Cultural influences on learning object design and development

by Ms Mei Qi, Professor Tom Boyle, Dr. Yong Xue

The paper identifies and discusses design factors that are relevant to the development of culturally sensitive learning objects. Culture incorporates socially transmitted expectations, beliefs, and values about what good learning is, and consequently shapes the way people learn. It is an important issue that should be taken into account during the design and development of learning objects, because designers usually develop learning objects relying on their own cultural convention unconsciously, rather than taking account of the diversity of culture.

The influences of cultural elements on using learning objects were investigated in two universities, London Metropolitan University (LondonMet) in the UK, and Beijing Union University (BUU) in China. At the primary stage of the study, a set of culture-related variables that affect the use of learning objects was proposed based upon an extensive literature review. These culture-related variables are mapped to the process of design and development of learning objects to highlight possible culturally sensitive design factors. 223 students in LondonMet and 167 students in BUU took part in the study in the academic year 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 separately. The case study involved learning objects for Java programming. The learning objects were translated from English to Chinese for the students in BUU, but the other features were kept the same.

Analysis of the data showed that the learning objects were helpful to the students in both universities in understanding the basic learning content. But reactions to other issues such as presentation and use of scaffolding were reported differently by the two groups of students. The influences of culture are related to factors such as appropriate examples, navigation structure, and acceptable layout of the interface. For example, the Chinese students held positive attitudes towards the quizzes in the learning objects much more than students in LondonMet in the survey. This seems to be because hard work to achieve academic success is closely related to success in family and social life. In contrast, British students see it as more loosely related.

Cultural flexibility in the design of learning objects requires a systemic approach in which cultural influences are addressed explicitly in the entire process of design and development. In the ongoing research, a cultural reference model is being developed that helps designers to accommodate the particular requirements of different cultures. In order to relate the cultural reference model to practice, it is being embedded in an authoring tool. This tool was developed to facilitate the development and adaptation of learning objects for accommodating the needs of learners (Boyle, 2006). The authoring tool is based on an underlying network that represents the decisions made during the design process. Advice derived from the reference model is being attached to the decision points in this network to guide the tutor in making culturally sensitive design choices.

ID Number: 1333

Date: Tuesday, 4th September 2007

Time: 1545

Location: Law and Social Sciences Building, Room B62

Theme: Learning and internationalism

Presentation: presentation.ppt (The file which you can access from this link is the responsibility of the author of the Abstract to which the file relates, not ALT.