The Challenges of Culture in Global Online Learning

Abstract:     
Many universities and colleges have online programs in which registration is not restricted to students located in the United States and may have students and indeed target students outside of the U.S. The impact of the different languages and cultures of these students, however, needs to be studied and understood if these courses are going to have the intended educational impact on these students as they have on native speakers of English whose cultural background is similar to students who grow up in the United States. A positive side-effect of an understanding of the role of language in education could be a better understanding of foreign and non-native speakers of English who are educated in the United States as well as more culturally knowledgeable graduates of U.S. higher education. Research which compares the economic literacy of U.S. students of higher education will be compared with German students and questions where a statistically significant difference exists will be explored, concentrating on the cultural differences which could lead to different answers on these questions from these two groups. Finally, an interpretation of this research will be done and conclusions drawn.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 10

Keywords: culture, Cultural discontinuities, high and low context cultures, Geert Hofstede, Germany, hyperinflation, inflation, Karl Marx, online learning, Test of Economic Literacy (TEL), trade liberalization, social market

JEL Classification: B15, E42, I20, P51

working papers series