A Comparative Analysisof Learners Interactioninthe Learning Management Systemof Shanghai TV Universityand Wawasan OpenUniversity:
Does National Culture Matters?
Wu Bing, Shanghai TV University, Shanghai, China,
Teoh Ai Ping, Wawasan Open University, Penang, Malaysia,
Abstract
In this paper, the authors examine the interaction in asynchronous forum exchanges and synchronous chat sessions offirst year degree courses i.e. Principles of Management Studies (SHTVU) and Principles and Practice of Management (WOU). The interaction in the LMS arecritically analyzed based on Oliver and McLoughlin’s five dimensions of interaction,i.e. social, procedural, expository, explanatory and cognitive. The analysis covers the categories of exchanges between course coordinator – groups, student - course coordinator, student – group, tutor – group, student – tutor and student - student. The authors also discusswhether national culture has a bearing in determining learners interaction in the two institutions, based on Hofstede’soriginal cultural dimensions namelypower distance, individualism/collectivism,masculinity/femininity anduncertainty avoidance.The authors further propose strategies towards effective and efficient online interaction in enhancing the teaching-learning process in web-based learning.
1.0Introduction
Unlike in a conventional institution where educational content is communicated from the teacher to the learners within a brick and mortar classroom, the teaching-learning process in an Open Distance Learning (ODL) institution is separated in time and/or space. Many ODL institutions provide a variety of support services to learners and various media are used to mediate the communication as well as interaction of the teacher and learners. In a managed online learning environment, a computer-based LMS provides a suite of tools to enhance teaching and learning by delivering course materials and provide communication channels via a common interface. Some of the features of a typical LMS include asynchronous forum boards and synchronous chats, thereby allowing learners to discuss course related issues and engage in exchanges of ideas with their peers and teacher. The LMS is not merely a tool for dissemination of content for the course, but also as a means to facilitate communication between the learners and teacher in teaching-learning process. Assurance of ample opportunity for communication is fundamental to effective interaction, particularly in the web-based ODL environment utilizing the LMS to support teaching and learning.
Shanghai TV University (SHTVU) is an Open Universitywhich was first established in 1960 and conducts distance education based on tele-communication, broadcasting and television, computer and other modern media. The headquarters of the university has three campuses and 53 study centers/branch schools covering 10 undergraduate programs and 15 junior college programs, which include 31 majors. By August 2002, there are nearly 80,000 students at different levels and about 500,000 have been trained in various non-degree training programs every year. SHTVU has abundant teaching resources and made great efforts in promoting the popularization of higher education and continuing education towards the socialization of citizens’ moralization education.
Wawasan Open University (WOU) with headquarters located in Penangis Malaysia’s first charity-backed, private, not-for-profit university dedicated to adult learners. WOU adopted flexible approaches to make higher education accessible to all at anytime and anywhere. The establishment of Wawasan (Vision) Open University was officially launched in September 2006. WOU opened its doors to the first batch of students in January 2007 at its first four regional and learning centers throughout the nation.WOU's new main campus is expected to be ready by the end of year 2007. WOU currently has three schools, School of Foundation Studies, School of Business and Administration and School of Science and Technology offering 11 degree programmes.WOU is expected to start providing Graduate Programmes in January 2008.Table 1 below shows a comparison of the course delivery modelof SHTVU and WOU.
Table 1: Course Delivery Modelof SHTVU and WOU
Course Delivery Model / SHTVU / WOU1 / Learning materials / Study units and textbook are provided to all students / Study units and textbook are provided to all students
2 / Student support services / Face-to-face tutorial sessions / Once a week during the semester
(2-3 hours per session) / Once a month during the semester (2 hours per session)
Online learning / Learning Management System: Olclass / Learning Management System: WawasanLearn
Telephone tutoring / Not available / Tutors are available for telephone tutoring during pre-specified time slots with the learners
Digital library resources / E-library
(e-books, e-journals etc.) / E-library
(e-books, e-journals etc.)
