Culture - The "Error of Omission" in Online Distance Education

Abstract

This paper examines how cultural differences between teachers and students in online distance education contexts, if ignored, can lead to a variety of problems. Initially, online Distance Education courses were often designed for a known, fairly homogenous group of students from the same culture as the course designer, however, as online distance education has become more globalized, theorists have asked whether this evolving set of principles and practices are effective when used with students from other cultural backgrounds. Ignoring this question or merely posing it and not following it up with research, is the "error of omission" which I will discuss in this paper. From this general error of omission many smaller errors in application may follow, and the main body of this paper will look at the various ways that assumptions about effective practice in online distance education (mainly developed in Western counties) may turn out to be faulty when applied in educational contexts where learners from other cultural backgrounds study.