1.
Introduction
This e-paper discusses the future of
e-Learning
for the Greater China Region (GCR) from a Western perspective. It
builds from a conference paper delivered by Friesner and Hart (2003)
that evaluated a case study, and conducted a cultural analysis, of
free e-Learning
for the GCR. Some of the commentary included therein is also included
here. However this e-paper will enhance points made as well as
interlinking with an array of knowledge objects that will give a
richer flavour to future discussions on
e-Learning
for China. It does not aim to be all encompassing but intends to
stimulate discussion and research on the topic of
e-Learning
for China.
In this e-paper the general drivers of Chinese culture
are addressed. Then the cultural aspects of
e-Learning
for China are discussed in more detail. A cultural analysis of the
Marketing Teacher experience is undertaken, and the context of
learning online in China is explained. The discussion is then
considered in relation to the cultural drivers of Terpstra and Sarathy
(2000) namely language, religion, values and attitudes, aesthetics,
law and politics, technology and material cultures, education, and
social organisation. Conclusions are made and areas for further
research are anticipated.
2.
Chinese culture
Culture embodies the ideas, customs and social
behaviours of a society. In broad terms the study of culture is often
associated with many disciplines including economics, politics, media
studies, sociology, history, anthropology, science and information
technology, the law, education and literature. This e-paper considers
only a few aspects of Chinese culture.
Heidelberg University has a first class Internet Guide to Chinese
Studies if a deeper understanding of the disciplines mentioned above
is required. Their portal offers links to valuable information on
Chinese culture under a number of subject headings. However, this
e-paper considers culture from the perspective education, or more
specifically
e-Learning.
Education is important to the Chinese Government and many Chinese
learners study in Europe and The USA, and Western Learners also have
the opportunity to
study in China. A useful bibliography on education in China is
offered by
The Ohio State University. The importance of
e-Learning
in China is recognised by The China Education and Research Network
(CERNET). E-Learning forms part of a blended learning strategy
that includes radio, video and IT, and forms part of the solution for
growing demands for education and shortages of teachers in China. The
topic of education and e-Learning is returned to later in this
e-paper. Throughout this e-paper there is an opportunity to follow
deep links to online-journals and e-papers, online bibliographies and
websites. The links represented by tables 1 and 2 represent some
additional sources of information on Chinese culture that may prove
useful to readers of this e-paper.
Table 1:
Additional online bibliographies on Chinese culture
Table 2:
Additional online journals on Chinese culture
The experience of creating and
running a free e-Learning website for The GCR forms the basis of a
case study. Marketingteacher.com was created in 2000. It is a website
dedicated to marketing learners, teachers and professionals and states
a clear mission ‘for marketing learners.’ The website contains over
twenty short lessons on marketing topics including the marketing
environment, strategy, tactics, and planning. Each lesson is supported
with its own exercise and associated answer. Best of all for its
700,000 annual visitors (or 5,000,000 yearly hits) is that the website
exploits the most powerful words in marketing, it’s free! Praise has
been received from students, lecturers and practitioners from many
Western nations. However, a strategy of adaptation is needed if the
same free e-Learning is to be marketed to Chinese learners. This
section of this e-paper aims to answer the question, how can the
underpinning idea of free e-Learning using the Marketing Teacher
format be applied to non-Western cultures?
4.
The context of online education for the
People’s Republic of China.
China has 1.3 billion people and the second revolution,
that of the market economy, is now nearly twenty years old. There are
three main reasons why China will quickly develop online learning.
Firstly there are as many companies in China as there are people
living in New York, approximately 19 million. Secondly there is a
dramatic need for growth since nearly 400 new cities, with the
associated explosion in jobs, have been created over the last two
decades. Finally the Chinese population has a bimodal distribution of
wealth (Levy 2003). The Eastern provinces tend to be very wealthy
whilst those in the West remain relatively poor. Pressure has been put
on the Chinese Government by the World Trade organisation (WTO) to
resolve this inequality and a central strategy is learning. Such an
approach is deemed to be appropriate to drive a shift from a
manufacturing economy to one that has a more knowledge-based
workforce. Tang (2000) offered an overview of recent Internet
development in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The Chinese
government has been committed to developing information technology
research and development since the late 1980’s and demonstrated this
by implementing its ‘High Tech Research and Development Programme’
containing four Golden Projects. The four Golden Projects were
launched in the 1990’s: The Golden Bridge provided the information
technology backbone, the Golden Duty aimed to connect financial and
taxation organisations, the Golden Card’s goal was to allow the
acceptance of credit/debit cards in stores and at ATM’s, and the
Golden Trade was designed to assist Chinese businesses to trade in
Chinese characters (language symbols) in global markets. In 2003 it
remains difficult to see how successful the Golden Projects have been.
