Social Networking Tools to Support a Community of Practice in China

This post offers a summary of a project with L. Roxanne Russell, David E. Stone, Qi Wang & Xiaoxue Wang. A presentation of this material is available to subscribers at http://editlib.org/noaccess/34352.

Introduction

In 2006, a Chinese professional organization in the field of conservation education , Chinese Conservation Educators Association (CCEA)*, joined with a conservation-education organization , US Conservation Educators Association (USCEA)*, in the US to begin a nationwide professional development program in the People’s Republic of China.  Prior to the launch of this joint-initiative, no professional development program existed for this group of Chinese professionals. The goals of this program were to develop and support a network of professional educators who have the skills, knowledge and tools to promote their conservation missions through education. 

USCEA is currently focusing its efforts on training a core group of graduates who have demonstrated passion and commitment towards furthering the profession with the long-term goal that they will take ownership of future content and be prepared to lead the ongoing development of the profession in China. US and Chinese members of this joint-initiative invited the authors of this paper, instructional technology researchers and practitioners, to assist with their efforts to offer social networking tools in support of building and maintaining a community of practice among these professionals. From a design-based research perspective, findings from qualitative data collection in naturalistic settings are shared about habits, trends and barriers to the use of social networking in professional development in China discovered in this case.

Theoretical Framework

Wenger & Snyder (2000) define communities of practice as “groups of people informally bound together by shared expertise and passion for a joint enterprise.” Wenger (2002) presents the case of a transgovernmental community sponsored by the World Bank where this perspective evolved over time as those responsible for knowledge management acknowledged that “the areas where the knowledge-sharing system worked best were those in which there was a community of practitioners interacting on a regular basis, with a tradition of collaborating around problems and sharing knowledge” (p.2).  The community of practice framework is appropriate to how the participating organizations in this project envision their professional development program. Their goal is to build on existing groups that have that “shared expertise and passion” to learn and discuss topics essential to their conservation mission. Therefore, the approach to exploring the use of social networking tools for this project should correspond to a perspective of knowledge as “embedded in the community” as described by McLure-Wasko & Faraj (2000, p.160). Also, McDermott (1999) highlights the importance of using information technology to support communities that share knowledge, emphasizing how technology can help organize, maintain, and distribute knowledge to others in the community.  

Methodology

Reeves, Herrington & Oliver (2005) describe the following characteristics of design-based research: “focus on broad-based, complex problems; integration of design principles with technological affordances for solutions; rigorous and reflective inquiry to test and refine innovative learning environments as well as to reveal new design principles; long-term engagement with constant refinement of protocols and questions; intensive collaboration among researchers and practitioners; and commitment to theory construction & explanation while solving real-world problems.” Qualitative data was gathered in a naturalistic way, reflecting the informal data gathering habits of practitioners in a real-world setting. Design participants were instructional technologists with practical and research experience, members of the CCEA and members of the USCEA. Notes from a face-to-face brainstorming meeting and virtual collaboration communications were collected from all participants from the early stages of researching and brainstorming possible solutions. Data was examined for habits, trends and barriers to the design of social networking tools for the purposes of this project.

Project Needs

At the outset of this collaboration, we established the following initial requirements of the social networking solution based on communications with the CCEA and USCEA teams:

• freely or very cheaply available on the web in China
• already popular in use in China
• includes an archive
• a tool we have the capability to help provide the support for in setting up, piloting & handing over.

With these basic and general guidelines, we began research into Chinese social networking habits and trends by searching both English and Chinese websites.


Chinese Internet Habits

Popular information available through the web emphasized the popularity of traditional bulletin-board systems with Chinese internet users (Web2Asia, 2008). The most popular identified bulletin board site was:

• Discuz:  http://www.discuz.net/

Chinese members of the collaboration team corroborated this information and also suggested that internet habits in China tended to favor instant messaging, in particular the use of QQ, a product offered by China’s largest Internet portal, Tencent. 

