期刊名称:Australasian Journal of Educational Technology
印刷版ISSN:1449-3098
电子版ISSN:1449-5554
出版年度:2010
卷号:26
期号:7
DOI:10.14742/ajet.1031
语种:English
出版社:Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education
摘要:An effective online learning community requires the development of social presence, as this helps learners to project themselves online and feel a sense of community. A literature review found that cultural preferences are important in developing relationships online, which may explain why some learners in international contexts may not participate in the learning community, with an unsuccessful online experience as a result. The effect of culture in the development of a learning community was investigated using a design-based research approach, in two fully online courses for faculty at a university in the Sultanate of Oman. It was found that the participants, all from an Arabic cultural background, preferred to develop responsible relationships before they went online, and preferred to use tools such as synchronous chat that gave increased immediacy to the learning context.