Is it Time the United States Support Online Learning Institutions?

Denmark's minister for higher education Sofie Carsten Nielsen met with Korean officials in an effort to develop new online learning technology (1). She believes that Korean technology matched with Denmark's education excellence will lead to new platforms and media for online education. Such development at the state level is likely to spur innovation in the online educational field making it more relevant for knowledge hungry youth.

American officials should consider the merits of online education and seek to find ways to foster development in that sector to stay ahead of the curve and ensure their place as educational leaders. Failure to develop and innovate the field for relevance could mean loosing our competitive place in the educational fields as other nations put forward the time and effort to grow.

The U.S. has its own field of online education that has spawned from the for-profit industry. Even though such universities are still in the process of development and growth the traditional sector has come to accept online educational models as a method of lowering their cost and possibly improving their educational reach. What was once disdained in the United States as "Cracker Jack" education is now leading the pack.

This doesn't mean we are doing enough to develop and create stronger platforms. Those nations that are able to develop strong online educational systems are also able to influence world education and thought. In other words, as universities globalize through the use of technology they will naturally impact the collection, analysis, and distribution of new thoughts and ideas. They will become leading sources of international knowledge and logic.

This level of information management is only possible if online education becomes a major focus for U.S. educational development. Innovating the system requires the development of technology and supporting online research that is converted to practical ideas. Instead of finding ways to limit online education it is better to encourage the creation of greater technology, more research, and higher levels of functioning that will someday reach across the globe.

There are many universities out there in the for-profit and non-profit sectors that are trying to develop the industry and raise its educational quality. They are putting forward time, effort, and doctors that are researching astounding concepts such as classroom management, information transference, student retention, online research methods, university operations, intercultural groups, and many other important topics.

Even though online education is relatively new and has been on the scene since somewhere around the 1980s it is now the leading growth factor in the field. Institutions that were shunned just as little as a few years ago may find themselves in the near future the point man for global education. Supporting these institutions through intellectual, social and governmental pathways helps in ensure the U.S. doesn't slip behind other nations less opposed to new educational models.

How Does Chinese Culture Influence Online Education?

Online education is growing and spanning the earth as Internet access becomes more entrenched in people’s lives. The study of culture and its impact on online education hasn’t been studied with any real vigor. According to a study by Zhang (2014) Confucius cultures maintain many of the same attributes when engaging in school online. School administrators should consider the impact of culture on the online education modality and how that impacts learning. 

It is first beneficial to understand what culture is. It can be seen as, “the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another” (Hofstede, 2010). Culture is that which we carry with us from our shared social upbringing uniquely tied to our place of origin. 

When students move online the way in which they perceive the information and how they interact with authority figures isn’t likely to change. Those who were raised in cultures that have a high respect for professors are likely to have wider power-distance relationships. This is certainly different than lower power-distance relationships where students challenge the professor. 

In this case, the professor takes a more profound role with higher levels of societal respect. Students are less likely to challenge the professor or question the professor’s knowledge. This will naturally have an impact on the level of interactivity within the classroom as well as the need for quality instruction. 

It is beneficial for online instructors in those countries to focus on trying to engage such students with their classmates more and allow for specific interventions to help students keep their moving forward. Having a higher perception of status is not necessarily a bad thing if that power is used to step in and move the class forward. 

Likewise, it is also beneficial for professors to provide quality feedback that tries to explain in greater detail ways in which the student can improve their learning, writing, or test taking. Because such students are less likely to ask questions it is beneficial to give them as much upfront information as possible. Asking questions and receiving information on improvement are two different things. 

Moving overseas into Asian countries is an important step for American universities that seek to broaden their reach, encourage sustainable higher education budgets, and use the power of the Internet to enhance learning. The process is not impossible but does require additional research into culture and online learning. Culture will have a natural impact on how information is received ad the level of interaction among students.

Hofstede, G. (2001). Culture’s consequences: Comparing values, behaviors, institutions, and organizations across nations (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA:SAGE Publications.

Zhang, Y. (2013). Power distance in online learning: experience of Chinese learners in U.S. higher education. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 14 (4).

