Cultural conventions and the Virtual

Learning Environment

Maarten van Wesel

Jeroen ten Haaf

Antoinette Vesseur Full paper in the procedings on http://www.s-ict.org

Faculty name

To acculturate or not to acculturate

• Distance education• No dominant culture

Faculty name

Jargon

• Mental program:– Personality, culture and human nature

• Affordances:– The perceived and actual properties of an

artifact, mainly the properties which determine how the artifact can be used

– Aspects of both the user and the artifact

Faculty name

Mental Program

HUMAN NATURE

CULTURE

PERSONALITYSpecific to individual

Universal

Specific to group or category

Inherited and

Learned

Learned

Inherited

reproduced from Hofstede (2003)

Faculty name

ArtifactIntended

affordancePerceived affordance

Learner Designer

Mental program

Mental program

Human nature

PersonalityCulture Personality Culture

Physical ability

Physical ability

Usability

Learning

Faculty name

Perceived Affordance, intended affordance and usability

ArtifactIntended

affordancePerceived affordance

Usability

Faculty name

Perceived Affordance, intended affordance and usability

Source: iqcontent.com

Faculty name

Usability and Learning

Usability

Learning

Faculty name

Usability and Learning

• Focus on the instructional content• Influences the perception• Influences affect

Faculty name

Physical Ability and Affordance

ArtifactPerceived affordance

LearnerPhysical

ability

Faculty nameSource: Wikipedia

Faculty name

Culture and Affordance

ArtifactPerceived affordance

Learner

Mental program

Culture

Faculty name

But First: Cultural Onion

Symbols

Heroes

Rituals

Values

Faculty name

Hands on

Source: runelogix.typepad.comSource: img211.imageshack.us/

Source: davidicke.com

Faculty name

Culture and Affordance

ArtifactPerceived affordance

Learner

Mental program

Culture

Faculty name

No place like Home

Philadelphia Source: Photos4Travel.comal-Azariyeh Source: christusrex.org

Faculty name

What is in the first square?

X Y

Faculty name

ArtifactIntended

affordancePerceived affordance

Learner Designer

Mental program

Mental program

Human nature

PersonalityCulture Personality Culture

Physical ability

Physical ability

Usability

Learning

Faculty name

Conclusion

Faculty name

Questions?