Regional center support / Students can go to the RegionalCenter nearest to them for administrative related issues and support. / Students can go to the RegionalCenter nearest to them for administrative related issues and support.
3 / Course Assessment / Course work: No. of assignments and contribution / 3 – 5
20-30% / 3
50%
Contribution of participation in LMS towards course work marks / Some courses do. / nil
Final written examination / 60%-90% / 50%
4 / Communication between Course Coordinator
and Tutors / Frequency / At least 3 times in a semester / At least 3 times in a semester
Mode / Face-to-face, telephone, email / Face-to-face, telephone, email, LMS forum discussions
Table 2depictsa comparison of the LMS features and functions ofSHTVU and WOU.
Table 2: LMS Features and Functions of SHTVU and WOU
Features/Functions / SHTVU / WOUSource / Developed in-house / Moodle – an open-source course management system
No. of users (as of June 2007) / 112000 / 597
In-use since / Since year 2000 / Since year 2007
Language used in LMS / Chinese / English
Programming language used to develop the LMS / .net / PHP
Editing capability of LMS pages / Weaker editing capability / Stronger editing capability – GUI-based
Integration with Learning Centers / Separate LMS platform for main campus and branch schools/learning centers. / LMS for all learning centers are integrated in the same platform.
Course Coordinator monitoring of tutors online teaching activities / Weaker / Stronger
Accessibility of previous semesters forum discussions / Able to access previous semesters forum discussions / Not available
Statistical reporting features e.g Log / Weaker / Stronger
Functions available in LMS / Static Course Materials (E.g. upload files, text pages, web pages, links, directories and labels) Interactive and Social Course Materials (E.g. online quizzes, asynchronous forum boards, synchronous chats)
The course delivery model of both institutions is similar in providing learning materials to students, offering comprehensive student support services such as face-to-face tutorial sessions, online learning, digital library resources and regional centers support, as well as having course work and final written exam as elements in the course assessment. There is also frequent communication between the course coordinator with tutors via various modes. There is a forum between the course coordinator (CC) and tutors in the LMS of WOU and the CC has access to tutors online teaching activities. The face-to-face tutorials in SHTVU are more frequentwhile the contribution of course work in the assessment component in WOU is higher.Both SHTVU and WOU utilize learning management system (LMS) based on Internet technology to provide a facilitated web-based learning environment. The LMS of SHTVU was developed in-house and has been in use for longer period with larger number of users compared to WOU. Both institutions provide almost the same content in the LMS. Among the important features incorporated in the LMS are the asynchronous forum board and synchronous chat. This provision allows empowerment of geographically dispersed groups of students to participate in a collaborative learning environment,aiming at effective and efficient learning. Despite being Asian countries, WOU in Malaysia are operating in a multi-cultural environment while SHTVU in China takes root to the traditional Chinese culture.
2.0 Literature Review and Research Questions
Collaborative, communicative and constructive learning environment is a central concern to quality learning, especially in the setting of ODL where the learners and teacher are physically separated in distancebut are often connected via a web-based learning platform.Learners participate and interact with peers and tutor in discussions not just merely to seek course related information and clarification, but also to exchange and share knowledge.Interaction can be defined as:“the learner’s engagement with the course content, other learners, the instructor, and the technological medium used in the course. True interactions with other learners, the instructor and the technology results in a reciprocal exchange of information. The exchange of information is intended to enhance knowledge development in the learning environment. Ultimately, the goal of interaction is to increase understanding of the course content or mastery of the defined goals.” (Thurmond, 2003, p.4)
Various researches were conducted to examine the dimensions of interaction in distance learning.Moore (1989) defined the three types of interaction as learner–teacher, learner–content and learner-learner, which provide a basis for analyzing the relative significance of different types of interaction. Other researchers have also examined possible combinations of interaction based on teacher, learner and content. Kearsly (1995) noted that few studies on interactivity isolate the interactive component from other aspects of distance learning activities. Picciano (2002) distinguish interaction and presence in which the former is related to the nature of communication and influence. Robson (1996) classified interaction in terms of the pattern of exchanges between the teacher and students and highlighted the need to address pedagogical issues to maximize interaction within web-based learning