The Culture of Technology: Differences in the Use of E-Learning Technologies Among Cultures

Babu P George, PhD Alaska Pacific University

Speaker at Lilly Arctic 2013. Link HERE.

What we Thought Technology would do to Education

THE HYPERLINKED SOCIETY WE LIVE IN

Culture

Content

Cost

5Cs of E-learning Success

Content, Cost, Client, and Capability have been relatively well understood Culture still a grey area

Capability

Client

Adapted from Lea, P. (2003). Understanding the culture of e-learning. Industrial and Commercial Training, 35(5), 217-219.

 Scientific American Understanding the culture of technology assumes new dimensions in virtual global classrooms

3. Cross-Cultural Comparisons

Copyright (c) 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

3. Cross-Cultural Comparisons

Copyright (c) 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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?

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Thank you!