Using Ict in Distance Learning to Reduce the Cultural Distance

This dissertation, "Using ICT in Distance Learning to Reduce the Cultural Distance" by Lung-fai, Wong, 黃龍輝, was obtained from The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong) and is being sold pursuant to Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License. The content of this dissertation has not been altered in any way. We have altered the formatting in order to facilitate the ease of printing and reading of the dissertation. All rights not granted by the above license are retained by the author. Abstract: Using ICT in Distance Learning to Reduce the Cultural Distance Abstract Within the last decade distance learning has gone through a major transformation: from being a print-based format into a popular web-based distance learning (WBDL) system. Despite all of this, WBDL is not flourishing in Hong Kong. This is because students here are not trained to learn independently and actively, as required in distance learning. Most Hong Kong learners were brought up in an education system where memorization is the norm, and critical thinking is rarely stressed. Trapped in a Chinese Confucian-heritage culture, a generation of Hong Kong learners, whose learning behavior can be summarized as shy, passive, reactive, inarticulate, non-collaborative, and timid, or in short the SPRINT learning behavior, was created. Hong Kong learners with a SPRINT learning behavior contrast drastically with western learners, who are proactive, articulate, collaborative, and eager to challenge traditions. The cultural distance in learning that is between western learners and traditional Chinese learners is wide and visible in Hong Kong. The objective of this project was to examine whether a WBDL environment integrated with advanced ICTs can reduce this cultural distance and induce a motivation to learn through interaction. A series of interviews were conducted with field players in distance learning: a course coordinator, technology director, and several distance learners. The interviews revealed that field players used the Internet as a convenient tool for learning administration, rather than as an important medium to remove learning impediments embedded into their culture. To use WBDL as part of the pedagogical solution to reduce the cultural distance in learning, WBDL courses need to be redesigned to incorporate advanced ICT that can enhance interaction and communication amongst learners and teachers. Three new advancements in Internet communication are considered in this project to be promising ICTs that can remedy Hong Kong learners' SPRINT learning behavior. The implementation of Computer-Mediated Communication, Interactive Videoconferencing, and 3D Virtual Learning Environment allows teachers to use online conversation and/or visual body language to enhance interactive discussion, encourages timid learners to participate, motivates learners to become more articulate, provides distance learners a feeling of autonomy and empowerment, and facilitates distance learning between peers and experts at any time, anywhere and any pace. Incorporating these asynchronous and synchronous communication systems into WBDL can reduce the cultural distance in learning, and can iiiUsing ICT in Distance Learning to Reduce the Cultural Distance eventually improve the learning outcomes of Hong Kong learners where traditional classrooms have failed. As new technologies in Internet and broadband TV are evolving rapidly in Hong Kong, distance learning, integrated with new ICTs, will metamorphose into a butterfly, ready to fly to new heights. Contents Declaration i Acknowledgements ii Abstract iii Table of Contents iv List of Table and Diagram v Chapter 1 Incubating the Metamorphosis 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 The Benefits of Web-Based Distance Learning 2 1.3 Project Objectives 4 1.4 Significance of this Study 5 1.5 Research Method 5 1.6 Organization of this Project 7 Chapter 2 Reviewing the Cultural Distance 2.1 The Nature of Web-Based Distanc