"Culture in the Online Class: Using Message Analysis to Look Beyond Nationality-Based Frames of Reference" by Anne Hewling.

"Culture in the Online Class: Using Message Analysis to Look Beyond Nationality-Based Frames of Reference" by Anne Hewling.

in an online classroom, we are , in essence, able to combine our work and educational lives. Because of this, the typical student can vary in educational, cultural, national or even international backgrounds and circumstances resulting in a possible strain or confusion in the virtual classroom. The online classroom is an up and coming third culture and it typically seen as a “doing” culture. This culture is an on-going process and is normally judged on how much one contributes to the class. It is an ongoing and active process. It is measured by enactive work such as posting to forums, adding to discussions and editing our work in an acceptable manner to our classmates and instructor. Message analysis and the rules of engagement are thoroughly explored as it typically adds or deducts from the perception of the person writing the message. To properly analyze the message, researching the culture in the online classroom is paramount. Topics such as power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and individualism verses collectivism should be explored if students and teachers seek to better understand one another in the online environment

There was a study done by and Australian university whereby two classes were based in an Australian university with face to face interaction in addition to a large number of distance students. Identical teaching materials and the same tutorial team was used. Some students were of Australian nationality and some were not. Other lived around the world. The results showed that online activity regarding postings seemed too much higher for non-Australians. With some variations, the non-local participation was consistently higher than local groups. The study suggests that students sharing a common nationality would also share some common communicative practices. discusses the need for a new approach for the transnational globally recruited online class and questions how culture in the classroom is understood and explored if we already have our own ideas of what that culture is. How fitting is it that we “played” our personas to better understand how culture plays a vital role in the learning environment. We are already on to that approach! I believe this article breaks down preconceived notions about online communication that we all carry, consciously or sub-consciously.