Foundations of cultural design in e-learning

Abstract

Abstract:This article is an attempt to investigate some conceptual underpinnings of cultural dimensions to the design and use of ICT based initiatives in educational settings, particularly in Eastern contexts like Iran, promoting a sociocultural perspective on education, instruction and learning. The article move progressively from clarifying fundamental issues about social and cultural factors on globalizations of education to definitional and operational considerations, and focused on several major issues: Understanding of Culture; Cultural considerations in designing and using ICT in e-learning; Cultural dimensions in E-learning; Characterizing some common traits in Eastern pedagogical cultures. By discussing the challenges and potential opportunities with preference to social and cultural factors in globalization of education, it was pointed that there are certain context-specific social and cultural factors indices -as well as educational attainmentsthat affect the access to and use of its in developing countries. These factors / dimensions must be recognized and analyzed for the E-learning to be properly adapted and developed. Foundations of cultural design in e-learning 2Biographical notes: Davoud Masoumi is PhD candidate at University of Gothenburg, Sweden since late 2004. He has been engaged in research in the areas of instructional technology and e-learning in higher education setting with a special interest in the enhancing quality of off-campus environments in developing countries social and cultural context. Currently, he is finalizing his thesis on enhancing quality in virtual campus in developing countries cultural -pedagogic context.Berner Lindström is professor of education at University of Gothenburg, Sweden and co-director of the Swedish national center of excellence LinCS. He has been serving as member of a number of governmental boards and committees in the field of distance and networked learning and higher education. His research interests is on technology mediated learning and the transformation of knowledge in contemporary society, both within the context of educational institutions and working life.

Collaborative Learning, Social Presence and Student Satisfaction in a Blended Learning Environment

“…It also opens the door to the possibility that there may be all sorts of culture-related factors that blended course designers should be aware of when designing a blended course for a targeted cultural group, as argued by other authors, such as [16][23] and [24]. This appears to reinforce the long-held belief among instructional designers that it is critical to know your audience in advance of designing a lesson for different cultures [25] [26] [27].…”

Higher Education Scenario from a Cross-Cultural Perspective

“…Thus, each individual institution has a need to develop e-leaming to match its own culture but within an overall context of common development needs (Garcia, 2004). There are relevant and recent efforts that analyze the implications of web site setup and eLeam ing in a global context (e.g., Hutchins & Hutchison, 2008;Masoumi & Lindstrom, 2009;McPherson & Nunes, 2006).Our recommendation is not to build a "third culture," but to adapt web site design and contents taking into account students' cultural background, if possible. There are relevant and recent efforts that analyze the implications of web site setup and eLeam ing in a global context (e.g., Hutchins & Hutchison, 2008;Masoumi & Lindstrom, 2009;McPherson & Nunes, 2006).Our recommendation is not to build a "third culture," but to adapt web site design and contents taking into account students' cultural background, if possible.…”

A New Format for Learning about Farm Animal Welfare

“…An educational institution has the means and procedures of quality assuring both the content and the pedagogical quality of the resources. There are a number of frameworks and models that can be used for this (van Assche and Vuorikari 2006;Masoumi and Lindström 2009). …”