For example, it is very difficult to arrange credit card transactions
in Renminbi (RMB) over The Internet, something that Western e-commerce
takes for granted. Credit card usage forms the basis of later
discussion since Marketing Teacher does have a non-obligatory,
chargeable online course.
The latest survey on China's Internet development shows by 30 June,
2003, China had about 470,000 portals, with 68 million Internet users,
and the numbers are growing every day (Financial Times 2003) .
More information is available from
The East Asian Collection at the University of Melbourne. The PRC
is a country with a population in excess of one billion and the future
opportunities for e-Learning are fantastic.
A model was needed to analyse
the issues of adaptation of the
www.marketingteacher.com concept of free e-Learning to a Chinese
context. The literature was reviewed relating to models and frameworks
of business culture. The benefits of this approach are that there is
an academically respected base of research that can be drawn upon to
assist with cultural analysis. The business approach to cultural
assessment does rely upon an accepted epistemology that links in with
other areas of cultural knowledge. For example, antecedents such as
values and beliefs, education, social hierarchy and many others have
their basis in cultural studies.
5.
Selection of appropriate cultural models
There are a number of models
and frameworks that could be used to analyse the culture of the
People’s Republic of China (PRC) to give an indication of the
appropriateness of e-Learning strategies. Some are very detailed
whilst others are straight-forward. The models and frameworks
initially considered included those of Hawkins et al (1992), Terpstra
and Sarathy (2000), Hofstede (1984, 1994, 1996), and Wills et al
(1991). This list is by no means conclusive but gives an indication of
the breadth of models and framework in the literature. The models of
Hawkins et al (1992) and Terpstra and Sarathy (2000) are similar and
contain some common antecedents such as values, education and
learning, social status and organisation. Hawkins et al (1992)
approaches culture from a consumer lifestyle perspective whilst
Terpstra and Sarathy (2000) consider culture in its wider contexts.
This means that the Terpstra and Sarathy (2000) cultural framework is
much simpler and easier to apply. For these reasons Terpstra and
Sarathy’s framework was preferred and implemented over the model of
Hawkins et al.
The influential work of
Hofstede (1984,1994,1996) on culture contains more than 11,600
questionnaires from more than 50 countries. The dimensions of culture
are based around individualism/collectivism, power distance,
masculinity/femininity and uncertainty avoidance.
Unfortunately none of the original surveys focused upon the PRC.
However parts of the Greater China Region, Singapore, Hong Kong (not
part of the PRC until 1st July, 1997) and Taiwan, were
included. The Greater China Region is made up of diverse cultures and
this should be taken into account when creating web content for
learners. As educators we try to deal with learners as individuals but
we need to appreciate the collective nature of culture in the Greater
China Region. Perhaps as these regions adapt to the market revolution
a more individualistic culture will emerge. Hofstede (1996) revealed
an additional fifth dimension namely Confucian dynamism.
Confucianism is a Chinese trait and its characteristics include a
strong bias towards obedience, the importance of rank and hierarchies
and the need for smooth social relations. The Chinese e-learner may
feel that they are subservient to a teacher and this could prove
problematic when no physical tutor exists. There could also be an
indication that if problems exist that the learner may not contact the
teacher/website to put things right. They could accept second rate
materials or simply not revisit a website. The age of the Hofstede’s
findings is recognised and any further analysis at this stage would
need to take into account the undoubted changes that have occurred in
China over recent years.
Wills et al (1991) consider
learning as part of their model of culture. The dimensions of
learning, or ‘diffusion,’ are used to consider a cross-cultural model
that suggests a relationship between the high/low context of a culture
and the rate at which new products are adapted (Wills et al 1991).
Naturally products per se are not considered here but an educational
service is. Therefore once an e-Learning website meets the needs of
its patrons one can expect it to diffuse into use relatively quickly
i.e. the number of visitors and repeat visitors will increase
relatively quickly. Once again, the age of this research is recognised
and it is used here more as an indication of, rather than a driver of
e-Learning in China.
The cultural framework of
Terpstra and Sarathy (2000) is used to consider the cultural context
of the Marketing Teacher China free website. The key areas from the
framework provide the structure for the analysis. The detail was
provided by the responses from the two business teachers interviewed
and a summary of key parts of the literature relating to values and
attitudes, education, social organisations, technology and material
culture, law and politics, aesthetics, language and religion.
Figure 1:
A cultural framework – Tersptra
and Sarathy (2000).
6.
Language
The national and official
language of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is Mandarin Chinese (Putonghua)
with 1.3 billion speakers. There are a further 200 languages in use as
well as a countless number of dialects. People from differing provinces
often have trouble understanding each other. However the dialects do
have a common written form and this would be a saving grace when it
comes to communicating with the whole GCR.
