Coping with Cultural Challenges in an Online Learning in the Western Context

Coping with Cultural Challenges
in an Online Learning in the
Western Context

Made Hery Santosa
La Trobe University, Australia
E-mail: mhsantosa@hotmail.com

Presentation Outline
• Presentation Aims: What I want to convey

• Overview: Some underlying rationales

• Cultural Influence: What? How? Which
culture? Yours?

• Challenges to learn in the Western
Context: HOTS; Metacognition; LA, SRL;
SDL

• How to cope with those?: Deeper learning

• Proposed Thought: IBL (and relevant ones)

• What’s next?: What to do from now? What’s
out there for us?

AsiaCALL 2012, Open University, Ho Chi Minh,
Vietnam

Presentation Aims

To PROVOKE your awareness

To PREPARE Asian (and ASEAN)
students for the global community

Vietnam

Overview
How Australia is viewed in terms of its Education?
• one of major study destinations for
international students in the world
• in 2011, there were 1,069,000 international
students in Australia (Pink, 2012, p. 8)
• every 4 out of 5 international students
come from Asia: China (1), India (2), Korea
(3), Malaysia (4), Vietnam (5), Indonesia
(9) (Australian Education International,
2012)

Vietnam

Overview

These phenomena are relevant to the
Australian government’s policy and
future direction:
• should be seen by international
students as a welcoming place to
study for a globally recognized
education (Gillard, 2009)

• should see the growing number of
International students as great
opportunities in the future (Gillard,
2012)

Vietnam

Overview
However…
• Different educational system and cultural
environment in home countries:
 Didactic, teacher-oriented, high
respect to authorities
• Implications towards their education in the
new environment (Huang & Klinger, 2006;
Tran, 2009; Watkins, Reghi, & Astilla,
1991).
 Asian students are reticent and
passive (Cheng, 2000)
 Different styles of teaching learning
(Nguyen, 2011)
 Adaptation to a new culture (Tran,
2009).
 Lack of critical thinking, problem
solving, communication skills, and
autonomous learning (Australia –
ASEAN Youth Summit)

Vietnam

Overview

• Considerable challenges for
the students to learn best in
the new learning system
(Cheng, 2000; Kutieleh &
Egege, 2004).
• Their beliefs, values and
attitudes to knowledge, to
styles of learning may lead to
study shock (Burns, 1991).

• Lacks of Global Competence –
Generic/Soft Skills – Graduate
Attributes

Vietnam

Cultural Influence
Chinese Confucian Heritage
• passive learning, lack of
critical thinking, reliance on
rote memorization, surface
learning (Clark & Gieve,
2006)

• students respect and obey
authorities highly, i.e.
teachers (Huang & Klinger,
2006)
Students respect

Vietnam

Cultural Influence

Javanese Cultural View
• rank, social status and age
• manut-lan-minurut, éwuh-pekéwuh, and sabda-
pendita-ratu (Dardjowidjojo, 2006)
manut-lan-minurut = ‘to obey’ and ‘to follow
the elders’ like teachers or parents
éwuh-pekéwuh = ‘uncomfortable’ and
‘uneasy’ (to have different views with the
elders or higher rank people)
sabda-pendita-ratu = ‘not questioning the
words of the priestly king’

Vietnam

Cultural Influence
Balinese Cultural View
• Koh Ngomong = ‘uneager to talk’
(participate in other people’s
business) (Echa, 2008; Sunarta,
2009)
• Sekadi merebut balung tanpa isi
= ‘quarelling for a bone’ (without
meat) (Echa, 2008)
• De ngaden awak bise, depang
anake ngadanin = ‘never praise
yourself, let others do that’
(Sunarta, 2009)

• What is yours?

