the culture of technology: differences in the use of e-learning technologies among cultures
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The Culture of Technology: Differences in the Use of E-Learning Technologies Among
Cultures
Babu P George, PhDAlaska Pacific University
Speaker at Lilly Arctic 2013. Link HERE.
What we Thought Technology would do to Education
THE HYPERLINKED SOCIETY WE LIVE IN
5C’s of E-learning Success
Content
Capability
Culture
Client
Cost
Adapted from Lea, P. (2003). Understanding the culture of e-learning. Industrial and Commercial Training, 35(5), 217-219.
• Content, Cost, Client, and Capability have been relatively well understood
• Culture still a grey area
Understanding the culture of technology assumes new dimensions in virtual global classrooms
© Scientific American
3. Cross-Cultural Comparisons
Copyright (c) 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Copyright (c) 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
3. Cross-Cultural Comparisons
Methodology
• Multi-stage design: Focus groups followed by survey
• Three focus group interviews– One only with international professors– Two only with international students– Three random sample of members from each
group• No statistical generalization at this stage• Survey yet to be commissioned
Power Distance• Instructor-student participants from high Power Distance
cultures consider ‘democratizing technologies’ to be a threat– Asynchronous interaction preferred– Prefer to replicate traditional classroom culture online, verbatim– Social media based e-learning heavily resented– Peer evaluation proscribed– Prefer controlled environments for instruction
• Power distance correspond positively with the insistence upon hierarchical labeling of e-content (sections and subsections)– Students from high PD cultures were willing to make more
mouse clicks to read the same content.
Individualism-Collectivism• For students from highly individualistic cultures
– Student centered e-learning styles were appreciated– Students loved customizable interfaces and content – Students loved instructor free zones (blogs, journals, wikis, chat
windows, etc.)• Individualism does not always mean seeking privacy; individualists want to
share how unique they are and collectivists want to share how similar they are
– Students prefer to use third part service providers ‘not officially supported’ by their school
– Successful completion of group assignments require much more elaboration and explanation
• Students from highly collective cultures liked to see extensive hyperlinks, interlinking as many ‘knowledge bits’ as possible– They also loved the ‘peer evaluation’ option, as expected.– Far less concerned about the ‘privacy and security’ features.
Uncertainty Avoidance
• Instructors and students from highly uncertainty avoidant cultures prefer to use officially supported and stable versions of instructional technologies
• Students from uncertainty tolerant cultures do not demand detailed and pre-packaged e-content or syllabus at the beginning of the semester; rather, they liked ‘emergent’ content as the course progresses.
• They also show a higher level of interest in action learning and project based curriculum
Masculinity-Femininity
• Instructors and students from highly feminine cultures give significantly more attention to aspects of knowledge interface design – Their masculine counterparts care far more about
the ‘content’ aspects– Femininity is also positively related to the use of
images (diagrams, pictures, videos, etc)• Live classrooms were more important for
feminine cultures– May be due to the opportunity to mix with one
another better
Time Orientation
• Instructors and students from long term oriented cultures want to know the course content in entirely and how that meet the objectives stated in the syllabus– There short term oriented counterparts were more or
less happy about knowing the “assignments next week”.• According to this group, an email or tweet announcing a
change in the course schedule was destabilizing
• However, long term orientation related positively with ‘difficulty to judge’ the quality of e-learning
The Critical Question -
• How to make the ‘universal design’ of e-learning work in multi-cultural classrooms? – Tons of studies suggest that culture and technology
engage with each other in complex ways – Faculty and students from diverse cultural
backgrounds• Almost impossible to design culture neutral technological
systems– Adapt to which culture?
» Of faculty, of the majority of students, …, …, » Or, flexible solutions that accommodate everyone?
Thank you!
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