• QQ: www.qq.com/ 

One team member compared this habit to another communication habit in China, avoiding the use of voicemail. This widely-held impression has been supported in popular, trade and scholarly sources (Buckman, 2005; Park, Yang, & Lehto, 2007; Yan, 2003). These habits seemed to signal a preference for immediacy in communications.

The USCEA and CCEA teams had already established QQ communications among the professional network in China and appointed a facilitator; however, no formal activities or protocols had been established for using this system as part of the professional development program or building a community of practice. The team also wanted more features of a social network, not just instant messaging. No bulletin board system had been established for the professional network.


Chinese Social Networking Trends

When this project began, the most popular social networks available in China were:

• Xiaonei: http://www.xiaonei.com/ 
• Qzone: http://qzone.qq.com/   

The China Internet Network Information Center’s (2009) Statistical Report on Internet Development in China only mentions “social networking services” sites one time, in relation to shifts in blog trends: “a considerable number of grass-roots blogs transferred from professional blog operators to more interactive SNS (Social Networking Services) sites, which benefited blog update and growth” (p. 30).

The USCEA and CCEA teams were interested in exploring a possibility like Xiaonei in order to build a social network for professional development. However, members of these teams predicted a few barriers to the use of social networking for this group of professionals.


Barriers to Social Networking for this Professional Network

Participants were first concerned about workload and budget issues. Since members of the professional educators network were already participating in this network as volunteers, there was some concern that the extra load of maintaining and participating in the new network would become a burden on a few individuals. However, USCEA and CCEA team members expressed confidence that leaders in the network with appropriate skills were available and likely to be willing to perform such tasks for the group. 

Members of the CCEA team also displayed some reluctance to the use of bulletin board systems or social networking tools because of concerns about keeping records of unsupervised conversations and activities of this professional network through archived forums. The CCEA team falls under direct oversight of a Chinese Ministry that would need to approve archived web forums for this professional network; as predicted by the CCEA team, in the end, approval for such forums was not granted. 

Because of the team’s foresight in anticipating this barrier, however, we were able to offer suggestions for using the already established QQ forum to accomplish their professional development goals. We discussed the option of implementing a scheduled curriculum for synchronous chat sessions through QQ on topics related to professional development. The teams decided this was an appropriate plan to work around the current barriers and began immediately to plan the curriculum. 

Conclusion

The early stage of this collaboration to explore technology solutions for supporting this community of practice offers some insight into the habits, trends and barriers of social networking for professionals in China. We discovered broad-based cultural preferences for immediacy in communications in China as well as differences in adoption trends towards social networking sites. Finally, we found systemic issues related to establishing a social network for professionals in China to be more restrictive than in the US. Future projects and research in this area need to explore such barriers more specifically to begin to find solutions for working within this system to offer technological solutions for building communities of practice in China.   

*For the purposes of anonymity, these groups names have been changed.

References

Buckman, R. (2005, December 1). Why the Chinese hate to use voice mail. Wall Street Journal.

China Internet Network Information Center. (2009). Statistical Report on Internet Development in China. Retrieved from: http://www.cnnic.cn/uploadfiles/pdf/2009/10/13/94556.pdf

McDermott, R. (1999) How information technology inspired, but cannot deliver knowledge management. California Management Review.

Park, J., Yang, S. & Lehto, X. (2007) Adoption of Mobile Technologies for Chinese Consumers. Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, 8, 196 - 206.

Reeves, T.C., Herrington, J., & Oliver, R. (2005). Design research: A socially responsible approach to instructional technology research in higher education. Journal of Computing and Higher Education, 16(2), 97-116.

Siwal. (2008, January 17). So where’s China in the world of Social networking Sites – Facebook, MySpace. TechRadar Blog. Message posted to: http://techradar1.wordpress.com/2008/01/17/so-wheres-china-in-the-world-of-facebook-myspace/

Wasko, M.M. & Faraj, S. (2000). “It is what one does”: why people participate and help others in electronic communities of practice. Journal of Strategic Information Systems 9 (2/3), 155–173.

