
(3) One expects the tutor or instructor to bend the course to fit the expectations of the students--not the other way around.
(4) If the expectations of students, e.g., concerning reading material before a lecture, are not followed in tutor's design of course, the blame will be expected to lie on the tutor for failing to follow cultural norms and expectations.
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