Abstract
There is a developing urgency about how Australian universities should make use of the World Wide Web to best meet the needs of culturally diverse students, especially those of Asian origin. This urgency is the result of both global and internal pressures, some political, (consider the imminence of the ‘Hanson movement’ against a multicultural Australial) some technical, some social. To miss the current opportunity to exploit Web technologies to design, implement and market effective instructional courses will be to hand over a potentially billion dollar market to overseas competitors, especially those of the United Kingdom and the United States. One of the most pressing problems in this context is how to provide instructional materials in a model of teaching and learning that is cost effective, makes extensive use of Web technologies to provide for flexibility in learning, and that is culturally appropriate. This paper outlines an approach and model for investigating and developing culturally appropriate instructional materials.
The following hypotheses are central to our work:
-
Existing cultural influences in instructional materials designed and delivered on the World Wide Web by (Australian) universities, and intended for use by culturally diverse students, are minimal and ineffective.
-
The efficacy of learning based in the use of the World Wide Web for instructional purposes can be improved by the adoption of a culturally appropriate model of instructional design.
-
Culture is a significant factor in determining the effectiveness of learning materials created in the World Wide Web and intended for use by culturally diverse students.
In testing these hypotheses, we intend to provide the empirical research to help determine the most appropriate ways of using the Web to stimulate effective learning at tertiary level for all learners, whatever their cultural heritage or perspectives.
Chapter PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Keywords
References
Adler, N. J. (1991) International dimensions of organisational behaviour ( Second ed. ). PWS-Kent, Boston.
Alexander, S. (1995) Teaching and learning on the World Wide Web. Paper presented at AusWeb95: The First Australian World Wide Web Conference, Southern Cross University, New South Wales, 30 April-2 May, 1995.
Becker, D., and Dwyer, M. (1994) Using hypermedia to provide learner control. Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia, 3 (2), 155–172.
Biggs, J. B., and Moore, P. J. (1993) The process of learning ( Third ed. ). Prentice Hall, Sydney.
Bruce, H. W. (1996) Internet, AARNet and academic work: A longitudinal study, Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs ( DEETYA ), Canberra. November, 1996.
Burton, J. K., Moore, M., and Holmes, G. A. (1995) Hypermedia concepts and research: An overview. Computers in Human Behaviour, 11 (3–4), 345–369.
Bush, V. (1945) As we may think. The Atlantic Monthly, 176 (1), 101–108.
Carver, C., Howard, R., and Levelle, E. (1996) Enhancing student learning by incorporating learning styles into adaptive hypermedia, in Interactive multimedia and hypermedia (eds. P. Carlson and F. Makedon) (pp. 118–123). Association for the Advancement of Computers in Education, Charlottesville, Chalmers, D., and Fuller, R. (1996) Teaching for learning at university. Kogan Page, London.
Cheung, H. K., and Burn, J. M. (1994) Distributing global information systems resources in multinational companies: A contingency model. Journal of Global Information Management, 2 (3), 14–27.
Child, J. (1981) Culture, contingency and capitalism in the cross-national study of organizations, in Research in organizational behavior (eds. L. L. Cummings and B. M. Staw),(pp. 303–356 ). JAI Press, Greenwich, CT.
Choi, J., and Hannafin, M. (1995) Situated cognition and learning environments: Roles, structures and implications for design. Educational Technology Research and Development, 43 (2), 53–69.
Harasim, L. (1995). The virtual university: New approaches to higher education in the 21st century. Paper presented at ASCILITE95. The 12th Annual Conference of the Australian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education, Melbourne, 3–7 December, 1995.
Henderson, L. (1996) Instructional design of interactive multimedia: A cultural critique. Educational Technology Research and Development, 44 (4), 86–104.
Henderson, M., and Patching, W. (1995). Multimedia interactivity: Relating cognitive processing and click and drag activities. Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia, 1995, Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education, Charlottesville, VA. 318–323.
Henderson, L., Patching, W., and Putt, I. (1996) Off-campus preservice teacher education via interactive multimedia technology: An indigenous cohort case study, in Interactive multimedia and hypermedia (eds. P. Carlson and F. Makedon ), (pp. 300–305 ), Association for the Advancement of Computers in Education, Charlottesville, VA.
Henderson, L., Patching, W., and Putt, I. (in press) Non-indigenous students thinking: Studying with interactive multimedia courseware designed for indigenous students.
Henderson, L., Putt, I. Ainge, D., and Coombs, G. (in press) Comparison of students’ thinking processes when studying with WWW, IMM, and text-based materials.
Hofstede, G. (1984) Culture’s consequences. Sage, Beverly Hills, CA.
Howe, K., and Eisenhart, M. (1990) Standards for qualitative (and quantitative) research: A prolegomenon. Educational Researcher, 19 (4), 2–9.
Jacobson, M., and Spiro, R. (1995) Hypertext learning environments, cognitive flexibility and the transfer of complex knowledge. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 12 (4), 301–333.
Kluckhohn, F., and Strodtbeck, F. (1961) Variations in value orientations. Row Peterson, Evanston, IL.
