The presentation deals with E-Learning in Intercultural settings and particular learner-focused challenges that arise in group-work related scenarios. The presentation was held at the IADIS e-Learning conference 2011, which took place in Rome, Italy.

1. Institut für Informatik und
Wirtschaftsinformatik (ICB)
E-Learning in Culturally Diverse Settings
IADIS e-Learning 2011, Rome Thomas Richter
Heimo H. Adelsberger
Picture:
Winding-tower, Essen
Pictures:
University of Duisburg Essen

2. E-Learning in Culturally Diverse Settings
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Definitions
n E-Learning
o Internet-based learning
n Learning Context
o influences learning process but cannot (directly) be influenced) by the
learning design
n Culture
o values, believes, attitudes, expectations, people within a certain group
have in common

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Learning via Internet: Opportunities and Challenges
n Opportunities of international distribution of e-Learning:
o worldwide educational equality (UNESCO)
o access to unlimited numbers of students (institutional perspective)
o international learning scenarios: international/intercultural
collaborations & experiences (student’s perspective)
n Challenges of international distribution of e-Learning:
o learners in different contexts and educational background (adaptation
may be needed)
o no or very limited eye-contact: indicators for misunderstandings, lack
of understanding, and social conflicts missing
n Own studies1/2 showed that
o ‘motivation’ is strongest success factor in e-Learning
o (social) conflicts in learning process can be disturbing/demotivating
o challenges particularly impact scenarios of collaborative learning
o institutions, educators, and learners
- are not aware on how to deal with cultural diversity
- rather focus on national/local audience/contents
1 RICHTER, T. & ADELSBERGER, H.H. (2011). E-Learning: Education for Everyone? Special Requirements on Learners in Internet-based Learning
Environments. In: Proceedings of the EdMedia conference 2011, Lisbon, Portugal.
2 RICHTER, T. et al. (2011). Beyond OER: Shifting Focus to Open Educational Practices. Due-Publico, Essen, Germany, 2011

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What is the Context of E-Learning 1/2
• RICHTER, T. (2010). Open Educational Resources im kulturellen Kontext von e-Learning. Zeitschrift für E-Learning (ZeL), Freie
elektronische Bildungsressourcen, 3/2010, pp. 30-42.

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The Context of E-Learning 2/2
RICHTER, T. & PAWLOWSKI, J.-M. (2008). Adaptation of e-Learning Environments: Determining National Differences through Context
Metadata. In: ARLT, H. (Ed.), TRANS. Internet-Journal for Culture Studies. No17/2008, INST, Austria. http://www.inst.at/trans/17Nr/
8-15/8-15_richter-pawlowski17.htm
Most influence factors were
quite easy to determine. Diffe-
rent contexts can be compared.
Comparison results are under-
standable.
“Culturally motivated” attitudes
and expectations of learners
have been unknown.
There are unknown side-effects
between influence factors.

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Desk Study1: Grouping Cultural Influences on
Learners‘ Attitudes and Expectations
n Relationship to authorities
n Gender related issues
n Motivation
n Feedback
n Group work experience
n Group building processes
n Group behaviour
n Time Management
(applies, if interaction between learners/learners
& learners/educators is intended)
(is there contact to lecturers/tutors?)
(is there interaction between learners?)
(general
issues)
(documents to be written, time-line set?)
How to determine those culturally-specific attributes?
1 desk-study was conducted from 2007 to 2011 and descriptions of conflicts in learning scenarios
in over 600 journal & conference papers were analysed on cultural background (RICHTER
2007-2010)

