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Educator's Voice

Volume 3, Issue 9
September 27, 2002

Translating Cultures: Bridging The Next eLearning Gap

A recent issue of Syllabus magazine contained an article entitled, "Globalization: The Exportation of Higher Education," by William H. Riffee. The article discusses the rapidly increasing level of globalization in the eLearning field. The article points out that the push for a global expansion of education as a product is not just some distant dream, but in fact, "[i]t has been estimated that in the year 2000, almost $10 billion in educational export commerce occurred. Most of this is primarily in international students taking courses in our U.S. institutions of higher education."ⁱ Within the article, much emphasis is put on the need for consideration of numerous items of programmatic concern; but, throughout the piece, I saw a definite lack of mention of any concerns for individual courses or learning objects.

With the above idea already in mind, on a recent flight, I was passing time by listening to the news features show on one of the airline's preset radio stations, and I came across an interesting interview with Kieran J. McBrien, CEO of Transwareⁱⁱ, PLC, in which he was discussing one of the main focuses of his company: translating eLearning content for ease of use in various cultures.ⁱⁱⁱ

Although most online courses are taken by, and intended for, students within the region and/or culture in which that course was created, the purest vision of the idea of "Anytime, Anywhere" can certainly be read as courses that will ultimately reach students in any and all corners of the world.

If this is to be true, and if all of us involved in this huge endeavor really do believe that existing courses or ones being developed will be the courses that reach out globally, then what are the issues that we need to think through, now? What pieces of our current approach to online learning will have to change?

When I first began thinking through the topic of eLearning globalization, I was mostly considering converting content for vastly foreign lands; but, after looking around the Transware, PLC website a bit, I realized that the problem really is more complex, as cultures and cultural symbols can be greatly different, just in going to the other side of the Atlantic, and even regionally within the United States.

The first (and to me, the most apparent) hurdle might arise when we begin thinking about language barriers in online courses. Language barriers are quite obvious when one considers delivering an online course in the Orient, or Eastern Europe, but they can certainly play a role in a place as close to home as the British Isles. Although the British do, indeed, speak English, the terms within that language have arisen from a truly disparate set of experiences; thus, slang and idiomatic expressions can be a stumbling block in the exportation of learning content. Using a well-known English metaphor to illustrate a particular point may not always be appropriate in another culture. Urging an Englishman to go for a "home run" will not have the same effect as asking him to "go for [the] goal."^iv

Many online courses will adopt certain graphics (images, clip art, etc.) and use them throughout the course to enhance the content, or as repetitive icons to flag important areas or events in the course. These icons might (as referenced on the Transware, PLC site) "not translate and should be replaced with more appropriate or universal terms and graphics, e.g., a U.S. mail box looks like a rubbish bin in Europe."^v

What does this all mean, though?

Transware, PLC, the company that first spurred my idea for this article, primarily translates courses that will actually be delivered in various countries; but, although many of the courses that are offered through any of the various course delivery platforms might reach some students in other regions or countries, at least for the present, most of the courses will remain for a primarily local audience and will primarily be offered as courses in the regions in which the schools reside. Perhaps, if this is indeed the case, then the experience of being immersed in cultural symbols and language might be, in essence, a similar experience to being an international student visiting a foreign country.

An argument could certainly be made that this would be the case, but is this really getting us any closer to the idea of "Anytime, Anywhere"--or are we excluding potential students?

In response to the argument that leaving potential cultural barriers in place may replicate a visiting student type scenario, I'd say that most international students who take online classes probably do so for the same convenience factor as local or regional learners. It is not as likely students would take such courses for a cross-cultural experience.

With all of this in mind, again, I wonder, what does this really mean for us? Can we not use the classic mailbox icon next to our "mailto:" links? Not really. It just means that as we move outward in international directions, we need to keep these issues in mind. Eventually, it will become more important to consider the possibility of excluding some students with our references, images and slang. We need to think about filling our courses with more generic, but still as effective, content.

The real issue that we need to keep in mind when considering the export of our learning objects to the global market is definitely one of context vs. content. Although it may one day be important to consider the need to not show "the Statue of Liberty, [but to show] the Eiffel Tower or the House of Parliament. . ." to effectively convey information, the real concern may very well be how to take our content out of the specificity of ethnic and cultural context, and provide the best learning scenario that still incorporates "real-life" experiences and opportunities for a wider, more general audience.

       --Peter S. Cassidy, MA

Reference
ⁱhttp://www.syllabus.com/syllabusmagazine/article.asp?id=6473
ⁱⁱhttp://www.transwareplc.com/us/structure/index.asp
ⁱⁱⁱhttp://www.skyradionet.com/playermp3.cfm?ID=1148 Can be found at:
http://www.skyradionet.com/united.html
^ivhttp://www.transwareplc.com/us/structure/index.asp
^vhttp://www.transwareplc.com/us/structure/index.asp

TIP

Simple Steps Towards Good Course Design: Text and Images

A recent Tip (Educator's Voice, April 18, 2002) suggested using images in an online course. This Tip continues in the same vein, by focusing on presenting your image with accompanying text. There is a simple, effective technique that you can employ to make your content pages more "user friendly," while enhancing the "look and feel" of your online course.

The suggestion: try wrapping text around the image! You'll like the result and, more to the point, so will the course participants. Wrapping places your text and image side-by-side, rather than a "stacking" format. Of course, you don't need to, or necessarily want to, wrap text with every image. There will be instances where you'll want an image to "stand alone," with text above or below. If your goal is visual variability, though, then the use of text-wrapping will enhance your toolkit for achieving better usability and readability for your course.

To wrap text around an inserted image, in Author view:

1. Insert text on a Text Content Item page, Course Homepage, or Unit Homepage.
2. Place cursor before the first word (on left) of a paragraph.
3. Use image link wizard to insert image. (Note that the bottom of the picture lines up with the first line of text; it does not wrap.)
4. Click on the HTML button (on the upper right next to the design button).
5. Once in the HTML view--look for the IMG tag. --e.g. <IMG style="WIDTH: 154px; HEIGHT: 225px" alt="Picture of Mr. Furrh" src="/ec/Courses/CRS-eFX343 821097/MrFurrhWinterPicture/Photo_Winter.jpg">
6. For convenience (although you can insert information anywhere inside the IMG tag), right behind IMG (+space) you put in align="right" (you could use align="left," try it and see what happens). This information tells the browser to put the picture on the right and wrap the text around it.
7. Also, add (again inside the IMG tag) hspace="8". This tells the browser to put 8 pixels of "breathing room" horizontal space between the picture and the text. (Try different numbers like 12, 18, 25 just to see what happens.) You can also specify vspace="8" for vertical space if you like, but you often don't need it for smaller pictures.

Now, to manipulate the picture. Back in the Design view, click on the picture to select it and, from the corners, drag it, in order to resize it. As always, then Save Changes.

Note: You can't put an IMG in the center of a line or the middle of a paragraph and have the text wrap. There are more complicated ways of achieving that with tables and more, but it's often sufficient to do it as noted above.

If you want to play with images and HTML, check out the information, primers, and tutorials at http://www.htmlgoodies.com/primers/primer_5.html

Don't be afraid to play with the text and images to achieve the "look and feel" you want for a course. Experiment and have fun!

       --Ken Switzer, Ph.D.