E-Learning Within Cultural Context

E-LEARNING WITHIN CULTURAL CONTEXT Rodica PAMFILIE, Irina MAIORESCU, Roxana PROCOPIE, Magdalena BOBE, Smaranda VISAN Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies - Faculty of Commerce, 010511 Bucharest, Bd. Dacia 41 [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] Abstract: The world we live in has no virtual borders; the transfer of information and know-how is done in no time through internet. Yet, political and social events we face everyday show that, despite communication and knowledge transfer across nations, people have cultural boundaries inherited. Culture governs people’s ways of thinking, learning and behaving. In this global society, people are facing an import of abroad ideas, instruments and values. Therefore, we question the efficiency of adopting foreign cultural patterns, ways of thinking and learning just as they are delivered. We question the efficiency of e-learning platforms created without taking into account the particularity of Romanian cultural background. A research about designing a fit e-learning platform performed in 2010 and 2011 on a representative sample of students in Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies guided us to the conclusion that cultural dimensions matter also in this area. Keywords: E-learning, culture, design, websites. I. CULTURE ACROSS BOUNDERIES AND LEARNING The freedom of crossing the boundaries almost everywhere around the world, the global communication facilitated by the extraordinary technology mankind possesses nowadays and especially, the Internet makes possible, more than ever, the transfer of values, knowledge and knowhow across countries. One of the main cultural theories widely recognized belongs to the Dutch cultural anthropologist Geert Hofstede. His research led to the conclusion that nations - cultures show similar ways of behaving and managing the different aspects of living. He developed a system of describing them composed of five dimensions that vary in strength from one nation to another. It is their combination that gives uniqueness to each culture. The dimensions important to be taken into account according to Hofstede when analyzing a specific culture are the following: Power-distance, Individualism, Masculinity, Uncertainty Avoidance, Long Term Orientation (Hofstede, 1997; Hofstede 2001). However, in our point of view, Long Term Orientation is explained by Uncertainty avoidance, therefore, our analysis will take into consideration. Another cultural frame was drawn by Edward Hall. His observations directed him to another approach, as he found that cultures show differences in the way they communicate and perceive time. Referring to communication, he classified the cultures in High Context cultures and Low Context cultures (Hall, 1990). Romania was under communist occupation for more 40 years, having a severe control of the economic, social and cultural exchanges it made with other nations. In 1990, the opening of the frontiers towards the Occident – until then a restricted, almost forbidden area for all Romanian brought an enthusiastic import of the Western models, traditions and values. Today, in the context of an European acceptance of the multiculturalism, after more than 20 years in which many abroad models and values were experimented, Romanian show a return to their identity. 1.1 Communication structure Hall described communication of nations as varying on scale from High Context to Low Context. High Context communication involves very much the use of body language, the context and the symbols - all being part of the message which is to be conveyed. People avoid transmitting the message straight, they approach it indirectly, being natural for the others to understand the right meaning from the context (Hall, 1990). At the other pole, Low Context cultures avoid ambiguous communication, their message being as clear and concise as possible, so that the others may not misunderstand or interpret differently the meaning. The reflection of High-Context communication in websites is revealed by the design which makes use of pictures, symbols, animation and sounds. All this is with the purpose of giving the user the elements, the visual and acoustic hints he needs in order to understand the whole message. LowContext cultures do not use so many pictures and animation, but rather have simple schemes of transmitting information through words (Würtz, 2005; Pleşea et al, 2010). 1.2 Uncertainty avoidance According to this criterion, there are cultures that accept in various degrees uncertainty and unusual events. These cultures are described as those that express their feelings and emotions, and use gestures as an aid to the words when speaking (Marcus & Gould, 2000). A website designed for high uncertainty avoidance people should offer a clear navigation, a simple structure of the page and buttons, making the user feel familiar design all along his search through the website. For low uncertainty avoidance cultures which are less visible expressing their emotions the website may be more complex, in order to make it more interesting for the user. 1.3 Power distance Strong power distance cultures have strict hierarchic levels in the society and in the organizations. Teachers, official authorities, directors are respected and trusted. The design of a website for people showing in a high degree this characteristic should emphasize the images and statements of expertise, authority, certifications (Marcus and Gould, 2000). At the opposite side, weak power distance people are used to a quite equal society. Hierarchical levels are not so high; people are respected and trusted for themselves, and not for their social position. Here, the website should rather present users’ testimonials and images of the normal people to transmit the desired message (Plesea et al., 2010). 1.4 Masculinity Refers to the roles genders play in the society, politics and economy. While in strong masculine cultures the traditional roles of men and women are maintained, weak masculine cultures consider normal that both genders may perform equally well in all aspects of the economy, politics and society. Because learning in Romania – especially in the field of Economics addresses equally to both men and women. Geert Hofstede estimated that Romania is a country that scores medium on the scale of masculinity, meaning that some of the activities are destined strictly for only one gender; but this also means that Romanians nowadays are open to accepting both men and women to perform in areas that some time ago were the responsibility of only one gender or another. 