How do wemeet the needsof a globalaudience?

Presenting at:

Introduction

• E-learning can deliver consistent training and assessment for all employees, everywhere in the world

• Can a one-size-fits-all e-learning solution meet the needs of a global audience?

• Is training that works for one audience just aseffective for learners thousands of miles away?

• Should we attempt to integrate a mix of global perspectives into our core program design, or isit better to keep things as neutral as possible?

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What is culture?

• “… the manifestation of the patterns of thinking and behaviour that results through a group’s continuing adaptation to its changing social, historical, geographic, political, economic, technological, and ideological environment. Culture incorporates race, ethnicity, religion, class, gender, values, traditions, language, lifestyles, and nationality as well as workplace and academic cultures.” Lyn Henderson, 2007

• ‘The way we do things here’

• Global audience represents more cultures

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Identifying cultures

• Pre-existing frameworks• Geert Hofstede’s six cultural dimensions• Used in management, business, and instructional

design• National character used to guide training design

• Speaking to stakeholders and cultural insiders• Identifying company and learning cultures• What works where

• Surveying learners• Identifying expectations• Building on past experiences• Getting the inside picture

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Strategy 1: Blended solutions

• Local face-to-face trainers or facilitators supplement core e-learning program

• Online communities and instructor feedbacksupport and shape the e-learning

• Can be used in combination with other strategies

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Strategy 1: Blended solutions

Pros Cons

Trainers and facilitators can provide

cultural context

Face-to-face sessions can be costly

Interaction with audience can shape

future training

Problems of inconsistency in training

recurs

Training delivered by cultural insiders

will be culturally appropriate

Online facilitators may struggle to deal

with queries in a timely fashion

Learners feel that the training is

targeted to them

Interaction with trainers may not be

possible

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Strategy 2: Internationalisation

• Aims to remove any cultural markers frome-learning

• ‘One size fits all’ solution

• Recently made the news with OUP – PARSNIP(Politics, Alcohol, Religion, Sex, Narcotics,Isms and Pork)

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Strategy 2: Internationalisation

Pros Cons

Cost effective – one version suffices Difficult to achieve – instructors have

their own culture and biases

Avoids potentially offensive material

and is appropriate for stringent

employer guidelines

Can become bland and difficult to

engage with

Training becomes simple and direct Doesn’t account for different learning

cultures

All learners share identical training

materials

Excludes non-dominant cultures

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Strategy 3: Localisation

• Delivers a different end product to different audiences

• A spectrum from simple localisation (core content is translated but otherwise unchanged) to complex localisation (content and UI are localised)

• Highly flexible strategy

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Strategy 3: Localisation

Pros Cons

Offers a flexible and scalable

solution

Simplest form is cost effective but

similar to internationalisation

Highly targeted learning Can become very costly if fully

implemented

Enables inclusion of colloquialisms

and cultural references

Doesn’t expose learners to other

cultures

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Strategy 4: Cultural integration

• A single solution that incorporates ways of learning, content and context from multiple cultures

• Attempts to avoid instructor cultural bias

• Culturally rich and diverse content

• Inclusive solution that delivers multi-layered and exploratory e-learning programs

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Strategy 4: Cultural integration

Pros Cons

One size fits all through cultural

inclusion, not cultural exclusion

‘Too many cooks’ – final product

may be confused

Exposes learners to multiple

cultures – important for global

organisations

Impractical to implement with short,

simple courses

User-led design The broader the audience, the more

complex the final course

Exploratory, multi layered course May be difficult to avoid surface

inclusivity e.g. tokenism

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Summary

• No simple answer – choose the best strategy for the client

• Raise cultural and global considerations with stakeholders at the start

• Avoid imposing your own culture

• Engage with cultural insiders to identify keylearning and organisational cultures

• Consult with users wherever possible

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Questions?