Call for Papers: 2014 Fall Global Education Conference

November 14-15, 2014
Las Vegas, United States of America

Abstracts of research papers in 150-200 words are invited from academics, Administrators and Ph.D. scholars/Post Graduate students on contemporary issues in Leadership and Management befitting any of the conference tracks mentioned as under. Topics of interest for submissions include, but are not limited to:

- Academic Advising and Counseling
- Art Education
- Adult Education
- APD/Listening
- Acoustics in Education
- Environment Business
- Education Counselor
- Education Curriculum Research and Development
- Competitive Skills
- Continuing Education
- Distance Education
- Early Childhood
- Education
- Educational Administration
- Educational Foundations
- Educational Psychology
- Educational Technology
- Education Policy and Leadership
- Elementary Education
- E-Learning
- E-Manufacturing
- ESL/TESL
- E-Society
- Geographical Education
- Geographic information Systems
- Health Education
- Higher Education
- History
- Home Education
- Human Computer Interaction
- Human Resource Development
- Indigenous Education
- ICT Education
- Internet technologies
- Imaginative Education
- Kinesiology and Leisure Science
- K12
- Language Education
- Mathematics Education
- Mobile Applications
- Multi-Virtual Environment
- Music Education
- Pedagogy
- Physical Education (PE)
- Reading Education
- Writing Education
- Religion and Education Studies
- Research Assessment Exercise (RAE)
- Rural Education
- Science Education
- Secondary Education
- Second life Educators
- Social Studies Education
- Special Education
- Student Affairs
- Teacher Education Technology in Education Cross-disciplinary areas of Education
- Ubiquitous Computing
- Virtual Reality
- Wireless applications
- Other Areas of Education

Web address:
http://www.uofriverside.com/conferences/global-education-conference/

Developing Global Competitiveness with Online Education

Online education and geographically dispersed students afford new opportunities to gain greater international business knowledge and support a global business culture. The advent of high speed virtual communications has changed the rate of global integration of business culture and opportunities to conduct economic transactions across thousands of miles. This new mobility of ideas and marketplace transactions requires relevant forms of education that can support students in developing a larger mental framework that foster higher levels of global competitiveness. Research by Erez, et. al. (2013) studied virtually and globally diverse learning teams and how these impact the development of a global mindset.

The global conception often requires at least two different skills that afford a broader perspective of decisions and ideas. Both cultural intelligence and global identity are necessary to construct a better understanding of the world and the issues it faces. The approach to learning allows for constructionist development, or experiential learning, that affords students the ability to develop personal experiences, reflection, readjustment and enabling them to compete on a global scale (Kayes, 2002).

Cultural intelligence entails the ability to effectively function in culturally diverse settings (Ang & Van Dyne, 2008). The ability to understand different cultures requires experience with them and a general understanding of their internal structures and values. Culture is often subtle and takes on different cues and mannerisms. It takes considerable time to interact with different cultures and create a better understanding of them.

Global identity can be defined as a sense of belonging to and identifying with a global culture (Shokef & Erez, 2006). Through understanding different cultures it is possible to understand the similarities that these cultures entail. Many of these similarities revolve around the essential mannerisms of existence each culture uses to support itself and survive in the wider world.  A global identity is based in identifying with the similarities of multiple cultures.

The researchers found that cultural intelligence and global identity increased during the classes. Students were better able to formulate accurate opinions and interactions with those in different geographically dispersed locations. They didn’t lose their local culture or identity but expanded that identity to include a wider framework of knowledge that helped them reason better on a global scale. The essential element of virtual learning teams being the formation of trust among members who sought shared outcomes (i.e. learning). Focusing on similarities among different cultures was more beneficial than focusing on what makes each culture unique. The study was a success for online global management programs that sought to create greater international competitiveness in preparedness.

Ang, S., & Van Dyne, L. (2008). Conceptualization of cultural intelligence: Definition, distinctiveness, and nomological network. In S. Ang & L. Van Dyne (Eds.), Handbook of cultural intelligence: Theory, measurement, and applications: 3–15. New York: M. E. Sharpe.

Erez, M., et. al. (2013). Going Global: Developing Management Students’ Cultural Intelligence and Global Identity in Culturally Diverse Virtual Teams. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 12 (3).

Kayes, D. C. (2002). Experiential learning and its critics: Preserving the role of experience in management education. Academy of Management Learning and Education, 1: 137–149.

Shokef, E., & Erez, M. (2006). Global work culture and global identity as a platform for a shared understanding in multicultural teams. In B. Mannix, M. Neale and Y. Chen (Eds.) National culture and groups. Research on Managing Groups and Teams, vol. 9: 325–352.

Call for Papers: Global Conference on Education

The Global Conference on Education is an international refereed conference dedicated to the advancement of the theory and practices in education. The Global Conference on Education promotes collaborative excellence between academicians and professionals from Education.

The aim of Global Conference on Education is to provide an opportunity for academicians and professionals from various educational fields with cross-disciplinary interests to bridge the knowledge gap, promote research esteem and the evolution of pedagogy. The Global Conference on Education invites research papers that encompass conceptual analysis, design implementation and performance evaluation.

Paper Deadline: November 8^th, 2013

Submission: edconference@uofriverside.com

Website: http://www.uofriverside.com/conferences/global-education-conference/2013-fall-global-conference-on-education/

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