Translation of the Marketing Teacher website is an
important issue and indications show that direct word-for-word
translations are not adequate. Therefore any Western co-ordinators of
e-Learning projects need to beware the pitfall of self-referencing. From
a Western perspective it would be like a Chinese website being
translated into English, and as one respondent commented ‘It would
be very boring.’ Hedberg and Brown (2002) comment that grammar is
context specific in Chinese languages so that the student builds up a
picture of the meaning of symbols as the text is being read. Hence
graphics and pop ups can distract the reader and confuse the context of
the communication. So catchy homepages that are intended to grab the eye
can also confuse the non-Western reader and therefore have the opposite
effect. More information on the languages and linguistics of China can
be found at the
Chinese Language Teachers’ Association.
7.
Religion
Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism
are the main religions. Care should be taken to make sure that religious
beliefs are not contravened. However there may be a benefit in
recognising the behaviour of Chinese e-learners. For example, one
respondent pointed out that by recognising a particular religious event
or festival a website could earn favour and respect. There are a number
of useful links to information on Chinese religions such as
Taoism,
Confucianism,
Buddhism,
Christianity in China, and
Judaism in China.
8.
Values and attitudes
Chinese culture is influenced by
the philosophical principles of key thinkers. Despite the ideological
changes encountered during the Cultural Revolution and more recent
market orientation, Confucianism still has a strong cultural impact upon
Chinese society (Chan 1999). The culture in China strongly respects a
good education and degrees and diplomas enhance a virtuous education (Oh
1991). The Chinese have a value orientation (Zhu and He 2002).
Communism, materialism and Post-materialism are the three competing
value orientations. The communist values see a selfless dedication to
the well-being of society and mankind. The materialism values see the
pursuit of immediate rewards and physical happiness. The
post-materialism values see a way of life where the importance of
material rewards is downplayed and there is an emphasis upon harmony
between people and nature ( Inglehart, 1979). To understand the place
of education in the GRC one need only to look at the expansion of
education in the GCR and the increasing number of Chinese learners
gaining Western qualifications. Whichever value the student subscribes
to, education is highly regarded.
9.
Aesthetics
There are a series of
cross-cultural differences between Western designed websites and Chinese
developed sites (Hedberg and Brown 2002). The results of their study
into visual media and cross cultural meaning holds some interesting
results for websites that undergo a straight translation from English
into Putonghua. For example the left edge of the page may not be the
point where the student begins to read. The aesthetics of Chinese art
may hold the key to web design that suits Chinese learners. The Chinese
are keen gamblers and game players. Games tend to be rich in colour and
appear very complicated to the Western eye, and this is reflected in the
popularity of Internet gaming. The cultural understanding of colour and
images could also lead to confusion in communication. For example parts
of Chinese culture see people marrying in black and being buried in
white. Logos and symbols associated in marketing may not carry the same
impact to Chinese learners as they do with their Western counterparts.
According to the Chinese Peoples Daily top Chinese brands include
Hongtashan (cigarettes), Haier (household appliances) and Wuliangye (liquor).Chinese
branding and images need to be considered when constructing case studies
or using examples.
10.
Law and Politics
The National People’s Congress is
the highest organ of state power in the PRC. The Government is
controlling and this makes commerce very different to that in Western
culture. The recent problems encountered during the SARS virus outbreak
may make the Chinese government less prone to holding back information
that is in the public interest. Copyright remains a huge grey area. This
means that website content could be copied or reproduced without
permission. Censorship still exists if one wishes to publish an
educational text in China.
The Asian Law Centre links to resources on Chinese law and banking
and finance, competition law, commercial law and e-commerce law, amongst
many other legal areas. China has its own
laws on e-commerce and e-transactions, privacy and information
security that need to be considered especially if an e-Learning project
is to collect information, collect fees or protect any intellectual
property.
11.
Technology and material cultures
Filtering is a problem for
Western websites. Effectively the Chinese government censors websites by
blocking access from China. The Chinese government maintains an active
interest in preventing users from viewing certain web content. It has
managed to configure overlapping nationwide systems to effectively block
such content from users who do not regularly seek to circumvent such
blocking. Such blocking systems are becoming more refined (Zittrain and
Edelman 2003). Blocked sites tend to fall into one of a number of
categories including democracy, health, news, government, religion,
Taiwan, Tibet, entertainment and education. Indeed both the Western and
GCR Marketing Teacher websites suffer from filtering. They share this
disability with MIT and the Learning Channel as well as almost 700 sites
list in Yahoo’s education directories (Zittrain and Edelman 2003). The
Chinese government does not co-operate on the issue of filtering and
this makes it difficult to accurately represent the extent of this
problem. Until its extent is understood, strategies for overcoming the
problem cannot work. This is a huge problem for providers of free or
chargeable content. One could invest time and effort in created online
materials and promoting their existence only to find that your site has
been filtered and that no right of appeal exists.