Web2Asia. (2008) Online Social Networks in China [PowerPoint Slides]. Retrieved from: http://www.slideshare.net/web2asia/web2asia-online-social-networks-in-china-presentation

Wenger, E. (2002) Ayuda Urbana: a constellation of communities of practice focused on urban issues and challenges in Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean region. Case study written for the BEEP Project of the European Union, www.beep-eu.org, Case 333.

Wenger, E. and Snyder, W. (2000) Communities of practice: the organizational frontier. Harvard Business Review. January-February, pp. 139-145.

Yan, X. (2003). Mobile data communications in China. Communications of the Association for Computing Machinery 46(12), 80-85.

Culture, Values & Ethical Standards

This post summarizes research and reflections on cultural dynamics in values and ethical standards related to education.

Several researchers have provided critical analysis of educational or pedagogical values across cultures (Bentley, Tinney & Chia, 2004; Ku, Pan, Tsai, Tao & Cornell, 2004; Loewer, 2003; Zhang, 2010). These analytical approaches often rely on literature review and reports of historical and current trends to frame characterizations of learning cultures defined by national, regional or tribal boundaries. Zhang (2010) defines learning culture as “historically-rooted attributes related to learning and education carried by an identifiable community. These cultural attributes are demonstrated as collective, intuitive understanding of what learning is about and how it should be practiced” (p. 232). In this body of literature, these learning culture characterizations are often offered to describe behaviors of learners and inform educational initiatives in these contexts or to advocate for resistance to the imposition of outside learning culture influences. In Young’s (2009) CBM model cultural beliefs and values are included as an element of the psychology of culture and defined as “the ideals, principles, or standards” that “evolved historically from the various social and economic contexts in a society” (p.235).  

Along with attention to culture in educational or pedagogical values, there is also a discussion in the instructional design field about the challenges of establishing ethical standards across cultures. There is consensus in this discussion that uniform rules for any online community should reflect a compromise and negotiated set of standards for that community (Bradshaw, Keller, & Chen, 2003; Dodig-Crnkovic & Horniak, 2006; Hergert, 2003; Marchessou, 2001). However, often this is not the case; rather rules are often established through power and to benefit those who are in power.  Bradshaw, Keller and Chen (2003) suggest that “the cultural and social-power position of the ethics code creators, within both local and global contexts, and the cultural distribution and representation of individuals charged with making decisions regarding ethical standards, are important factors in considering the applicability of a code of ethics to an international community” (p. 18). Bradshaw et al. frame their discussion of power relations with the term “cultural capital” which they define as “symbolic power based on a variety of factors related to social status and cultural ascendancy” (p. 15). Young’s (2009) CBM model includes attention to cultural capital as an element of the anthropology of culture but takes a more narrow view of this construct as part of the economics of a society or culture with a focus on production, distribution and consumption characteristics of a culture or target learner. 

Bentley, J.P.H., Tinney, M.V. & Chia, B.H. (2004) Intercultural Internet-Based Learning:

Know Your Audience and What It Values. Educational Technology Research & Development, 53(2), 117-127.

Bradshaw, A.C., Keller, C.O. & Chen C. (2003). Reflecting on ethics, ethical codes, and

relevance in an international instructional technology community. Tech Trends, 47(6) 12-18.

Dodig-Crnkovic, G. & Horniak, V. (2006). Togetherness and respect: Ethical concerns of privacy in global web societies. AI & Society, 20, 372-383.

Hergert, T. (2003) Consultant's dilemmas: Trust, ethics, and effective practice across cultures. TechTrends, 47(6), 26-33.

