Interesting topic.

Some things have changed dramatically mainly pushed by the technology changes. Content delivery is now mostly done online and westerners students have adopted on large scale e-Learning systems and quite rapidly things are moving into the m-Learning (mobile learning direction).

Because of these trends fundamentally the way they study has changed a bit. I think that now students have to (and can) sweep through more and more data sources bringing them closer to the path of self-learners soon guided by intelligent chatbots.

The online/mobile trend has spread worldwide but there are still differences on how students from other cultures study. A perspective on this from many points of view: economical, cultural, religious etc.... would be very interesting to pursue. As I traveled through south-east Asia I have seen many approaches/differences in how they study.

Best.

Dear Mr. Wilson, as a visiting scholar from Ukraine at UOIT, Canada, I had an experience to pilot an online course Cultural Dimensions & Professional Strategies for Business students in Ukraine from Canada, using a Canadian model Fully Online Learning Community (FOLC). This is collaborative, constructivist, democratized, digital learning model. It was a first try to test it inter-culturally.

In short, the model was not implemented successfully - because of the differences in educational cultures (which, of course, are portraying the national ones, shaped with a particular religious, socio-economic and historical circumstances). As an instructor, I felt pressure of very different expectations from my colleagues on both shores (pretty stubborn) and the students (their attitudes were changing right away). The most significant differences showed up in PD, I-C, F-M (Hofstede's model), self-expression vs survivial values (WVS model), High vs low context (Hall). However, all Ukrainian participating students and academic observers noted a flash of students' motivation and self-expression.

Interestingly enough, after we measured the personal cultural orientation of the participating (Ukrainian) students, the aggregated group's cultural profile accured closer to the Hofstedian profile of Canada than to Ukraine (it's not a scientifically correct comparison, we did it more for fun:)). Later, we repeated the survey with Business students in Georgia (another post-Soviet state), and got almost a twinning profile with the Ukrainian group.

So, we concluded (hypotethically):

1) The western educational models are cultural artifacts themselves, and they cannot be simply transferred to other cultural ground. They need some cultural adaptation and/or achieving a prior psychological and technological readiness of the teachers (more) and learners (less). (More exactly, they all are learners). Young generation in post-Soviet countries is more western oriented culturally, than the generation, partly lived through authoritarianism.

2) The same idea of the readiness and cultural awareness should be implemented in culturally diverse groups of learners (international students, fresh immigrants etc.)

3) Cross-cultural teaching and learning causes some positive transformational learning effect, though (or maybe due to) goes through a particular cultural shock.

4) More research are needed.

If you decide to share your thoughts about cross-cultural learning, I'll be happy to continue this discussion.

Best to you,

Olena

Hi, I agree with Felix Hamza Lup. The change in the teaching /learning environments is accelerating by the demands, needs, and more educators and researchers are calling for integrating ICT tools in the teaching process. ICT tools have the potential of making learning easier, faster and cheaper. They allow for more student integration and participation and inclusion for global education. However, there are differences between countries and institutions in terms of technical readiness to meet students' needs and develop students' skills that fit the labor market.

what about the monetary aspect?

Monetary wise ... it depends. If correctly implemented it can be much more effective for both sides: teacher and learner. No travel involved (and associated travel costs and risks), more time savings, no expensive class rooms and buildings to maintain (AC, electricity, equipment etc...).

The Learning Management System (LMS) can be an expensive component to purchase and it depends on many factors (data must be backup-ed, availability has to be high +98% etc.....). Some staff position costs ... to help add/remove/modify and other admin tasks on the LMS.

Most probably it is not the monetary aspect but the availability of examples and resources as well as convenience in terms of time flexibility and customized material presentation where technology helps.

And yes, there is also a certain level of addiction most young people have with their handhelds nowadays (interesting read "Glow Kids: How Screen Addiction Is Hijacking Our Kids ".)

Thanks for thoughtful discussion contributions. Of course ICT & mobile technologies increasingly offer students new ways to access information. Does this mean they listen less, & take fewer notes in lectures that may now be less important in Western countries, relying more on their reading & networking skills to access public departmental & other online sources? In Thailand lectures appear to continue to be a main delivery method. In my teaching of doctoral students here too I've found a collective approach to study that contrasts with Western individualism: revision involves friendship groups meeting to compare notes, & create an agreed 'definition' of the main points of the course that then they memorise & reproduce en masse in open-ended examination answers that may present a dilemma for an instructor who views them as not fully representing what the course actually taught & providing little evidence of independent critical thinking.

The book, and book usage, which sits at the foundation of higher education has fubdamentally changed with the pervasiveness of e-learning. Where once a course may use one or two primary texts and be augmented by a couple others, we now frewuently find ourselves with a singular ebook. Further, that ebook may include a screen reader, interactive notetaking, videos, embedded questions and quizzes, and other interactive features.

Dear Prof. Wilson,

I'm working as a Research Fellow at the Chemnitz University of Technology in the field of Intercultural Competence. At our University, in a small town in East-Germany, our international stutents' rate goes up to 27% (Wintersemester 2018). It increased in only ten years, going from 7% in 2006 until 25% in 2016. In the frame of our research on Academic Cultures and Integration at TU Chemnitz, I have conducted interviews with with researchers and teaching staff and international students studying in Chemnitz about their difficulties (both groups) in an intercultural learning environment. Many topics were enlightened: art of teaching (frontal vs. participative), structural (in Germany, choice of the classes is on the students whereas in France, for example, where I'm from, students receive a study plan), financial (pressure to finish early your studies)... I'm working on the publication.

Regards from Germany!

Thanks Anne-Coralie, You have first-hand evidence of the expectations International students bring that should be interesting to read. Certainly there were few such students in 1981, so that is a big change for academic teaching. Does your university help lecturers cope with the range of student expectations, and if so how and with what success? Best regards, John Wilson

Thanks for your quick reply!

Yes, I think one of the major changes in the last years is the fact that many students - especially in Europe - can study not only for one exchange semester but a whole curriculum abroad.

At our University, there exists some (few) possibilities to learn more about Diversity teaching and internationalisation, however the expectations of our students were mostly deciphered through our project that is now coming to an end. During our three-year project, we also offered workshops for teaching staff giving background informations and helping develop intercultural sensitive strategies, but those were unluckily visited by colleagues who were mostly already aware of those topics...

Regards,

Anne-Coralie Bonnaire