As technology develops apace
there is a sources of very up-to-date information on China and
technology. The Australian National University publishes a free online
journal entitled
‘The Asian Studies WWW Monitor’ that covers a variety of related
topics.
12.
Education
An overview of the educational
system of China is offered by
Surowski (1996) and includes systems for primary, secondary, higher
and adult education. The educational system in China is described for
the Chinese army in a summary displayed by
The University of Maryland. Both of these sources support a wider
dialogue about Chinese education. E-Learning is one aspect of blended
learning and has its own series of issues that are evaluated as follows.
A simple text translation into
Mandarin has a series of problems. It should be appreciated that
learning is an active process and teaching materials should be
variegated (Liu, Lin and Wang 2002). The activity associated with online
learning is seen as a clear advantage. It is the critical engagement
with the World that ensures that learning takes place (Dewey 1916). The
system of education in the PRC is demanding and often begins at a young
age. Learning Putonghua demands a good deal of effort as well as time
consuming rote learning. Chinese culture is collectivist and often
depends upon informal chains of communication. Therefore open discussion
albeit in forums or web casts could see an infringement of cultural
values (Can 1999). Western educators need to be sympathetic to the
successful teaching strategies used by Chinese teachers, and embed them
into e-Learning projects. Levy (2003) explains that most learning in
China takes place in classrooms. Even where technology such as
television or software is used it tends to be heavily instructor lead.
13.
Social organisation
Liu, Lin and Wang (2000) advocate
that the individual learning styles and preferences of e-learners need
to be taken into account since a simple text translation may suit some
learners whilst a multimedia approach is beneficial to others. Indeed it
is possible to take a deeper look into the learning styles of Chinese
students. Confucian philosophy has a role in shaping Chinese thinking
and learning styles (Chan 1999). So there is an opportunity to conduct
leaning styles surveys (Kolb 1984, Mezirow 1991). This may give an
indication of the preferred learning environment of the Chinese
e-learner. Then web content can be developed to suit the preferences of
a number of individuals. There is a need for further research into the
learning styles of e-learners from the Greater China Region.
14.
Conclusions
Based upon this cultural
analysis, there are a series of drivers that will be taken into account
as
www.marketingteacher.com.cn is developed for the Greater China
Region. The challenges for free e-Learning are:
a)
The Greater China
Region is made up of diverse cultures and this should be taken into
account when creating web content for e-learners.
b)
Once an e-Learning
website meets the needs of its patrons one can expect it to diffuse into
use relatively quickly.
c)
The Chinese
e-learner may feel that they are subservient to a teacher and this could
prove problematic when no physical tutor exists.
d)
Indications show
that direct word-for-word translations are not adequate.
e)
Care should be
taken to make sure that religious beliefs are not contravened.
f)
Whichever value the
student subscribes to, education is highly regarded.
g)
Chinese branding
and images need to be considered when constructing case studies or using
examples.
h)
The PRC Government
is still controlling. Copyright remains a huge grey area. This means
that website content could be copied or reproduced without permission.
i)
You could invest
time and effort in creating online materials and promoting their
existence only to find that your website has been filtered and that no
right of appeal exists.
15.
Directions for future research.
The reason further research is
necessary is that there is undoubtedly the potential for income
generation for Western organisations by providing e-Learning for China.
The Chinese manufacturing economy is booming and education is a highly
regarded commodity. There is a shortage of quality education provision
in China, and a shortage of trained teachers. It is anticipated that
Western universities and training companies are already in the process
of creating such services. Any e-Learning project will need to be
supported by research in the same way that international marketing
research supports business enterprises that trade in the global market.
It is anticipated that any research would be supported by a Terpstra and
Sarathy (2000) type model that considers the drivers on culture
discussed in this e-paper. Some areas for further research are stated in
the conclusions above. The results of such research would then form the
basis of a strategy for e-Learning for China. The strategy would have to
be resourced either by central governments or by public/private
partnerships. There would need to be local Chinese representation and
partnership in any venture. This forms the basis of potential research
from a strategic point of view. From an operational perspective, the
educational needs of individual Chinese e-learners would need to be
addressed. There are a number of areas for further research including
individual learning needs, preferred learning styles and the learning
environment, lesson planning, the blend of learning and e-Learning
methods. The applicability of Western learning taxonomies to Chinese
learners and the balance pedagogical and andragogical would need to be
considered in relation to Chinese culture. The usefulness of Western
e-Learning strategies would have to be considered, for example video
conferencing, forums, java based quizzes, and animation to name but a
few. Finally the assessment and grading of Chinese e-learners against
learning outcomes and assessment criteria would have to be addressed.
E-Learning for China will generate rewards to those that identify the
needs of learners and then satisfy them with a tailor-made learning
package. This e-paper opens the door on a discussion for e-Learning for
China from a Western perspective.
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