Cultural Conventions And The Virtual Learning Environment

Cultural conventions and the Virtual

Learning Environment

Maarten van Wesel

Jeroen ten Haaf

Antoinette Vesseur Full paper in the procedings on http://www.s-ict.org

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To acculturate or not to acculturate

• Distance education• No dominant culture

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Jargon

• Mental program:– Personality, culture and human nature

• Affordances:– The perceived and actual properties of an

artifact, mainly the properties which determine how the artifact can be used

– Aspects of both the user and the artifact

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Mental Program

HUMAN NATURE

CULTURE

PERSONALITYSpecific to individual

Universal

Specific to group or category

Inherited and

Learned

Learned

Inherited

reproduced from Hofstede (2003)

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ArtifactIntended

affordancePerceived affordance

Learner Designer

Mental program

Mental program

Human nature

PersonalityCulture Personality Culture

Physical ability

Physical ability

Usability

Learning

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Perceived Affordance, intended affordance and usability

ArtifactIntended

affordancePerceived affordance

Usability

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Perceived Affordance, intended affordance and usability

Source: iqcontent.com

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Usability and Learning

Usability

Learning

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Usability and Learning

• Focus on the instructional content• Influences the perception• Influences affect

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Physical Ability and Affordance

ArtifactPerceived affordance

LearnerPhysical

ability

Faculty nameSource: Wikipedia

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Culture and Affordance

ArtifactPerceived affordance

Learner

Mental program

Culture

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But First: Cultural Onion

Symbols

Heroes

Rituals

Values

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Hands on

Source: runelogix.typepad.comSource: img211.imageshack.us/

Source: davidicke.com

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Culture and Affordance

ArtifactPerceived affordance

Learner

Mental program

Culture

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No place like Home

Philadelphia Source: Photos4Travel.comal-Azariyeh Source: christusrex.org

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What is in the first square?

X Y

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ArtifactIntended

affordancePerceived affordance

Learner Designer

Mental program

Mental program

Human nature

PersonalityCulture Personality Culture

Physical ability

Physical ability

Usability

Learning

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Conclusion

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Questions?