A systematic review of the challenges in global online learning

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A systematic review of the challenges in global online learning

Barbara Kerr Concordia University

Key words : globalisation, online learning, culture

Abstract :

Cross-border education is increasing. While this helps meet the growing demand for higher education, it also raises a host of other issues related to the cultural aspects of learning and teaching, especially in an online environment. Researchers are

beginning to address some of these issues but many questions have not been

satisfactorily answered. A systematic review, such as those that have been conducted in the medical and health care field for several years, and more recently in education, will be used to explore the relationships between cultures and online learning in a global context.

1 Introduction

Approximately 153 million students worldwide were enrolled in tertiary education in 2009 [1]). This represents a 53% increase since 2000 [1], and it is predicted that the demand for higher education will increase to over 262 million students by 2025. However, in many emerging economies the demand for places in higher education can be 20 to 50% higher than places in public institutions [1]. This demand for higher education has been a factor in the growing phenomenon of cross-border higher education: higher education programmes, providers, people and services that cross national boundaries. UNESCO [2] advises

universities that programs delivered across borders should take into account the cultural and linguistic sensitivities of the receiving country.

Cross-border education includes both face-to-face and distance education [3]. However, distance education continues to be the fastest growing form of domestic and international education [4]. The use of the Internet to deliver instruction in Higher Education has been steadily increasing [5] [6] and we have global learning in online courses because as Mason [7]

points out, “students located anywhere in the world can register and take part in the course”

(p. 616). Thus, there are a growing number of learners who are participating in distance education courses that have been designed and provided by North American, European, and Australian universities while remaining at home within their own social culture [8].

Prominent educators in the field have asserted that distance students studying in a culture other than their own may be at an unnecessary disadvantage for a variety of reasons including but not limited to; difficulties in studying in a second or foreign language, different

communication styles, coming from a different tradition of academic discourse, and expected

student and teacher roles [7-11].

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2 Literature review

The significant role that culture plays in learning had been noted by educators such as Bruner [12] and Vygotsky [13]. However, as Mason [14] notes, “While cultural differences are not unique to global courses or even to online course, they are much more evident and more difficult to address without the benefit of face-to-face interaction” (p.586).

A special journal issue of the British Journal of Educational Technology in 1999 was one of the earliest attempts to address the educational impact of new technologies on culture, and the two-way interaction between cultural diversity and learning in distributed networks. The use of the Web to deliver instruction was growing, but there was little research to target cultural issues in instructional design for distributed and interactive learning systems. There was a wide range of issues highlighted in this special issue as the main goal was to point out the various directions in which the research needed to move [15]. Although many of the articles were case studies or theoretical discussions, they are still frequently cited in the current research literature.

Two years after the British Journal of Educational Technology published their special issue on culture and learning in distributed networks, Distance Education published a Special Issue dedicated to addressing the challenges of online teaching with culturally diverse student groups. Similar, to the British Journal of Educational Technology’s special issue 30(3), many of these articles are cited in the current research literature. The guest editors of Distance Education’s Special issue also hoped to generate interest that would lead to further research.

However, with the increase in experience and awareness of the issues involved with global learning, they were able to divide this issue into three themes: theoretical studies, research studies and descriptive studies. The three theoretical studies provide the background for the other studies, and highlight several of the issues identified in the British Journal of Higher Education special issue, such as access, assessment, and language.

2.1 Summary of the issues

An initial search of the literature indicates several recurring, and sometimes overlapping, themes running through the global e-learning literature. Studies commonly refer to

mismatches between learning and teaching cultures, language, assessment difficulties, gender, disciplinary differences, social presence, and the cross-cultural communication theories currently being used to attempt to explain or predict behaviour online.

Problems related to online intercultural learning in higher education focus primarily on two interrelated issues: (a) online learning, which frequently requires new ways of interacting and collaborating with others; and (b) intercultural learning, which may include learners and instructors with differing worldviews, communication practices, and technological issues [16].

The growth in distance education has led to an increasing awareness of the role and impact of culture in online learning [4, 8, 17] and there has been an increase in research of this topic.

However, there have been few studies in course design that are generalizable to global

learning situations [4] and Moore [8] describes the issues surrounding global online learning

as a problem that has not yet been identified nor understood in terms of a pedagogical issue

(p.2).

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3 Justification for a Systematic Review

A preliminary search has not uncovered any meta-analysis studies or systematic reviews; and only one research review which examined the influence of culture on students’ learning and engagement in synchronous learning networks (ALNs). For this preliminary search, culture was interpreted quite broadly as the “acquired behaviours, perspectives, and values

characteristic of a particular group or community” [18] thus a cultural group could be defined by ethnicity, age, gender, subject discipline, and so on.

In short, the following questions have not been answered. What is the best practice regarding cultural and linguistic accommodation in global courses? How can online courses prepared for students of one educational paradigm work successfully for students who may be unfamiliar with the language and educational practices? Are there cultural patterns of behaviour or misunderstandings in a global online environment, similar to the frequently occurring errors that have been identified in second language learning?

