Addressing the Needs in a Cross Cultural, Technology Mediated, Distance Education Environment

Written by

Y. M. Davis

Is constructivism or socio-cultural theory the most effective when considering how to implement mediating technology in a cross cultural distance education environment? Distance education providers, mostly from Western nations, have taken advantage of more advanced technologies to reach beyond national and cultural borders. However, the effort of exporting distance education programs and products across cultural borders should not begin and end with the act of the target institution’s purchase.

Computer-based instruction increased significantly with the introduction of fifth generation technologies, such as the microprocessor, in 1971 and the first personal computer in 1975. By the last decade of the 20th century, a growing number of computers had synchronous and/or asynchronous communication capabilities as well as the abilities of color graphics and sound (Bates, 2003; Moore & Kearsley, 2005).

Computer-based instruction also expanded with the development of authoring languages as well as educational software with more people having access to computers (e.g, according to the United States Bureau of the Census (as cited in Moore & Kearsley, 2005) by 1989 half of all children in the United States had access to a personal computer either at home or in school). Finally, computer networking, beginning in the 1960’s, and the arrival of the internet, in the 1990’s, enabled web-based instruction with more universities offering entire degree programs online (Moore & Kearsley, 2005).

As institutions try to expand their market presence by offering distance education programs on a global scale, so too should they accept the responsibility of addressing how and if the instructional design of their mediating technology meets the needs of teacher and learner in cross cultural distance education environments. Serious consideration must be given not only to the educational goals of the instructional materials, but also, how students and teachers will access and interact with the instructional materials, each other and which learning theories should be employed in this effort. Theorists have pondered whether to use constructivist or socio-cultural theory in order to best serve culturally diverse, distance education students.