CROSS CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING IN HIGHER EDUCATION: STRATEGY AND ELEARNING DESIGN IN

ONLINE UNIVERSITIES: A RESEARCH AGENDA

TECHNOEDUCA 2011Enric Serradell-López (eserradell@uoc.edu)

Pablo Lara-Navarra

PURPOSE

• Evaluate the influence of the student’s cultural background in the context of a e-learningsystem

• Literature review in depth

• Develop a methodology

• Find colleages interested in collaborating

• Culture: meaning and classification

• Culture in an elearning context

CULTURE

Culture is defined as the patternsof thinking, feeling and actingthat people display as mentalprograms

(Hofstede, 1997)

CULTURAL DIMENSIONS AND CLASSIFICATIONS

• Iceberg model

• Hofstede’s cultural dimensions

• The Globe Project

HOFSTEDE’S MODEL

HOFSTEDE’S CULTURAL DIMENSIONS

• Power Distance (PDI)

• Individualism / Collectivism (IDV).

• Masculinity / Femininity (MAS).

• Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI).

• Long-term / Short-term Time Orientation (LTO).

THE GLOBE PROJECT• Performance Orientation:

• Collectivism I: (Institutional).

• Gender Egalitarianism:.

• Uncertainty Avoidance:

• Collectivism II: (In-Group):.

• Future Orientation:

• Humane Orientation:

• Assertiveness:.

• Power Distance:

CULTURAL DIVERSITY

• Gender

• Age

• Nationality

• Religion

• Economic status

Questions?

• New society New culture?

• Cultural background and elearning

• Mission and values of universities

NEW CULTURE

• Classical models for the study of culture used primarily territorial criteria

• Hybrid cosmopolitan culture, overridingtraditional cultural differences (De Troyer et al., 2006).

• Newer studies as GLOBE Project (2004). This study seems more likely explanation of such differences (Cyr, 2008).

Internet, online universities and culture

• Geography is not important

• Should we use different elearning toolsdepending the student ?

• As a global industry in its infancy, elearningcan learn from global media companies.

• Kale and Kreider (2007): Cultural Adaption onthe Web

• E-CRM, business and emotions, sequentialand syncronous task orientation

CULTURAL ASPECTS AND INTERNET BEHAVIOR

CULTURAL ASPECTS AND ELEARNING

CULTURAL ASPECTS AND ELEARNING

Swierczek and Bechter, 2008

VARIABLES

• Usability and Interface design: Testing colours understanding, icons, pictures, symbols, .. Xinyuan ( 2005),

• Expectations: Student’s expectations of education and universities,

VARIABLES

• E-learning behaviours: email uses, discussion board, peer assessment or peer support,

• International students perception in general: Including Time-zone differences, communication tool use and plagiarism .

UNIVERSITIES

• Increasing globalization may lead to a uniformity of content and design of the universities, beginning with its home page.

UNIVERSITIES

• Corporate identity: Universities need to develop a competitive advantage based on a set of unique characteristics.

UNIVERSITIES

• Internationalization: The orientation and strength of the university culture and the functioning structure can be inhibiting of facilitating of the strategies employed to advance internationalization

CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH

• Cultural aspects are complex: need to be defined and incorporated in our internet-based courses.

• Inventory of cultural dimensions related to elearning tools.

• Collaborative research with universities around the world

Efjaristó

Thank you

Gràcies

Gracias

CROSS CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING IN HIGHER EDUCATION: STRATEGY AND ELEARNING DESIGN IN

ONLINE UNIVERSITIES: A RESEARCH AGENDA

TECHNOEDUCA 2011Enric Serradell-López (eserradell@uoc.edu)

Pablo Lara-Navarra

QUESTIONS ?

SOMEBODY INTERESTED ?