Team (T1–T3) focuses on the recruitment of a culturally sensitive design team that includes a cultural expert, an educator, and other culturally informed members. These experts become a united team who seek to fulfill the needs of the target audience as a central goal. This is where much of the decision making happens.
TopCbm Team
Team (T1–T3) focuses on the recruitment of a culturally sensitive design team that includes a cultural expert, an educator, and other culturally informed members. These experts become a united team who seek to fulfill the needs of the target audience as a central goal. This is where much of the decision making happens.
T1. Cultural expert(s). The cultural expert is the insider who acts as a liaison with the target audience and community representative.
T2. Enlist educators. Educators with expertise in subject matter and/or educating the target audience must be on the team (e.g., professors, teacher educators).
T3. Culturally informed team. Have an educated creative team with valid interests in the target audience.
T1. Cultural Expert(s). The Cultural Expert Is the Insider Who Acts as a Liaison with the Target Audience and Community Representative.
The cultural expert is the target audience’s representative. (The community representative and the cultural expert can be the same person). The cultural expert has the best interests of the target audience at heart, and their role is to ensure that the design team remains focused on the needs of the target audience as the primary focus of the design process. The cultural expert has established relationships with the target audience, and they engage in maintaining this complementary relationship. In this role, they establish and maintain relationships with the community before, during and after production. If the target audience is unhappy with the cultural expert; this may mean that one or more experts might be needed. The target audience is viewed as customer or consumer and their desires and wants are important. Before the project begins, the cultural expert visits community members to get their feedback on the proposed design. This can be in the form of focus groups, informal meetings or face to face short surveys/interviews. This data collection becomes an integral part of how the design process proceeds. In particular, design decisions are altered or adjusted based on this information.
In most cases, the cultural expert can be recruited from the community. The cultural expert might live in this community or they could have lived in this community or a similar community. They need to vibe with the target audience in terms of their personal or professional experiences, class identification, social experiences, economic identification and community involvement. A high level of comfort should be apparent in the cultural expert’s interactions with the target audience and vice versa. The target audience must feel that the cultural expert is someone they can trust. Assessing this human factor is important because, if the target audience lacks trust in the cultural expert, the quality of data collection will be tainted and inauthentic.
T2. Enlist Educators. Educators with Expertise in Subject Matter or Educating the Target Audience Must Be on the Team (e.g., Professors, Teacher Educators, etc.).
Educators with expertise in educating the target audience should be on the team (e.g., professors, teacher educators, instructors, curriculum specialists, trainers, subject matter specialists). These educators could be experts in content area, language, or any needed discipline.
Subject matter specialists have expertise in the discipline that is specific to the design. They can contribute to the bulk of the content and provide valuable information. However, traditional thinking and designs that have not worked with the target audience should be reconsidered.
Language educators who have expertise in the language of the target audience can aid in validating the written or spoken aspects of the design. These linguistic factors are important in addressing the target audience’s ability to grasp the content. The language educator provides clarification so that the language of the target audience is authentically represented without stereotypes, exaggerations or misrepresentations.
The responsibility to transfer information from ICT to learner rests on the collaborative efforts of the team with great input from educators who understand the use of technology in constructing knowledge. Finding the combination of content area and technology skills may be difficult among all team members; therefore this is an area where collective creativity is required.