Ku, H., Pan, C.,Tsai, M., Tao, Y. & Cornell, R.A. (2004) The impact of instructional technology interventions on Asian pedagogy. Educational Technology Research & Development, 52(1), 88-92.

Loewer, A. (2003). Preserving, restoring, integrating: Educational practices of the Yanomamo, Ojibway, and Aborigines in contemporary society. Educational Technology Research & Development, 51(2), 83-87.

Marchessou, F. (2001). Some ethical concerns in ed-tech consultancies across borders. Educational Technology Research & Development, 48(4), 110-114.

Young, P.A. (2009). Instructional design frameworks and intercultural models. Hershey, PA: IGI Global/Information Science Publishing.

Zhang, J. (2010). Technology-supported learning innovation in cultural contexts. Educational Technology Research and Development, 58, 229-243.

Notes on Hume's Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding

An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding by David Hume
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When I made the final decision to pursue a PhD in Instructional Technology, I read this book in the months before starting as a way of plunging into the study of education. I don't think I could have chosen any better- excellent!

My book notes:

Section 1: On the different species of philosophy

In this section Hume distinguishes philosophy for the sake of philosophy from applied philosophy. He wishes to argue for a more scientific approach to exploring "human understanding."

p. 2 If they can discover some hidden truths which may contribute to the instruction of posterity.
p. 5 defines metaphysics as the "absolute rejection of all profound reasonings
p. 6 of any art or profession: "a spirit of accuracy carries all of them nearer their perfection, renders them more subservient to the interests of society"
p. 8 the mind is endowed with several powers and faculties, that these powers are distinct from each other, that what is really distinct to the immediate perception may be distinguished by reflexion: and consequently, that there is a truth and falsehood, which lie not beyond the compass of human understanding. There are many obvious distinctions of this kind, such as those between the will and understanding, the imagination and passions, which fall within the comprehension of every human creature; and the finer and more philosophical distinctions are no less real and certain, though more difficult to be comprehended.

Section 2: Of the origin of ideas

In this section, Hume distinguishes thoughts and ideas from sensory impressions.

p. 13 the less forcible and lively are commonly denominated Thoughts or Ideas--- impression- all our more lively perceptions, when we hear, or see, or feel, or love, or hate, or desire, or will. And impressions are distinguished from ideas, which are less lively perceptions, of which we are conscious, when we reflect on any of those sensations or movements above mentioned.
p. 13-14 creative power of the mind amounts to no more than the faculty compounding, transposing, augmenting, or diminishing the materials afforded us by the sense and experience.
p. 16 When we entertain, therefore, any suspicion that a philosophical term is employed without any meaning or idea (as is but too frequent), we need but enquire, from what impression is that supposed idea derived? And if it be impossible to assign any, this will serve to confirm our suspicion."

Section 3 Of the association of ideas

In this brief section, Hume proposes three categories for defining association between ideas: resemblance, contiguity in time or place and cause or effect-- three principles of connexion

p. 18 But that this enumeration is complete and that there are no other principles of association except these, may be difficult to prove to the satisfaction of the reader, or even to a man's own satisfaction. All we can do, in such cases, is to run over several instances, and examine carefully the principle which binds the different thoughts to each other, never stopping till we render the principal as general as possible

Section 4 Sceptical doubts concerning the operations of the understanding

Part 1

Relations of ideas: geometry, algebra, arithmetic

Propositions of this type are discoverable by the mere operation of thoughts, without dependence on what is anywhere existent in the universe

Matters of Fact

p. 20 All reasonings concerning matter of fact seem to be founded on the relation of cause and effect- near or remote, direct or collateral

What is the nature of that evidence which assures us of any real existence and matter of fact, beyond the present testimony of our senses, or the records of our memory?

p. 20 causes and effects are discoverable, not by reason but by experience

p. 24 the utmost effect of human reason is to reduce the principles, productive of natural phenomena, to a greater simplicity, and to resolve the many particular effects into a few general causes, by means of reasonings from analogy, experience and observation

