CTELT Newsletter Fort Hays State University

E-learning is growing tremendously in the past few years and it has become the main stream in higher education. Sloan-C survey report (2006) showed that about 3.2 million students were taking at least one online course in fall 2005, and more than 96 percent of the very largest universities offered some online courses or programs. With the growth of globalization, students enrolling in e-learning programs have become increasingly diverse with respect to culture.

How important is awareness of cultural diversity to e-learning? Very. Although not many people may notice this in e-learning, we have to agree that cross-cultural challenges are part of today’s life and education. Gert Jan Hofstede, author of Cultures and Organizations and Exploring Cultures, once shared his experience with students from different cultural backgrounds in e-learning team projects. He found that the French wanted to detail the topic to start with, the Hong Kong males wanted to get down to work, the Hong Kong females were concerned with good atmosphere and used emoticons a lot, and the Dutch were interested with the quality of communication. This is only a simple example to show the different learning styles of e-learners from different cultures. Those of you who have been teaching in the international programs at our institution may not feel surprised to find differences in communication approaches, learning styles, and problem solving skills among students from different cultures.

While the effects of culture have been heatedly discussed in business and communications, there are few personal accounts and scant empirical research in the field of education. With the growth of e-learning and the increasing number of e-learners from more diverse backgrounds, it is critical to design online courses to meet the needs of e-learners from different cultures. Reading through the literature in online education, I have found some useful pieces that I would like to share with you.

Based on the literature review and their cross-cultural educational experience, Bentley, Tinney, and Chia (2005) provided eight educational value differentials for understanding cultural issues in online education in an article “Intercultural Internet-based Learning: Know Your Audience and What It Values” in the journal of Educational Technology Research and Development.

Language differential: Language and culture are related to each other, and it is difficult to understand one without the other. For e-learners with different cultural backgrounds, simple sentences should be used and slang should be avoided.

Educational culture differential: Different cultures have different educational values. E-teachers and course designers should be sensitive to the differences while offering courses for global e-learners.

Technical infrastructure differential : Not every e-learner has the same technical infrastructure such as broadband and access to mobile wireless technology. It is not appropriate to believe that e-learners in other places can access multimedia items as quickly as Americans can.

Local versus global differential: Some cultures emphasize the local context whereas others value a global perspective. E-teachers and course designers should understand the target audience’s perspectives.

Learning style differential: How students learn is based on their cultural background. The learning style in one culture may not fit the learning style of other cultures.

Reasoning pattern differential: People from different cultures can have different thinking patterns and different views of objectivity. E-teachers and course designers should understand these differences and incorporate them in
e-learning.

High-and low-context differential: High-context cultures value the group over the individual, and they are collectivistic cultures. Low-context cultures value the individual over the group, and they are individualistic cultures. For example, China and France are high-context cultures, whereas USA and Germany are low-context cultures. This difference might cause problems when learners from different cultures meet in the online learning environment.

Social context differential: The social context affects how learners respond to new information. The interaction between the social context and the target learners’ high- or low-context cultural background should be considered in the course design and e-learning.

Based on a literature review, Wang and Reeves (2007) compiled a list of suggested principles for teachers who want to construct and implement culturally-sensitive online education in an article, "The Meaning of Culture in Online Education: Implications for Teaching, Learning, and Design."

• Adopt an epistemology supportive of multiple perspectives in order to make
  e-learners from different cultural backgrounds feel comfortable enough to share their opinions.
• Create flexibility in learning goals, tasks, and modes of assessment in order to provide e-learners from different cultural backgrounds more options to suit their educational needs.
• Ensure different forms of support within and outside the community, such as creating an online discussion forum for learners to communicate ideas and share experiences.
• Provide necessary support to increase students’ self-confidence and motivation early in the course.
• Design activities that enable small groups to provide peer feedback.
• Discuss embedded values explicitly and honestly in class.
• Clarify the level of English skills required in the course and use simple sentence structure.
• Avoid slang, colloquialisms, and local humor when possible.

Certainly there is not a way to meet all concerns in e-learning design and implementation, but I hope this article will be “consciousness raising” for instructional designers, trainers, faculty, and university administrators. The world is becoming increasingly “flat,” so perhaps this article will help to raise our consciousness in cultural issues in online education and be a source of inspiration for designing and implementing online education that will provide our global e-learners more wonderful and successful educational experience.