In this context, a systematic review, such as those that have been conducted in the medical and health care field for several years and more recently in education, seems to be an

appropriate research method to explore the relationships between cultures and online learning in a global context.

3.1 Aims of the review

1. To identify and describe studies of global learners in an online setting.

2. To investigate some of the ways that cultural and linguistic differences manifest themselves as difficulties and opportunities in global online learning environments.

3. To identify and highlight strategies for creating optimal learning conditions for global online learners.

4 Methodology

As the number of studies regarding global learners is increasing, there is a need to look at building connections between the related research studies. A systematic review is a method of; making sense out of large bodies of information, contributing to the answers to questions about what works and what does not, mapping out areas of uncertainty, identifying where little or no relevant research has been done (but where new studies are needed), and flagging areas where we think we know more than we do and there is little convincing evidence to support our beliefs [19]. In short, “the purpose of a systematic review is to sum up the best available research on a specific question” by synthesizing the results of several studies [20].

It is of course very important to explicitly define the procedures that will be used to find and evaluate the results of studies before commencing the review. In this way the review can be replicated, and bias is minimized. For example, by setting inclusion criteria in advance, a researcher is less likely to be influenced by an author’s reputation when choosing the studies to be included in a review. Therefore a systematic review must have clear inclusion and exclusion strategy, and systematic coding and analysis of studies that meet the inclusion strategy [20] .

Table 1 outlines the general steps in carrying out a systematic review.

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Table 1 Steps of a systematic review Stage I

Planning the review

1. Identification of the need for a review 2. Preparation of a proposal for a review 3. Development of a review protocol Stage II

Conducting a review

1. Identification of research 2. Selection of research 3. Study quality assessment 4. Data extraction

5. Data synthesis

Stage III 1. The report and recommendations

2. Getting evidence into practice

4.1 Criteria for inclusion and exclusion of studies in the review

As an initial step in determining documents that might be included in the review, a preliminary set of inclusion criteria include the following:

Study subject: The impact of cultural differences in a global online environment. Culture is considered to be the “acquired behaviours, perspectives, and values characteristic of a

particular group or community” [18]; thus a cultural group could be defined by ethnicity, age, gender, subject discipline, and so on.

Learners and learning environment: The study deals with adult students studying online.

These students may be in higher or further education. The course may operate in an asynchronously or synchronous fashion.

Type of study: Randomized control trials, meta-analysis, systematic reviews, quasi- experimental studies, correlation studies, surveys, mixed methods, grounded theory, ethnographic research and case studies.

Timeframe of study: The paper was written between January 1990 and December 2009. A preliminary search has not identified any previous systematic reviews that would suggest a date. The Web was invented in 1989; and the first friendly windows based browser, Mosaic, was released in 1993 [21]. Setting a start date of January 1990 will allow me to catch any early practioners. December 2009 was chosen as the cut-off date due to manpower constraints.

Language: The study must be in English. Currently, English is the most used language in terms of international delivery of distance education programs [22] and is the preferred language of publications . No systematic effort will be made to identify relevant studies in the non-English language research literature due to time and manpower constraints.

Excluded from the review are: studies which report on a program or intervention that has not been implemented; opinion pieces; and book reviews.

4.2 Data sources and search strategies for identification of relevant studies

The first step in a systematic review is to generate a comprehensive list of primary research

that could be used to answer the research questions; while minimizing the retrieval of

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irrelevant documents. Studies will be sought via database searches and searches of specific journals or conference proceedings and bibliographies of key papers. References will be held and managed in an Endnote database.

Electronic searches will be performed on the following databases: ABI/Inform Global, Academic Search Premier, Business Source Complete, Education Full Text, EDiTLib, ERIC, Inspec, PsycINFO, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, Sociological abstracts.

The terms that will be used for initial searching are as follows: “Internet in higher education”,

“distance education students,” “distance education teachers,” “Web-based instruction,” “Open learning,” “e-learning,” “online learning”. These terms will be combined with “cross-cultural studies,” “intercultural communication,” and “communication & culture”.

5 Limitations of the study

As with all systematic reviews of research, this study can only review what is out there.

Furthermore, systematic reviews are somewhat dependant on the quality of abstracts by which most of the papers that are initially discovered are screened (Andrews, 2005). This study is also limited to English only publications.

References :

[1] UNESCO, "Higher education factsheet," 2009.

[2] UNESCO, "Guidelines for quality provision in cross-border higher education," Paris:

UNESCO, 2005.

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[13] L. S. Vygotsky, Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes.

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[17] R. Mason, "Global education: Out of the ivory tower," in Handbook of distance education, M. Moore and W. Anderson, Eds. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2003, pp. 743-752.

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International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, vol. 10, 2009.

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[22] A. W. Bates, "International distance education: Cultural and ethical issues," Distance Education, vol. 22, pp. 122-136, 2001.