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10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 1000
Impact
significant
Germany
(35)
Austria
(11)
South Korea
(60)
China
(80)
Impact
not
significant
Impact
not
significant
Why not to use what we already have got?
n Culture concept
o Hofstede (1980): one nation – one culture
o Leonardi (2002): language is strongest indicator for culture (e.g., India: 179
languages)
o Poglia (2005): Differentiation between smaller societies needed (e.g., social
networks, public/private enterprises, institutions, associations,…)
n Dimensional culture models (Hofstede; Hall & Hall; Trompenaar;
House, Mansour & Schwartz; Henderson, …) are too generic to
deduce concrete attitudes and to give answers to our questions1.
n Example Hofstede dimension ‘power distance index’: Relationship
to authorities (in learning context, e.g., professors, lecturers, elder
students)
n Also unclear: Who particularly is a person of authority?
1 RICHTER, T., PAWLOWSKI, J.-M., & LUTZE, M. (2008). Adapting E-Learning situations for international reuse. In: SUDWEEKS, F.,
HRACHOVEC, H., & ESS, C. (Eds.), CATaC'08 Proceedings (Nimes, France): Cultural Attitudes towards Technology and
Communication, School of Information Technology, Murdoch University, Murdoch, Australia, pp. 713-725.

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Standardized questionnaire used in comparative study: Examples
for cultural differences (questionnaire covers 107 items)
Item Korea % (p/n) Germany % (p/n)
Feedback: directly when mistake found 82.27 (p) 77.38 (p)
Feedback: at the end of the task 72.18 (p) eq. dist
Feedback: item related (vs. task related) 64.92 (p) 84.31 (p)
Group building process: Used to build groups? 60,08 (n) 66.26 (p)
Group Work (kind of action): memorising 99.19 (p) 75.67 (n)
Motivation: content related to needs (exams) 81.45 (p) 63.68 (p)
Motivation: what to do when task too difficult? I
just solve the manageable parts…
90.32 (p) 67.25 (n)
Role of Lecturer: L. is unfailing person 75.81 (p) 69.68 (n)
Role of Lecturer: L. is expert 95.97 (p) 99.57 (p)
Tasks of Lecturer: provide preselected contents 87.90 (p) 97.69 (p)
Tasks of Lecturer: provide technical support 81.85 (p) 65.66 (n)
Gender related: same abilities eq. distr. 75.78 (p)
Gender related: contents should be the same 75.40 (p) 93.29 (p)
3 German universities, online (1817 students, all degrees, f/m ratio 1:2), 6 German companies
(each 8-15 responds - not included here);
Korea, 32 universities, paper@street (300 students, all degrees, f/m ratio 3:2)

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Differences regarding collaborative work and
recommendations
n for Korean students, showing/discussing failures seems more difficult
(familiar context preferred/needed)
n Korean students memorize in groups; German students memorize solely
n parameters for selected group members differ: German students likability,
Korean students expertize
n Korean students are not used to form groups themselves (lecturer should
form groups in virtual scenarios)
n Korean students prefer collective solving of tasks while German students
prefer solving a subtask solely and joining each students’ results
n German students defend their own opinion more than Korean students
(raise understanding for and acceptance of cultural differences)
n deadlines tough for both, but insisting on deadlines common for German
students; Korean students expect more flexibility (prepare all students to
understand consequences of missed deadlines in the context of education)

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Conclusions
n survey “learning culture” led to syntactically and semantically
comparable results
n limitation: results just “validated” for learners in HE and in
language-homogeneous contexts
n in most cases of the items, cultural background proven
n Providing data to raise awareness seems a promising first step
n Further research needed
n We need help/volunteers for international data collection
(translation work & data collection): data collection in foreign
contexts almost impossible

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Thank you!
Thank you very much for your Attention!
Are there any questions?
(Also feel free to contact me after the
session)

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The Adaptation Process Model
PAWLOWSKI, J.M.; RICHTER, T. (2010). A Methodology to Compare and Adapt E-Learning in the Global Context. In: Breitner, M.H.
(Ed.). E-Learning 2010 – Aspekte der Betriebswirtschaftslehre und Informatik. Physica-Verlag HD, Berlin, pp. 3-14.
(model extended and modified)