1.5 Individualism Cultures that show individualism in high degree find natural that each individual should take care of his own and of his closest members of the family. Collectivism - the opposite of individualism on the scale quantified by Hofstede educates people to look for the benefits of the group and of the society in general, prior to their own personal wellbeing. The messages and images should refer as much as possible to the individual advantages, respectively to group and society’s advantages (Marcus and Gould, 2000). As the research of Hofstede was realized between 1978-1983, Romanians were under the communist regime, so it was assumed that people have a collectivist attitude. Nevertheless, today after more than 20 years from the fall of the communist regime, under the strong influence of Western and European values – including also individualism, the things in Romania are different (Plesea et. al, 2010). II. OBJECTIVES AND METHODOLOGY The research was performed within Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies among students, aiming to identify their perception about e-learning and particularly, about the elements of design that may influence the understanding of information and may explain the cultural dimensions of Communication Structure, Uncertainty Avoidance and Power Distance. The objectives of the paper focus on analyzing the influence of website structure upon user’s perception, the influence of colors upon Romanian students (a cross checking of cultural significance and physiologic effects of the colors). The size and structure of the sample were calculated so that the significance criteria may be met. Taken into account the number of students enrolled in the bachelor years of study, the calculated sample resulted in a minimum of 375 respondents at a confidence level of 95% according to Formula 1 “The calculation of the sample size” (see below). Formula 1. The calculation of sample size n N Z 2 p(1 p ) [d 2 ( N 2 1 )] ( Z 0.25 ) n - sample size N - the total number of students enrolled in bachelor regular programs in Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies; N = 14910 bachelor students; d – margin of imprecision (5%, or 0.05); Z –1,96 for a confidence level of 95%. There were 448 answered questionnaires. The survey was made using an on-line questionnaire. All students answered the questionnaire during 2010-2011 university year, using the same computers, in the same classroom. Therefore, the images shown and the colors used in the questionnaire were the same for all respondents, due to the fact that the desktops were the same and there were used the same settings of visualization. Data resulted from survey were exported to Microsoft Excel, their processing being done with the help of Statistics Analysis package. There were 142 masculine sex respondents (M) and 306 feminine sex respondents (F). It can be noticed that the proportion of the two sexes is unequal, the distribution being 32% for men and 68% for women from the total number of respondents. This however is not unusual, as it respects the general structure of sexes for the students enrolled in the Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies. 2.1 Communication structure Romanians use neither very High Context communication, nor very Low Context. However, they tend to be a rather High Context culture (Plesea et. al., 2010). Below there is a table (TABLE 1) that sums up the elements users of an e-learning website consider important to be present. As it can be noticed, the importance of the attractive design is very high (89.06% of total respondents). Also, animation is mentioned as important by one third of respondents (33.04%) and sound by 18.53% – which confirms the slight orientation towards a communication that besides words needs images, animation – an attractive design. TABLE 1. Elements important for an e-learning website Characteristics important for a website Number of espondents Fast downloading of content 403 Attractive design 399 Internal search engine 359 Easy menu with a few buttons 268 Many information 249 Animation 148 % of total respondents 89.96% 89.06% 80.13% 59.82% 55.58% 33.04% Buttons structured vertically Buttons structured horizontally Complex menu with many buttons Sound Other elements 2.2 123 109 86 83 15 27.46% 24.33% 19.20% 18.53% 3.35% Uncertainty avoidance From the TABLE 1 it can be remarked that Romanian students need to reach the information very easy and fast. Wandering through the website is not preferred, as 80.13% state that internal search engine is important, in order to find the information desired. Also, almost 60% specify distinctively that the menu should be easy to understand, with a few buttons. This information is supported by another analyze we made. The respondents had to choose between two versions of the same e-learning webpage: one vertically structured, with very concise and clear information and links (see Figure 1) and the other one with horizontal structure of the buttons, but with more detailed information within page (see Figure 2). Figure 1. Webpage with vertical structure of buttons and plenty of information Figure 2. Webpage with horizontal structure of buttons and plenty of information As expected, confirming the cultural theories presented above, 72% of the respondents chose the vertical listing of the information in the e-learning website, with as little content as possible presented on the page, clearly structured. Only 28% chose the horizontal structure type of the website, the page containing plenty of information. 2.3 Power Distance In order to test the credibility and the professionalism of the courses presented on an e-learning website, similarly, a webpage was created in two versions: one with an official logo and a reference to accreditation (see Figure 3) and the other one with a picture of happy students place instead the logo (see Figure 4). From the total number of respondents, 67.19 % chose as trustworthy the webpage that contained the randomly chosen logo and name. The accreditation is a fictional creation (IEE), the letter “I” is placed at the beginning in order to create the impression that it links with the word “International”, often being interpreted as its abbreviation. Romania is ranked high by Geert Hofstede in what regards Power Distance, therefore Romanian users are inclined to preferring the websites presenting official logos and certifications ( though unknown, pure fictions), rather than the websites that expose pictures of regular students(32.81%). Figure 3. Webpage with emphasize on logos and accreditation Figure 4. Webpage with emphasize on students III. CONCLUSIONS In the light of the cultural theories of Hall and Hofstede we retained several dimensions that may characterize a culture. In order to see if there is a influence of the culture upon the design of an elearning website, we analyzed the reactions of the Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies students when facing issues related to e-learning and websites. Some of the dimensions were proved to be significant for the credibility, easy navigation and usage of the e-learning website: Communication Structure, Uncertainty Avoidance and Power Distance. According to the results obtained, Romanian students use a quite High Context communication, as the graphics and design are very important; also, the presence of dynamic elements like animation and sounds is important – these elements supporting the faster and easier understanding of the written information. For Romanian students Uncertainty Avoidance dimension means easy schemes of navigation, clear structures and pages not too crowded with information as resulted from the survey. Related to Power Distance it can be said that Romanian students appreciate the presence of logos, certifications and accreditation information; also information needs to be well structured and clearly defined in categories. The study is limited to the Romanian students belonging to Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies and, therefore, has to be carefully extrapolated to students belonging to different cultures. References [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] Callahan E. (2005). 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