Vietnam

Presentation Outline
• the higher rank people (i.e. teachers)
– as the fountain of knowledge – a
single correct answer, no rich
information, no multiple perspectives
(Novera, 2004)
• expectation to have single right
answer; teachers and students
(Mansilla & Jackson, 2011)

• c.f. the Western people: they were
taught from an early age that it is
very important to evaluate
people’s ideas, things, or
experiences by incorporating
personal judgments on them
(Elsegood, 2006)

Vietnam

• Learning is not happening; deeper
learning is not taking place
 DL: understand the issue being
discussed and is able to take
what was learned in one situation
and to apply it to new situations
(National Research Council,
2012).
Global
competence

Soft skills/graduate
attributes

Generic skills
exercises (CT, PS,
communication,
leaderships, etc.)
(Hardiyanto, 2010)

Vietnam

• Learning should be perceived as a means:
 to facilitate conceptual changes in the
students’ world to achieve faculty of
understanding (Hativa, 2000)
 to develop a sound knowledge of the
content and structure of their chosen
disciplines and to apply it effectively in
further development of knowledge and in
vocational situations (Boulton-Lewis, 1995;
Meyer, 1998)
• learning should always involve how much and
how well something is learned (Biggs, 1979;
Ramsden, 2003)

Vietnam

Proposed Thought
• How to promote a deeper learning
environment?
Higher education = sustained
academic inquiry that performs
higher cognitive processes
Student learning should be directed
to deeper learning to promote a
deep approach to learning
(Kember & Gow, 1989; Trigwell &
Prosser, 1991; Warren & Griffiths,
2006; Watkins, 1983).
Vietnam

Proposed Thought
I propose…
• Inquiry-based Learning (IBL)
 Inductive learning
 Socratic background
 increases students’ motivation (Lane, 2008)
 helps students to create answers rather
than to find answers (McKenzie, 1998)
 a cyclical student-centred type of learning
which emphasizes on how students asks
questions to get information (Deutsch,
2005)

Vietnam

Proposed Thought
IBL Characteristics (Wilson & Murdoch, 2004)
• student centred and directed,
• emphasizes process and skill development,
• requires students to ask questions,
• is conceptual based rather than factual,
• usually involves some negotiation with students,
• encourages learner interaction,
• builds prior knowledge,
• utilizes and consider students interests,
• includes direct experiences,
• integrates reflection and metacognition,
• involves the application of ideas,
• explores affective aspects of learning, and
• raises different perspectives and tackle values.

Vietnam

Proposed Thought
• IBL Framework (Justice et al., 2007; Sincero, 2006)

• IBL develops a dynamic engagement in the teaching learning process

Vietnam

Proposed Thought
• IBL & Technology
 Digital natives (vs. Digital
Immigrants) (Prensky, 2001)
 Heaps of resources & web 2.0
tools

• Learning contents & Learning
activities
 Encourage autonomy,
engagement, and ongoing
inquiry & reflection (Biggs,
2003; Hativa, 2000)
 Promote learning (Taher & Jin,
2011)
 Make student learning
possible (Ramsden, 2003)

Vietnam

What’s next?
Practicing inquiry-based principles:
• helps students construct knowledge (Wilson & Murdoch,
2004)
• makes student learning possible (Ramsden, 2003) -
bring a change in the learners’ conceptual understanding
(Rogers, 1969)
• is best to challenge the students’ ability to engage in the
learning process.
• enables to attack students’ cultural influences
Pushing boundaries – be more aware
of these potential learning hurdles;
prepare from now for the 21st century.

Vietnam

Notes
Notes:
1. Not all the Eastern cultural values are
bad and it applies the same to the
Western’s.
2. Likewise, IBL is not the only one way
to engage students’ deeper learning.
3. Whatever (technological) means
used, the main aim of learning should
be to bring about a change
4. My aim is for acquisition of global
competence (understanding); not
only having better scores.
5. It is important to be aware from now
and start to prepare ourselves to
anticipate potential learning
challenges

Vietnam

Any questions
or comments?

E-mail:
mhsantosa@hotmail.com

Vietnam

Coping with Cultural Challenges in an Online Learning in the Western Context

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