Professional learning: Sharing intercultural perspectives through virtual connections

Dawn Joseph
Deakin University, Australia
Rohan Nethsinghe
University of the Visual and Performing Arts, Sri Lanka
Alberto Cabedo-Mas
Universitat Jaume I, Spain
Jennifer Mellizo
University of Wyoming, USA

Internationalising the curriculum in higher education offers cultural insights and exchanges to live and work in a changing and connected world. The authors are tertiary music educators working in three different countries (Australia, Spain, and the United States of America). Though geographically dispersed yet virtually connected, they delivered a series of five music professional learning workshops to Bachelor of Primary Education students at a university in Spain (March 2021-April 2021). They draw on narrative reflections and student voices to discuss intercultural perspectives of teaching and learning using the 5P model of professional development. The authors use thematic analysis to code and analyse the data discussing two overarching themes: collaborative professional learning and professional sharing. The authors contend that cultivating collaborative initiatives through virtual platforms can purposefully contribute to intercultural communication where ideas, knowledge, skills, and pedagogies are shared. While this paper focuses on one group of students, a limitation in itself, recommendations are offered that can be adapted and adopted across other learning areas. The implications indicate that further research is needed to assess whether intercultural teaching from cross-cultural and culture-specific perspectives stimulates sociocultural learning and growth for teachers and students for whom English is an additional language.
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Authors: Associate Professor Dawn Joseph (corresponding author), Faculty of Arts and Education, Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia, is a member of the editorial boards of international and national refereed journals. Her research and publications focus on teacher education, music education, community music, African music, multiculturalism, cultural diversity, and ageing and well-being in the arts. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6320-900X Email: djoseph@deakin.edu.au Professor Rohan Nethsinghe, University of the Visual and Performing Arts, Sri Lanka, publishes in scholarly journals and presents his research nationally and internationally in the areas of music education and multicultural music education. His research in multicultural music has contributed to the enhancement and scholarship of teaching and learning in teacher education. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2934-7804 Email: vc@vpa.ac.lk Professor Alberto Cabedo-Mas, Department of Education and Specific Didactics, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón de la Plana, Spain is author of several publications in international and national books and refereed journals. His research interests include music education, musical heritage, coexistence, interculturality and the transmission of music across cultures. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3703-3848 Email: cabedoa@edu.uji.es Dr Jennifer Mellizo, University of Wyoming Laboratory School, University of Wyoming, Laramie, USA, was a 2020-2021 United States Fulbright Scholar. She publishes widely and presents at national and international conferences in the areas of intercultural/global approaches in music education, world music pedagogy, curriculum development, and intercultural sensitivity in early adolescence. Email: jmellizo@acsd1.org Please cite as: Joseph, D., Nethsinghe, R., Cabedo-Mas, A. & Mellizo, J. (2024). Professional learning: Sharing intercultural perspectives through virtual connections. Issues in Educational Research, 34(1), 77-96. http://www.iier.org.au/iier34/joseph.pdf