Part 2
What is the nature of all our reasonings concerning matter of fact?
-founded on the relation of cause and effect

What is the foundation of all our reasonings and conclusions concering that relation?
-experience

What is the foundation of all conclusions from experience?
-all influences from experience suppose that the future will resemble the past and that similar powers will be conjoined with similar sensible qualities

Section 5 Sceptical solution of these doubts

Part 1

p. 36 Reason is incapable of such variation. The conclusions which it draws from considering one circle are the same which it would form upon surveying all the circles in the universe.
All inferences from experience are effects of custom, not of reasoning.

Part 2

Belief

p. 39 nothing but a more vivid, lively, forcible, firm, steady conception of an object, than what the imagination alone is ever able to attain
p. 41 customary conjunction of the object with something present ot the memory or senses
p. 42 Sensible objects have always a greater influence on the fancy than any other; and this influence they readily convey to those ideas to they are related, and which they resemble.

Section 6 Of probability

p. 47 There are some causes, which are entirely uniform and constant in producing a particular effect; and no instance has ever yet been found of any failure or irregularity in their operation... but there are other causes which have been found more irregular and uncertain
p. 48 Though we give the preference to that which has been found most usual, and believe that this effect will exist, we must not overlook the other effects, we must not overlook the other effects, but must assign to each of them a particular weight and authority, in proposition as we have found it to be more or less frequent.

Section 7 Of the idea of necessary connexion

p. 50 There are no ideas, which occur in metaphysics, more obscure and uncertain than those of power, force, energy or necessary connexion, of which it is every moment necessary for us to treat in all our disquisitions.
p. 51 all our ideas are nothing but copies of our impressions, or, in other words, that it is impossible for us to think of anything, which we have not antecedntly felt, either by our external or internal senses
p. 52 external objects are they appear to the sense, give us no idea of power or necessary connexion
p. 62 one object connected with another -- they have acquired a connexion in our thought and give rise to this influence, by which they become proof of each other's existence

Section 8 Of liberty & necessity

Part 1

p. 66 the economy of the intellectual system or region of spirits
p. 67 Beyond the constant conjunction of similar objects, and the consequent influence from one to the other, we have no notion of any necessity or connexion
p. 74 It seems almost impossible, therefore, to engage either in science or action of any kind without acknowledging the doctrine of necessity, and this inference from motive to voluntary actions, from characters to conduct.
p. 76 particular objects are constantly conjoined together, and that the mind is carried, by a customary transition, from the appearnce of one to the belief of the other.
p. 78 By liberty... we can only mean a power of acting or not acting, according to the determinations of the will
p. 79 There is no method of reasoning more common, and yet none more blameable, than in philosophical disputes, to endeavor the refutation of any hypothesis, by a pretence of its dangerous consequences to religion or morality.

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Cultural considerations in collaboration and communication

This post reviews IDT literature on cultural dynamics related to collaboration and communication in learning teams and online settings. For example, Paulus et al. (2005) address the challenges of teams of international students working on project-based learning activities in a study exploring “whether or how one component of culture, power distance, could provide insight into group dynamics” (p.43). Paulus et al. (2005) take a case study approach and collect data through observation, interview and questionnaire data, and analyzed using an affinity diagram technique to organize. The participants are members of an elective course in graduate design at a large Midwestern university in the US, including both US and international students. Paulus et al. (2005) discuss the results in relation to Hofstede’s two levels of power distance: low and high. They described the activities of the groups and cross-referenced with low or high power distance indicators to show where groups fell in different group dynamic topics, e.g. roles, decision-making, etc.  They found that low power distance was revealed within group interactions of international students and high power distance was revealed in inter-group conflict between international students and US students. Ku and Lohr (2003) also rely on Hofstede’s dimensions to examine cultural influences in the online learning environment. Problems associated with the use of Hofstede’s dimensions will be discussed later in this literature review. Young’s (2009) CBM model addresses group dynamics with attention to cultural relations, providing questions for guided inquiry of how learners relate to each other.
Burniske (2003) takes a case study approach to examine an online community of educators in Ghana and Uganda, finding that communication issues related to culture were a challenge: “Participants confronted myriad challenges, including a cultural bias with respect to questions and criticism (two fundamental activities in the telecollaborative process), which predisposed them to consider such gestures ‘impolite’ among strangers” (p. 107). In a case study of intercultural online communications between US and Taiwanese college students, Shih & Cifeuntes (2003) found “six intercultural issues and phenomena during [e-mail] exchanges: a) the need for visual images, b) bewilderment of Taiwanese students, c) excessive expressions of gratitude of Taiwanese students, (d) disparate expectations, (e) direct versus indirect writings, and (f) misinterpretation” (p. 86). Young’s (2009) model provides extensive attention to cultural communications, defined as the exchange or transmission of information, and provides levels of inquiry on this topic that include: language, nonverbal and verbal; writing; temporal communications; visual communications; and semiotics, signs and symbols.


References

Burniske, R.W. (2003). East Africa Meets West Africa: Fostering an Online Community of Inquiry for Educators in Ghana and Uganda. Educational Technology Research & Development, 51(4), 106-113.

Hofstede, G. (1984). National cultures and corporate cultures. In L.A. Samovar & R.E. Porter (Eds.), Communication Between Cultures. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Ku, H. Y., & Lohr, L. L. (2003). A case study of Chinese students’ attitudes toward their
first online learning experience. Educational Technology Research and Development, 51(3), 95-102.

Paulus, T. M., Bichelmeyer, B., Malopinsky, M.P. & Rastogi, P. (2005). Power distance and group dynamics of an international project team: a case. Teaching in Higher Education, 10(1), 43-55.

Shih, Y.D. & Cifuentes, L. (2003) Taiwanese intercultural phenomena and
issues in a United States–Taiwan telecommunications partnership. Educational Technology, Research & Development, 51(3), 82-102.

Young, P.A. (2009). Instructional design frameworks and intercultural models. Hershey, PA: IGI Global/Information Science Publishing.

Review of Theatetus of Plato on Goodreads

Theatetus of Plato by Plato
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

So if I write down everything my teacher says and publish it, I get to be the author?

Is knowledge perception? 1) Theaterus' claim
2) Protagorus' doctrine that man is the measure of all things 3) Heraclitus' theory of flux

---> supports Platonic doctrine that true reality is a non sensible realm of changeless being "The Forms"

Critique of three theses
1) each man is the measure of his own wisdom
2) everyone is equally wise
3) there is no such thing as wisdom
4) no one is wiser than anyone else

-------
3 stages
1) Development of ideas
2) Maturity of ideas
3) Metaphysical Truth

This work represents potential & intelligence

Recent scholarship questions whether The Theatetus is an intentionally deceptive dialogue ----> Socrates is less consistent & this may be intentional for reader to be engaged in the challenge

Plato does not allow for perceptions because they are sensory dependent

Theory of Recollection - you already had all the knowledge & it got scattered at birth.


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Review of Ecological Thinking on Good Reads

Ecological Thinking: The Politics of Epistemic Location by Lorraine Code
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In Ecological Thinking: The Politics of Epistemic Location, Code (2006) frames her philosophy of “ecological thinking” in reverent analysis of Rachel Carson’s methods in works like Silent Spring. She calls Carson a “practitioner of a practical ecology reliant on ‘empirical generalizations’,” yet also dependent on “narrow and precise local hypotheses.” She characterizes this method as “living the tension… working back and forth between an instituted, rhetorically monitored scientific orthodoxy and an attentive respect for particularity that is subversive of many of the fundamental assumptions of scientific orthodoxy.” She then builds an argument around such negotiations of empiricism. Code seeks to articulate an epistemology and accompanying methods/methodologies “capable of generating and adjudicating knowledge both about the factuality of the physical/material world and about a social order whose epistemic assumptions are complicit in sustaining its own positive and negative enactments” (p.97). Finally, she proposes an epistemology that assumes “statements of fact indeed acquire or fail to achieve factual status situationally according to the patterns of authority and expertise constitutive of the institution(s) of knowledge production in whose discursive spaces they circulate and within whose praxes they are constituted and embedded” (p. 99).