Lewis, R. D. (1996). When cultures collide: Managing successfully across cultures. Nicholas Brealey Publishing Ltd.
Marland, P.W., Patching W.G. and Putt, I. J. (1992) Learning from Text: Glimpses inside the minds of distance learners. James Cook University, Townsville.
Minsky, M. (1975) A framework for representing knowledge, in The psychology of computer vision (ed. P. H. Winston ), McGraw Hill, New York.
Nelson, K. G., and Clark, T. D. (1994) Cross-cultural issues in Information Systems research: A research program. Journal of Global Information Management, 2 (4), 19–29.
Neuman, D. (1989) Naturalistic inquiry and computer-based instruction: Rationale, procedures and potential. Educational Technology Research and Development, 37 (3), 39–51.
Nguyen, A. T. A., Tan, W., and Kezunovic, L. (1996). Interactive multimedia on the World Wide Web: Implementation and implications for the tertiary education sector. In R. Debreceny and A. Ellis (Eds.), Proceedings of AusWeb96: The Second Australian World Wide Web Conference. (Also available at, http://www.scu.edu.au/ausweb96/)(pp. 551–557 ). Gold Coast, Australia: Southern Cross University.
Oliver, R. (1996) Interactions in multimedia learning materials: The things that matter in Proceedings of Third Interactive Multimedia Symposium, The learning superhighway: New world, new worries? (eds. C. McBeath and R. Atkinson), (pp. 303–308 ), Promaco Conventions Ltd, Perth, Western Australia.
Oliver, R., Herrington, J., and Omari, A. (1996). Creating effective instructional materials for the World Wide Web. In R. Debreceny and A. Ellis (Eds.), Proceedings of AusWeb96: The Second Australian World Wide Web Conference. Also available at, http://www.scu.edu.au/ausweb96/ (pp. 485491 ). Gold Coast, Australia: Southern Cross University.
Paulsen, M. F. (1992) Computer mediated communications and distance education around the world. From Bulletin Boards to Electronic Universities, 7, 31–37.
Peacock, K. A. (1995) Distance education in a univesrity setting: connecting to the global classroom. Available, http://www.utirc.utoronto.ca/Distance_Ed/disted- report.html [on-line]. University of Toronto, Canada, October, 1995.
Pelton, J. N. (1996) Cyberlearning versus the university. The Futurist, November—December, 1996, 17–20.
Putt, I., Patching, W., and Henderson, L. (1996) Teachers’ Thinking Elicited from Interactive Multimedia Professional Development Courseware. Educational Technology Research and Development 44 (4), 7–22.
Rattansi, A. (1992) Changing the subject? Racism, culture and education in Race, culture and derence (eds. J. Donald and A. Rattansi),(pp. 11–48 ). Sage, London.
Reeves, T. (1993) Pseudoscience in computer based instruction: the case of learner control research. Journal of Computer Based Instruction, 20 (2), 39–46.
Reeves, T. (1996) A model of the effective dimensions of interactive learning on the world wide web, in Interactive multimedia and hypermedia (eds. P. Carlson and F. Makedon ), AACE Charlottesville, VA.
Rokeach, M. (1973) The nature of human values. Free Press, New York.
Rossman, P. (1992) The emerging worldwide electronic university: Information age global higher education. Greenwood Press, Westport.
Rudra, A. (1994) AARNet and ERNET: An era for fostering international academic research, in Proceedings of International networking: Education, training and change (ed. N. F. Ellerton ), (pp. 104–109 ), Edith Cowan University, Perth, Western Australia.
Salomon, G. (1991) Transcending the qualitative—quantitative debate: The analytic and systemic approaches to educational research. Educational Researcher, 20 (6), 10–18.
Scheel, N., and Branch, R. (1993) The role of conversation and culture in the systematic design of instruction. Educational Technology, 3 (3), 5–14.
Shulman, L. S. (1986) Paradigms and research programs in the study of teaching: A contemporary perspective, in Handbook of research on teaching (ed. M. C. Wittrock ), (pp. 3–36 ), Macmillan, New York.
Wild, M. (1996a) Designing appropriate learning environments in instructional multimedia: The role of theory. Paper presented at Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA) Annual Conference: Different approaches-Theory and practice in Higher Education, Perth, Western Australia, 8–12 July 1996.
Wild, M. (1996b) Invited Presentation: The future of flexible learning and the use of technologies in tertiary education. Open Learning Seminar, University of Technology, Sydney. 15 July, 1996.
Wild, M., and Omari, A. (1996) Developing educational content for the Web: Issues and ideas, in Proceedings of AusWeb96: The second Australian World Wide Web Conference. (Also available at, http://www.scu.edu.au/ausweb90 (eds. R. Debreceny and A. Ellis), (pp. 353–355 ), Southern Cross University Gold Coast, Australia.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1998 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Wild, M., Henderson, L. (1998). Cultural contextualisation of learning with the World Wide Web. In: Verdejo, F., Davies, G. (eds) The Virtual Campus. IFIP — The International Federation for Information Processing. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-35352-4_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-35352-4_12
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4757-6813-8
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-35352-4
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive