ALN 2000 Conference Washington, DC November 4, 2000

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ALN 2000 ConferenceWashington, DCNovember 4,
2000

• INTERNATIONAL CROSS-CULTURAL ONLINE LEARNING
  COLLABORATION BETWEEN LEBANESE AND AMERICAN
  STUDENTS
• Bidhan Chandra, Ph.D.
• SUNY Empire State College
• Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
• bchandra_at_esc.edu
• (510 587-2100 x 210

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OBJECTIVES

• To create an opportunity for American and
  Lebanese students to virtually work with each
  other in international teams and foster the idea
  of an on-line learning community
• To create an opportunity for sharing experiential
  learning in a cross-cultural setting
• To create a prototype of an on-line learning
  experiment transcending geographical and
  cultural boundaries so that lessons learned from
  it may be used by other distance learning faculty.

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PROJECT HISTORY

• The ICCM course has been taught in
  residency-based format, utilizing distance
  learning methods in-between residencies.
• The two cohorts of students were separately
  enrolled in Cyprus and USA for the ICCM course
  taught by the same instructor.
• Three residencies per semester were held for
  American students in Saratoga Springs area and
  two residencies in Nicosia, Cyprus for Lebanese
  students.

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Project History gt

• During Fall 1999, 15 students in each country
  group were persuaded to form cross-cultural teams
  and work together on a class project.
• The two cohorts would never have to meet
  face-to-face, but would work together virtually
  throughe-mail and other Internet tools.
• All students were unanimous in their decision to
  collaborate on this asynchronous learning
  project.

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Group Profile

• Lebanese Students
• Residence Lebanon
• Average age 22
• Languages Arabic, French, English
• Living with parents
• Undergraduate students
• No significant work experience
• Some engaged in part-time jobs

• American Students
• Residence USA
• Average age 35
• Languages English, Spanish
• Having own family
• Undergraduate students
• Significant work experience
• Most engaged in full-time jobs

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Planning Challenges

• Cultural differences
• Personal profile differences
• Differences in access to WWW
• Differences in technological sophistication
• Time zone differences

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Process Flow

• Project identification
• Intercultural team building
• Clarification on goals
• Clarification on group process
• Asynchronous communication

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• Exchange of video clips and pictures
• Exchange of ideas and content
• Putting together the project report
• Presentation of the project report
• Student evaluations and comments

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Project Description

• To conduct a cross-cultural comparison of
  Lebanese and American managers based on a
  theoretical typology of relationships in the
  two societies.
• For the above purpose, a matrix of types of
  relationships and the associated cultural
  orientation between Lebanon and the United
  States was to be examined by each of the
  seven teams.

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• For each category of relationship, they were
  expected to provide a brief explanation and
  examples of the cultural orientation with
  reference to Lebanon and the United States.

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Research Questions

• How do I define good and right? Do I prefer rules
  over relationships?
• Particularistic vs. Universalistic
• How do I shape my relationships with others
  outside of my immediate family? Individualistic
  vs. Collectivist
• How objective is my relationship with others?
  Emotional vs Neutral

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• What is the range of my relationships?
  Diffused vs. Specific
• What is the basis of my judging others?
  Achievement vs. Ascription
• Source Adapted from Fons (1998) for classroom
  use.

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Task Description

• Seven international teams, consisting of 2-3
  members from each country, were formed.
• Each team was assigned a group leader who
  communicated with his/her team members and the
  faculty, and coordinated all team efforts.

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Task Description gt

• After exchanging e-mail addresses and initial
  introductions, the students continued to work
  using various Internet utilities.
• At the end of the project, each team presented
  its findings to its own cohort group.
  Presentations from one cohort group were shared
  with the other cohort group through video tapes
  during residencies held in Albany, NY and
  Nicosia, Cyprus.

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Means of Asynchronous Communication

• E-mail used most frequently
• Conference call used by just one group
• Photo and video exchange

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Process Outcome

• Problems in team building
• Dysfunctional teams
• Communication bottlenecks
• Monitoring work in progress
• Timeliness of project completion
• Quality of team performance

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Conclusion

• Student comments and feedback after completion of
  the exercise were encouraging.
• Results from a self-evaluation report by the
  participants clearly show that the benefits from
  this experiment outweigh the costs.

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• More lead time is necessary for better results.
• This experiment demonstrated that a well-designed
  asynchronous on-line class room across
  intercultural boundaries can indeed work and can
  provide a rich learning environment by promoting
  active collaboration among students from
  different cultural backgrounds.

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