Facilitating cross‐cultural online discussion groups: Implications for practice

Abstract

Online discussion is a powerful tool for the development of critical thinking, collaboration, and reflection. However, the effective instructional use of online discussions places new requirements on instructors for skilful facilitation. When the construct of cross-cultural participants is added, the facilitation requirements increase. The purpose of this research was to determine and address the issues and challenges experienced by facilitators who are facilitating crosscultural group discussion activities in an online environment, and to provide strategies facilitators might employ when in this environment. Utilising action research methods of data collection and analysis, this study found that in a cross-cultural online environment, the challenges of the facilitator expand beyond the currently identified range of problems of facilitation. Challenges such as questioning, participation, interpersonal and group dynamics, facilitator expectations and anxieties have surfaced as issues when facilitating in a cross-cultural online environment.

Social commerce: The transfer of power from sellers to buyers

“…Online social support has a significant effect on the performance of virtual groups as it is an innovative type of social interaction (Williams et al, 2001). Virtual groups or communities are a group of individuals interacting in a social network due to common goals or interests, with social interaction occurring in an online context (Joon & Young-Gul, 2003).…”

“…SNSs are an example of this change with the opportunities they now offer to consumers (Kim, 2013). Towards these ends, the study of SNSs and potential paradigm changes is important for the current business world and can exert significant influence on virtual communities and their users` behaviours (Hajli, 2014b;Williams et al, 2001). …”

Social Presence, Social Interaction, Collaborative Learning, and Satisfaction in Online and Face-to-Face Courses

“…Research has highlighted participants in online courses have become better at critiquing, questioning, analyzing, making connections, and extending the content beyond the classroom through the use of asynchronous online discussion forums (Williams et al, 2001). Asynchronous online discussions can also be seen as a means to enhance student control over learning and make the educational experience "more democratic" (Harasim, 1989).…”

“…These findings are also in line with the assertion by Wei, Chen, Wang, and Li (2007) that web-based discussion forums enable users to share knowledge in straightforward and popular platforms. Researchers contend online discussions and learning may be more supportive of experimentation, divergent thinking, exploration of multiple perspectives, complex understanding and reflection than face-to-face discussions (Parker & Gemino, 2001;Picciano, 2002) making participants in online courses better at critiquing, questioning, analyzing, making connections, and extending the content beyond the classroom through the use of asynchronous online discussion forums (Williams et al, 2001). …”

IRRODL Volume 13, Number 1

“…Online education is not only about having access to the Internet, but also about how connection to the Internet is embedded in social relations in the students' daily life (Rye, 2007). As Beer (2005) Handling diversity in cultural backgrounds to create a successful online learning environment is another issue discussed in the literature (Bates, 1999;Bates & de los Santos, 1997;Little, Titarenko, & Bergelson, 2005;Rasmussen, 2006;Williams et al, 2001). A focus in this literature has been on how to facilitate collaboration despite language barriers and across a variety of educational cultures.…”