Impact of cultural diversity on students’ learning behavioral patterns in open and online courses: a lag sequential analysis approach

ABSTRACT

Online and open learning has recently been made prevalent in many regions in order to mitigate educational inequality and to enhance students’ learning experiences and outcomes. Previous studies showed that students perform differently in the learning process, where cultural differences matter. However, little is known about how cultural differences affect students’ learning behavioral patterns. This study applies a lag sequential analysis approach to understand the behavioral patterns in an online six-week course of 262 students from three cultures, namely Confucian (for Chinese students), Arab (for Tunisian students), and Serbian (for Serbian students). This study then discusses the different learning behavior patterns based on the theoretical framework of Hofstede’s National Cultural Dimensions (NCD). The obtained results highlighted that students from each culture behave differently due to several interconnecting factors, such as educational traditions. The results also showed that some of the learning behaviors were not in line with their students’ cultures based on NCD, calling for further investigation in this regard. Finally, the results pointed out that culture is a complex dimension, and further investigation is needed to understand the other dimensions that may affect online and open learning behaviors.

KEYWORDS:

• Cross-cultural online learning
• Hofstede cultural dimensions
• open education
• MOOCs
• lag sequential analysis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This paper was funded by the “Department of Science and Technology of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region: Construction and application of innovative design method system of ‘Internet +’ education service industry” (Project no. AB18126068).

Notes on contributors

Ahmed Tlili

Ahmed Tlili is the Co-Director of the OER Lab at the Smart Learning Institute of Beijing Normal University (SLIBNU), China. He serves as the Associate Editor of the IEEE Bulletin of the Technical Committee on Learning Technology, and the Journal of e-Learning and Knowledge Society. He is also a Visiting Professor at UNIR University, Spain, and an expert at the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO). Dr Tlili has been awarded the IEEE TCLT Early Career Researcher Award in Learning Technologies for 2020. He has edited several special issues in several journals. He has also published several books, as well as academic papers in international referred journals and conferences. He is serving as a local organizing and program committee member in various international conferences, and as a reviewer in several refereed journals. Dr Tlili is the Co-Chair of IEEE special interest group on “Artificial Intelligence and Smart Learning Environments” and APSCE's Special Interest Group on “Educational Gamification and Game-based Learning (EGG)”. His research interests include disability, open education, game-based learning, cross-cultural studies and artificial intelligence.

Huanhuan Wang

Huanhuan Wang is a postdoctoral research fellow at Smart Learning Institute of Beijing Normal University. She received her Ph.D. degree focused on Learning Design and Technology from Purdue University, USA. Her research interests include instructional design for personalized learning and online learning.

Bojun Gao

Bojun Gao is a Master student at Beijing Normal University, working on personalized and adaptive educational systems

Yihong Shi

Yihong Shi is a research assistant at the Smart Learning Institute of Beijing Normal University (SLIBNU). Her research interests focus on cultural differences and online learning.

Nian Zhiying

Nian Zhiying is the director of the Design & Learning Lab at the Smart Learning Institute of Beijing Normal University (SLIBNU). She has led several international projects to promote design thinking and design-based solutions, among others.

Chee-Kit Looi

Chee Kit Looi is the Head of Learning Sciences Lab of the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological Society, the first research center devoted to the study of the sciences of learning in the Asia-Pacific region. He was the Head, Centre for Scalability, Translation and Commercialization from 2011-2014. Chee Kit’s early mobile learning projects are featured amongst 25 handheld learning products and research projects in the U.S. and abroad in the US-based Sesame Workshop’s 2009 report on “Pockets of Potential: Using Mobile Technologies to Promote Children’s Learning.” Thus his work is part of a cool-headed overview of the potential of mobile technologies for children's learning, which ends with a proposal to the Obama government to adopt a “multi-sector action plan to transform mobile learning from a state of uneven and scattered innovation into a force for dynamic educational impact.” His mobile learning work is also cited in the US-based District Administration website which is widely read by US schools’ superintendents. Over the years, Chee Kit has given keynote addresses in international conferences held in Chile, Spain, Sweden, US, Finland, Australia, Japan, Korea, China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Malaysia, UAE, and Singapore. He was a member of the SingTel Customer Advisory Council for Education. He is an associate editor for the Journal of the Learning Sciences, an editorial member of the Journal of CAL, the International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, and Journal of Smart Learning Environments.

Ronghuai Huang

Ronghuai Huang is a Professor in Faculty of Education and Dean of Smart Learning Institute in Beijing Normal University, the Director of UNESCO International Rural Educational and Training Centre and the Director of National Engineering Lab for Cyberlearning Intelligent Technology. He serves as Vice Chairman of China Association for Educational Technology; Vice Chairman of China Educational Equipment Industry Association; Deputy Director of Collaborative and Innovative Center for Educational Technology; Director of Digital Learning and Public Education Service Center; Director of Professional Teaching and Guiding Committee for Educational Technology; Director of Beijing Key Laboratory for Educational Technology. He received “Chang Jiang Scholar” award in 2016, which is the highest academic award issued to an individual in higher education by the Ministry of Education in China.