New Directions in Research into Learning Cultures in Online Education.
Robin Goodfellow
Book Goodfellow & Lamy, M-N. Learning Cultures in Online Education. Continuum Book.
'Much of the existing research is framed by a conceptualisation of culture that associates it primarily with nationality, and a conceptualisation of the 'problem' for online learning as being about communication between people of different nationalities'
tend to emphasise the need to tailor design to individual cultural preferences ' cultures do not talk to each other , individuals do ( p.138 Scollon & Scollon (2001)0
drivers for considering online in terms of culture
- widening participation
- mode 2 knowledge (respond to employability agendas)
- interdependence between academia and professions
- breadth of informal channels that are increasingly available. For young people 'popular culture media and personal networks ( including online communities' have become key sources of identity models and cultural resources for affiliation and identification'
Current Research orientations
concern with the influence on international learners' individual and group identity of prevalent 'western' approach eg social constructivism, techno-rationalism, use of English language
A desire to understand the ways that online learning is played out through language, where the presentation and disclosure of identities is inflected by their own cultural backgrounds and/or the reduced cues of the electronic medium.
an interest in the emergence of 'new' cultural and social identities in virtual communities that draw on contemporary cybercultures of the internet as well as systems of cultural relations inherited from conventional settings.
Working definition of culture ( Gunawardena, p125 of the book)
' a system of knowledge , beliefs, behaviours and customs shared by members of an interacting group, to which members can refer, and that serve as the basis for further intercation ...... members recognise that they share experiences and these experiences can be referred to with the expectation that they will be understood by other members ...... thus being used to construct a reality for the participants. (p.125)'
- there is no requirement for the interacting group to have a recognised existence independently of their interaction
- an emphasis on members' recognition of the role of experience -sharing in the construction of their online world'
Reeder, K.L. Macfadyen et al (2004)
Negotiating cultures in Cyberspace: Participation Patterns and Problematics, Language Learning & Technology 8(2): 88-105.
Thorne, S. (2003)
Artefacts and Cultures-Of-Use in Intercultural Communication, Language Learning & Technology, 7(2): 38-67
Doherty argues that truly postnational learning cultures should position all students as international ( whether or not national to the host site)