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ICTs in Emerging Economies

This post explores analysis and findings in research literature that points to a need for more flexibility and attention to culture in the process of instructional design and integration of instructional technology in emerging economies.

In reflecting on a previously conducted survey, Zhang and Shin (2002) compare the open and distance education models of China, India and Hong Kong. This study considers types of courses, delivery methods, student demographics, including gender and access, funding and staffing. They also show that India’s flagship open learning institution (IGNOU) is primarily staffed by part-time adjunct faculty and that ICT initiatives lag behind the other two countries. These researchers conclude that the China’s program is indigenous and Hong Kong and India’s are imported. 

In “Taking Ownership: Strengthening Indigenous Cultures and Languages Through the Use of ICTs” Lieberman (2003) considers the dynamics of using ICTs for the benefit of indigenous cultural causes. He develops this overview by starting from the broad perspective of the impact of globalization on indigenous cultures then narrowing his focus to the impact of ICTs. Though Lieberman acknowledges both actual and potentially negative consequences of ICTs on indigenous cultures, his aim in this article is to identify examples of positive initiatives and explore the potential for further use and benefits. He highlights indigenous culture ICT initiatives for community building, language revitalization, education, commerce and environmental protection and considers these initiatives with attention to policy, capacity building, usage and implementation. Throughout the article, Lieberman emphasizes the imperative of indigenous empowerment, self-determination and ideological sustainability in order to reach positive ends through ICTs.

Lieberman does not only focus on the use of ICTs in education, yet his examples of political and economic uses still lie in a form of education- the dissemination of information. By grounding his examples in the broader discussion of the impact of globalization and ICTs on indigenous cultures, Lieberman (2003) highlights some of the central questions about the socio-cultural implications of educational technology. Does widespread use of ICTs:  Encourage homogenization of cultures? Replace indigenous forms of learning or the wisdom of tradition and elders? Reinforce detrimental economic hegemonies? His answer to these questions seems to be, “Possibly”; however, he states, “it is preferable to take a pro-active and culturally sensitive approach to technology introduction.” The argument he makes in this article is that 1) the use of ICTs is already widespread and inevitable, and 2) policies towards productive and positive uses of ICTs may mediate the potential for negative consequences. 

In the context of higher-education, Ezer (2006) interviews faculty and students in India to get an impression of the attitudes towards ICTs and ICTs in education in India. Ezer explores what Indian faculty and students believe to be the purpose of ICT. In particular, he poses the question of whether ICT and ICT education should work towards the benefit of individuals or society. He lays the groundwork for his findings about attitudes towards ICT and ICT education by discussing the authority dependent roots of the educational system in India. He concludes that students and faculty show optimism about ICT and seem to have whole heartedly adopted the Western model of individualistic, rational and imperialistic success. He uses his conclusion to claim that this model does not follow Ghandian philosophy. Ezer’s research is particularly relevant to the case in this research because attitudes towards ICTs by faculty and students in India interact significantly with the purpose of the training program, the students’ experience in the training program and the potential market for the i3Dv product.   

In a chapter on African Education Perspectives on Culture and E-learning Convergence, Kinuthia (2007) highlights the complexities of encountering culture in e-learning environments while stressing its importance as a factor in design decisions. Resistant to prescriptive models, she proposes acknowledgement of the multiple perspectives involved for “jointly-negotiated advances” in e-learning. 

 Research on distance education in the global context also provides insight from nations with developed economies, revealing the same need for attention to culture (Marchessou, 1999). For example, in a chapter for the Handbook of Distance Education reviewing literature on “Learning in a Global Society,” Visser (2007) characterizes cognition as a complex “ecological phenomenon” (p.641). He explores implications of global diversity on learning networks and discusses implications for interinstitutional collaboration. Albrechtsen, Mariger and Parker (2001) review the history and current trends of distance education in Europe and Japan and emphasize the challenges of language and cultural differences in Europe, calling it a “Babel effect” (p.109).

References

Albrechtsen, K., Mariger, H. & Parker, C. (2001). Distance Education and the Impact of

Technology in Europe and Japan. Educational Technology Research & Development, 49(3), 107-114.

Ezer, J. (2006). Gandhi's third assassination: Information and communications technology education in India. Information Technology for Development, (12)3, 201-212.

Kinuthia, W. (2007). African Education Perspectives on Culture and E-learning Convergence. In A. Edmundson (Ed.) Globalized e-learning cultural challenges (pp. 60-72). Hershey, PA: Information Science Publishing.

Lieberman, A.E. (2003). Taking ownership: Strengthening indigenous cultures and languages through the use of ICTs. Retrieved February 11, 2008 from Learnlink website:

Marchessou, F. (2001). Some ethical concerns in ed-tech consultancies across borders. Educational Technology Research & Development, 48(4), 110-114.

Visser, J. (2007). Learning in a global society. In M. G. Moore (Ed.), Handbook of Distance Education (Second Edition ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Culture and educational psychology constructs

This post summarizes educational psychology constructs that have been examined in the IDT literature with attention to cross-border or cross-cultural dynamics. 

In looking at components of motivation in a group of international distance education students, Visser, Plomp, Amirault and Kuiper (2002) use the ARCS model (attention, relevance, confidence and satisfaction) to find that attempts to personally customize motivational messages for students was time-consuming and no more effective than collective messages. 

Gunawardena et al. (1996) used Kolb’s Learning Style Inventory to characterize the learning styles of adult learners in Open University students in Sri Lanka. Kolb’s Learning Style Inventory identifies learning styles as accommodator, diverger, converger or assimilator on a Cartesian coordinate polarizing concrete experience and abstract conceptualization and active experimentation and reflective observation.  Gunawardena et al. (1996) found the dominant learning style to be Assimilators and  posit that “the dominant Assimilator style to a certain degree reflects the traditional ways in which students are taught in Sri Lanka, in a face-to-face lecture-style classroom where the acquisition of theory, facts, and abstract knowledge is of primary concern” (p.117). However, they do acknowledge that “one of the questions that remains to be answered in order to better understand learning styles is related to the appropriateness of the LSI for this cultural context” (p. 116).  

As Tirri and Campbell (2010) point out in a discussion of the current state of cross-cultural research in education, “the flow of ideas on the psychological measurements is a one-way flood of American constructs” (p.20). 

Young’s (2009) CBM approach to psychology of culture allows for inductive analysis of learners in a particular situation through qualitative inquiry and avoids the problematic implications of applying psychological constructs across cultures.

Gunawardena, C.N., Jayatilleke, G. & Lekamge, G.D. (1996). Learning style of the open university students of Sri Lanka. Educational Technology Research and Development, 44(1), 115-120.

Tirri, K. & Campbell, J.R. (2010). Current trends and dilemmas in cross-cultural research. In D.K. Sharpes (Ed.), Handbook on International Studies in Education. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, Inc.

Visser, L., Plomp, T., Amirault, R.J., & Kuiper, W. (2002). Motivating students at a distance: The case of an international audience. Educational Technology Research and Development, 50(2), 94-110.

Young, P.A. (2009). Instructional design frameworks and intercultural models. Hershey, PA: IGI Global/Information Science Publishing.