Social Presence and Cultural Identity

This chapter explores the impact of cultural identity on social presence in online courses, as well as culturally-responsive instructional design frameworks that work to increase social presence and reduce distance for culturally diverse online learners. Social presence, which is a student's sense of being and belonging in a course, is naturally reduced in the online environment. Cultural differences, such as language, context, communication styles, etc., have been shown to further reduce a student's sense of belonging and increase feelings of isolation. Instructors, as course designers and facilitators, must understand the impact of culture on their students' sense of social presence, and use culturally-responsive instructional design strategies and methods to provide an inclusive, flexible, online learning environment.

Designing Engaging Online Environments

Engagement in learning is critical to students' achievement of meaningful learning outcomes. Educators often describe engagement as a multi component concept that involves emotional, cognitive, and behavioral domains. In an online environment, student engagement is challenging to achieve. Both synchronous and asynchronous instruction needs to be thoughtfully designed to engage students at a meaningful level. Moreover, within an online environment, some of the differences between the students from diverse backgrounds may be more challenging for the instructors to address and thus require an intentional and systematic approach. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is an instructional design framework that is based on a notion that all students are varied in their learning needs and therefore instruction needs to be flexible to ensure learning of all. This chapter will examine the construct of engagement, focus on learner variability, and offer practical instructional design solutions based in the framework of UDL.

Impacts of MOOCs on Online Learning and Campus-Based Course Design

There are two lines of expert debates on whether MOOCs could improve the overall quality of college and university education in America. Experts like Fiona Hollands believe MOOCs have made positive influence in campus-based classrooms by making the instructors reconsider how they approached their teaching. Yet, others doubted if there would be a broad impact of lessons learned from MOOCs on conventional classroom to be seen anytime soon. This book chapter reports the findings on the pedagogical transformation process between MOOCs and campus-based courses done by faculty who taught the courses in both formats. The degree of employment of MOOC instructional strategies to campus-based teaching practices varied by the instructors and is determined by their on-campus classroom settings, and their willingness to consider adopting their MOOC instructional strategies to their established campus-based teaching styles. Implications for faculty, instructional designers in higher education and professionals in training industry in regards to embracing diversity are presented.

Bridging the Social, Academic, and Cultural Divide for International Students

International learners face many unique challenges when studying in a U.S. based online program. These challenges include language barriers, social barriers, and psychological barriers. In this chapter, the authors propose the use of peer-to-peer support programs, combined with an increased focus on learning communities, to help these students succeed. The literature shows that isolation is a common experience for online learners, and in particular, international students. Researchers have also found that peer relationships and connections can improve this experience for students, which can lead to student satisfaction, success, and retention. Based in the sociocultural theory of Vygotsky, the purpose of this chapter is to share specific strategies with instructors, course designers, and larger institutions so they can create courses and a larger learning environment that are sensitive to the needs of diverse learners studying online.

Distance Learning Course Design

Research has extensively provided insight regarding best practices for designing distance learning courses at U.S. institutions of higher education. However, with the increase in course offerings to students abroad and with the documented challenges that international students enrolled in U.S. courses face, it is important to consider whether current frameworks for course design support the needs of international learners. Unfortunately, little research exists that examines this facet of culturally responsive course design and development. This chapter presents what is currently understood regarding international learners enrolled in U.S. courses, an overview of the most widely utilized frameworks for course design in the U.S. context, what preliminary research suggests regarding support for international learners, and practical implications and areas in need of further exploration.

Modelling for Value Systems in a Diverse Online Program in the Caribbean

The authors present a conceptual framework to guide the participation of students in an online instructional design program. The online program has socio-cultural influencing factors that confound the already diverse nature of the offering. The framework intends to encourage a value system for students that can be used to guide their knowledge and performance as they pursue the tenets of the field of instructional design. Elmore's mode of leadership, Bourdieu's theory of habitus and Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory are used to create a foundation for the framework whilst acknowledging the complexities of the diverse environment. The framework supports and acknowledges the knowledge expected of novice instructional designers through the use of guides whilst acknowledging the systemic and systematic individualistic change processes that will occur.

The Influence of Cultural Factors on Corporate Training in East Asia

In the context of the increasing economic importance of the Pacific Rim, the unique historical and cultural factors that impact organizational and corporate culture in the East Asian business world have been the subject of much discussion. East Asian culture and its attendant philosophical influences will first be discussed. Improving corporate training in East Asian business can be aided by the application of a whole-system approach that is able to encompass the cultural and philosophical background of East Asian business. Drawing from systems theory, human resource management, and instructional systems design, this chapter will propose suggestions for East Asian corporate training. In addition, suggestions for online learning design using this theoretical background will be established.

Culture and Communication Online

This chapter discusses the challenges and opportunities encountered by international and non-native language learners participating in distance education. With the growth of online learning and the internationalization of education, it is necessary to provide literature regarding best practices for educating a diverse student population. Culture and communication play a significant role in how students engage in their learning. This diversity is less evident in the online classroom resulting in potential misinterpretations rather than the valuing of distinctive cultures, experiences, and uniqueness of every individual learner. An exploration of diversity, identity, community, engagement, and linguistics are discussed in relation to international and non-native language speaking online learners.

Exploring Social Presence in the Culturally Diverse Online Classroom

This qualitative single-case study explored student perceptions associated with social presence in a graduate online course of culturally diverse learners. Findings included themes that align with Hofstede's (1984, 2011) cultural relationship domain indicating student preference for construction of schedules to create a cohort where students can stay together through future courses. Tu's (2000) online communication dimension was supported with findings of email and phone communication as the top two ways students prefer to interact with faculty. The feedback area of the LMS was a surprising third element in ratings and the number one ranking for documented weekly social interaction with the instructor. Specific challenges to social presence were language barriers, reported by all students in the class. Implications are presented for instructors, instructional designers, institution policy, course scheduling and faculty training initiatives.

Implementing eLearning in a Global Organization

This chapter provides a practical guide on the process of translating learning and training materials with a focus on eLearning in a corporate setting. The information shared was gained from years of experience creating learning materials for students from different cultures and countries and with different learning abilities. The translation process can be complex, particularly if there are a number of materials to translate as well as a variety of material types. Since the translation process is the last piece in the material creation process, it is important that the process run smoothly to ensure deadlines are met. This chapter provides detailed guidelines for creating and translating learning materials that assist in effective knowledge transfer to a diverse audience.