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In this paper, we present a solution how to test cultural influences on E-Learning in a global context. Based on a metadata approach, we show how specifically cultural influence factors can be determined to transfer and adapt learning environments. We present a method how those influence factors can be validated for both, to improve the dynamical meta-data specification and to be used in the development of (international) E-Learning scenarios.
Despite the opportunities and benefits of OER, research and practice has shown how the OER repositories have a hard time in reaching an active user-base. The opportunities of experience exchange and simple feedback mechanisms of social software have been realized for improving the situation and many are basing or transforming their OER offerings towards socially powered environments. Research on social software has shown how knowledge-sharing barriers in online environments are highly culture and context-specific and require proper investigation. It is crucial to study what challenges might arise in such environments and how to overcome them, ensuring a successful uptake. A large-scale (N = 855) cross-European investigation was initiated in the school context to determine which barriers teachers and learners perceive as critical. The study highlights barriers on cultural distance, showing how those are predicted by nationality and age of the respondents. The paper concludes with recommendations for overcoming those barriers.
Open educational resources (OERs) provide opportunities as enablers of societal development, but they also create new challenges. From the perspective of content providers and educational institutions, particularly, cultural and context-related challenges emerge. Even though barriers regarding large-scale adoption of OERs are widely discussed, empirical evidence for determining challenges in relation to particular contexts is still rare. Such context-specific barriers generally can jeopardize the acceptance of OERs and, in particular, social OER environments. We conducted a large-scale (N = 855) cross-European investigation in the school context to determine how teachers and learners perceive cultural distance as a barrier against the use of social OER environments. The findings indicate how nationality and age of the respondents are strong predictors of cultural distance barrier. The study concludes with identification of context-sensitive interventions for overcoming the related bar riers. These consequences are vital for OER initiatives and educational institutions for aligning their efforts on OER.
Many e-Learning-basedoffers, such as international programs and MOOCs have long since overcome the concept of national education and are designed to attract learners distributed throughout the world. In order to cope with the differences between learners, related offers often include opportunities to support the particular learning styles and learning pace beyond the advantages, which the technology itself naturally provides. Examples arethe individual configuration of the learning platformand display of contents and the provision of stylistically diverse and supplementary learning material. Such measures are relatively easy to implement andonce established, do not generate further expenses. Just, is it appropriate to lay the full responsibility for designing a comfortable (and supportive) learning environment into the hands of the learners and do they get along with such a responsibility? We asked university students from three continents regarding their expectations towards instructor-support and found major differences.
With a focus on Technology Enhanced Learning, this paper investigates if and to which extent a culture shift can be expected alongside with the adoption of currently emerging Web 3.0 technologies. Instead of just offering new opportunities for the field to improve education, such a culture shift could lead to unexpected general consequences not just for Technology Enhanced Learning but the whole educational sector. Understanding the dimension of expectable changes enables us to prevent conflicts and pointedly support culture-related change processes. After an introduction of the Revised Onion Model of Culture, which, later on, serves as theoretical foundation, expectable changes in the design of learning scenarios are analysed, distinguishing the stakeholder groups “learners” and “educators”. Eventually, the found changes are analysed to which extent a general culture shift is to be expected in order to understand the transferability and limitations of future research results in the field.
Quality Management in Education: Business Process Modelling in Interdisciplinary Environments
(2015)
The Learning Culture Survey (LCS) is a questionnaire-based research, investigating students’ perceptions of and expectations towards Higher Education (HE). The aim of this survey is to improve our understanding about the sources of cultural conflicts in educational scenarios. This understanding, shell help us to predict potential conflict situations and develop supportive measures.
After three years of development, the LCS was initialized in 2010 in South Korea and Germany. During the following years, the investigations were extended to further countries. The results, on the one hand, provided insights about the cultural context of HE in general and on the other hand, about specific (national / regional) characteristics of learners in HE. Most issues targeted with the questionnaire were directly linked to value systems. Thus, we expected from the beginning that the collected data would keep valid over longer periods of time. However, we had no evidence regarding the actual persistence of learning culture. For a study, designed to being implemented on a global scope and providing input for further applications, persistence is a basic condition to justify related investigations.
To answer the question on persistence, we repeated the LCS in our university every four years, between 2010 to 2018/19. Besides a small number of slight changes, explainable out of their situational context, the overall results kept consistent over the investigated years. In this paper, after an introduction of the LCS’ concept, setting and its general results from the past years, we present the insights from our most recently finalized longitudinal study on learning culture.