environment.Oliveret al. (1997) explored the student interactions in collaborative World Wide Web learning environment using a set of four dimensions, i.e. social, procedural, expository and cognitive. Oliver and McLoughlin (1997a) studied interaction looking at the social, procedural, expository, explanatory and cognitive dimensions over various categories of exchanges between the teacher and students.Rourkeet al. (1999) developed a framework for interpreting the online teaching and learning environment by analyzing the components of cognitive presence, teaching presence and social presence.Lynch (2002) reported that interaction may occur on four levelsi.e. interaction with the content, with the instructor, with classmates and with self - which is the act of cognition.High quality online participation in web-based learning promotes collaborative group support. This encourages the establishment of the social presence of participants in their online environment and thus enhances the effectiveness of online learning. (Garrison, 1997; Gunawardena and Zittle, 1997) Garrison and Cleveland-Innes (2005) found that design of courses had a significant impact on the nature of the interaction and whether students approached learning in a deep and meaningful manner. Syed Othman et al. (2005) foundhigh frequency communicative exchanges with instructional purposes on asynchronous forum boardswhich havecreated a positive learning environment.However, theinteractions observed were lack of active collaborations at cognitive dimension. Harasim (1997) suggested that high rates of student participation, group interaction among students, high quality of intellectual exchange and spatial metaphors used as mental models to help students adjust to an online structured course are factors essentials to ensure effectiveness and success in online learning.
National culture can be broadly defined to include the language, behaviors, values, norms, beliefs, and practices shared by a group of people in a same country. Hofstede (1980, 1991), the most widely cited author in cultural related studies, identified four dimensions, i.e. power distance, individualism/collectivism, masculinity/femininity and uncertainty avoidance in his original study. He rated 53 countries on indices for each dimension, normalized to values of 0 to 100. A number of other researchers have proposed alternatives dimensions of national culture. The GLOBE framework extended Hofstede’s work by adding some dimensionswhich give managers additional information in identifying and managing cultural differences.Research reveals that there can be collective similarities in the ways that groups of people from the same national perceive and act on social contexts in education. Based on Hostede’s dimensions applied to teaching and learning (Hofstede,1986), knowledge dissemination stresses on ‘impersonal truth’ in small power distance societies while the large power distance societies emphasizes on ‘personal wisdom’. In a collectivist society, individual student will only speak up in small group when called upon and education is a way of obtaining reputation in social environment to join higher status group.This implies that obtaining paper qualification is of higher concern than acquiring competence. Learners from feminine societies behave modestly compared to the masculinity societies which are assertive and competitive. In weak uncertainty avoidance societies, students feel comfortable with less structured learning situations and teachers view intellectual disagreement as a stimulating exercise. Various studies were conducted to assess learners interactions across distinct national groups in the web-based learning environment, in view of the importance to consider culture element in creating effective web-based teaching and learning.The general approach used was to develop generalizations about cultural learning styles based on an analysis of national cultural characteristics (Marcus and Gould, 2000; Kim and Bonk, 2002; Munro-Smith, 2002). Besides, different cultural dimensions would influence user perceptions about the general accessibility of the online environment (Tylee, 2001). The extent to which learning is learner-centered or teacher-centered also appears subject to cultural variation. Asian learners are generally found to be teacher-centered based on the findings of previous studies such as Baueret al. (2000). Asian learners from high power distance society which are passive in interaction are sometimes feeling safer to contribute to the forums and chat in the online environment (Baueret al., 2000, Conner, 2000)
Synthesizing some of the previous literature on interaction in web-based learning, this study examines the interaction in asynchronous forum boards and synchronous chats based on Oliver and McLoughlin dimensions of interaction, i.e. social, procedural, expository, explanatory and cognitive. The analysis covers the categories of exchanges between course coordinator – groups, student - course coordinator, student – group, tutor – group, student – tutor and student - student. We adopted the Hofstede original four dimensions of national culture as a basis of explaining differences that we may find on the interaction in the forum board and chat sessions exchanges. Figure 1 illustrates our research framework.
Figure 1: Research Framework
The objectives of this study are as follows.
- To determine and compare the pattern of online interaction in the asynchronous forum boards and synchronous chats of the web-based teacher-learners community in SHTVU and WOU.
- To elucidatethe differences in the pattern of online interaction, whether national culture has a bearing.
- To propose strategies which encourage learners interaction in the online learning environment.
3.0 Research Methodology
Data was obtained from the LMS of the course Principles of Management Studies of SHTVU for the 2007 spring semester and the LMS of the course Principles and Practice of Management of WOU for the 2007 first semester. Principles of Management Studies is a first year compulsory course for all students enrolled in the Bachelor Degree of Accounting programme in SHTVU. A total of 1451 students enrolled for this course in the 2007 spring semester across28 learning centers in Shanghai. Only the forum and chat exchanges of 3significant learning centers were used in this study.Principles and Practice of Management is a first year compulsory course for all students enrolled in the Bachelor of Business (Hons.) programme in WOU. A total of 361 students were enrolled for this course in the January 2007 semesteracross all four learning centers in Malaysia.
Using content analysis, data collected wasanalyzed at the end of the semester by transcribingthe postings in the asynchronous forum boards and synchronous chat sessions. In this study, a single interaction is defined by the topic of discussion and the instructional intent of the message. There are basically two parties involved in the interaction, i.e. the initiator and the respondent. Each message posted in the forum boards was read,examined and manually analyzed.This is to investigate the pattern of tutor-learners-course coordinator interactions and the depth of the discussions. The interactions were coded andclassified into the five dimensions and in accordance to the initiator and respondentcommunications in the various categories of exchanges. In cases where a single exchange involved multiple interactions, the most dominant interaction was taken into account. Two independent researchers participated in the classification of the exchanges to the dimension of interaction to ensure reliability and consistency in the process based on the framework defined. The result from their verification is consistent with the classification done by us. Thread levels of the discussions were also analyzed to examine the depth of the discussions.Thread level is defined by the number of response to a message initiated. Thread 1 indicates that the initiator’s posting did not have any ensuing reply while Thread 2 denotes a single reply to the initiator posting and showed a two-way communication ensued and so on.We assumed that the higher the thread number, the deeper the discussions have progressed to.
We define the dimensions of interaction as follows:
1. / Social - / Includesdiscussions of social naturewhich are not directly associated to the course content.E.g. Welcome messages, “Hi”, “Thank you” etc.2. / Procedural - / Involves explanation on course related procedures, requirements and administrative issues.E.g. “When to submit assignment?”, “Any Specimen Exam Paper”,“Which topic to focus for exam?” etc.
3. / Expository - / Involves demonstration of knowledge/facts without much further elaboration.E.g. “What are the three skills of managers according to Katz?” “The three managerial levels in an organization are first-line manager, middle manager and top manager”, etc.
4. / Explanatory - / Refers toelaborated explanation on knowledge and develop content based on learner’s response. E.g. “Among the three managerial skills you have learned, whichare being emphasizedfor top managers?”, “Conceptual skills arevery critical for top managers as they need to solve complex business problems. To move up to a higher level, managers need to acquire and polish on new skill.”etc.
5. / Cognitive - / Involves providing constructive feedback and detailed commentary on course content via critical thinking which leads to knowledge development.E.g. “Do you agree that organic structure, not mechanistic structure as proposed, is more suitable for ABC organisation? Why?”, “You can argue the usefulness of Scientific Management by Taylor from another perspective…..”etc.
Course Coordinator is the academic stationed at the Headquarters who manage the delivery of the course. Tutors are teachers appointed atthe learning centers/branch schools to facilitate the face-to-face tutoring sessions and online forums of a group of students. Group refers to a class of students at the learning centers.We define the categories of exchanges of our analysis as follows: