An Ontology and a Method to Support Instructional Design Integrating Cultural Variables

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1 An Ontology and a Method to Support Instructional Design Integrating Cultural Variables Isabelle Savard 1, 2, Jacqueline Bourdeau 1, and Gilbert Paquette 1 1. TELUQ, Centre de recherche LICEF, Montréal (Québec-Canada) {isabelle.savard,jacqueline.bourdeau,gilbert.paquette}@licef.ca 2. Faculté de médecine, Université Laval, Québec (Québec-Canada); TELUQ, Centre de recherche LICEF, Montréal (Québec-Canada) Isabelle.savard@fmed.ulaval.ca Abstract. To help instructional designers in considering cultural variables, we have developed a method and an advisor tool to process those cultural variables that can be integrated into the process of instructionnal design. To do this, we have identified cultural variables and modeled knowledge regarding these variables via a functional ontology, based on which we have created a Cultural Diversity knowledge base, which brings together knowledge regarding five cultures. Our advisor system, through an instructional design adaptation scenario, uses this knowledge to advise the instructional designer, who tries to adapt to a culture other than his or her own. Keywords: Cultural variables, instructional design, advisor system, ontology, knowledge base 1 Introduction The increased need for continuing education, the exponential growth in the number of learners that have Internet access, as well as universities' desire to attract students that live far away from big centers entail significant challenges- all this explains at least part of the increasing popularity of distance learning. It is no longer surprising to see, within the same groups, learners from different continents. According to [2], the multidimensional nature of Web-based technologies offers the possibility to bring together a vast range of learners' needs in a culturally diverse learning environment. According to [14], we should use the diversity of cultures and learning styles as the starting point in the development of learning systems that allow different learners to improve their learning experiences. From the international aid side, the issue questions the access to education fostered by the integration of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Numerous learning resources, sometimes even classes or entire programs, are accumulated in adfa, p. 1, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011

2 digitalized teaching and learning resource databases, and wait their turn to be used again. Their creators and producers, generally coming from industrialized countries, often provide resources to learners from developing countries, relegating to them the role of mostly passive consumers. These resources are not always adapted to the cultural realities of these learners. An increasing number of professors are offered opportunities to give their classes to learners from a different culture. The problem is that these professors are not always conscious or even informed on the existence and the importance of cultural variables, and of the fact that they do not have the tools to take these variables into account. By cultural variables we mean variables in values, common practices or human interactions that can affect learning and/or teaching. We bring into question the role of culture in these new types of educational interaction. We believe that it is important to consider cultural variables in the instructional design process. On the other hand, in her 2004 study [7] Man concluded that future instructional designers are not prepared to take cultural variables into account. We believe that a method of processing cultural variables that can be integrated to the process of instructional design would let the designers take into account and process cultural variables, improve the efficiency of scenarios and foster the learner's authentic learning experience. This would also improve equality, an important concept since all persons should be entitled to quality education and training that fully respect their cultural identity [20]. The aim of this research is to provide insructional designers with a method and an advisor tool to help them process those cultural variables. Our tools allow them to elaborate their adaptation strategies. 2 Identification of Cultural Variables To identify cultural variables, we have carried out a review of existing literature, based on which we have formulated our own definition of culture and constructed a web-questionnaire to be filed by instructional designers working in different countries in order to collect culturally-related data. In all, sixty six respondents, from eleven countries, started the questionnaire and fifty five completed it, which gave us a completion rate of 78.6%. We kept the cultures from which a minimum of five respondents completed the questionnaire: Quebec, Mauritius, France, Belgium and Gabon, all francophone countries. 2.1 Our Definition of Culture The notion of culture is defined in different ways and in different domains. For example, [6] made an inventory of more than 200 definitions of the word 'culture'. We have formulated our own definition, inspired by that of [17]. We consider culture as being: an evolving (in both time and space) set of schemes influencing the behavior of each of the members of a given group, their interpretation of the meaning of the behavior of other persons or groups and the processes of interpretation and representation that let them interact with their environment.

3 These schemes include both manifestation schemes and interpretation schemes. 2.2 Cultural variables The literature review and the analysis of the questionnaires have allowed us draw a portrait of standard instructional design practices in the represented cultures. These dimensions are inspired by the instructional design model of interactive learning systems presented by Reeves in 1992 [12]. That has been used and reinterpreted by several authors [4], [1], [8]. In 2008, Reeves presented a revised version of his own work, where he approached the question of instructional dimensions of online learning environments [13]. We have adapted some of these dimensions (teacher s role, learner s role, learning aims, learning situations, cooperation-collaboration), to which we have added other ones as well as a section regarding values, inspired from [3], [5], [10], [15], [18], [19]. Figure 1 presents our synthesis of cultural variables involved in instructional design that we have classified in three categories: values, common practices and human interactions. These variables are expressed as a continuum between two poles, as shown on Figure 1. Values Authoritarian Relationship with authority Egalitarian Low Tolerance for uncertainty High Individualism Individualism/collectivism Collectivism Rigid Approach towards time Flexible Common Practices Knowledge Learning aims Compentencies Detailed - a fixed contract Lesson Plan Non-existent Big group Rhythm of learning activities Individual Academic Learning situations Authentic One-way Pedagogical communication Multi-way Absent Cooperation-collaboration Omnipresent Absent Detailed feedback Continually provided Single(Exam) Summative evaluation methods Several Normative Result interpretation Criterion-referenced Human interactions Transmitting knowledge Teacher's role Guiding the learner, acting as a mentor Staying passive Learner's role Constantly and actively participating Teacher's responsibility Reaching learning goals Learner's responsibility Teacher imposes a selection shared responsibility Available learning resources Teacher proposes several, learner chooses Fig. 1. Identified cultural variables Learner is expected to suggest resources

4 All of these variables are represented as a functional ontology, providing a knowledge base on which a system providing advises to instructional designers can be developed. 3 VC-CPDP Functional Ontology and Cultural Diversity Knowledge Base The functional ontology of cultural variables in the professional culture of instructional design (VC-CPDP in French) was developed in standard OWL-DL format using TELOS (Tele-Learning Operating System), our development tool described by [9]. The CPDP variables represented in figure 2 present the three categories of variables presented in figure 1 as well as the instantiation for each culture represented. It shows that Values are interpretation schemes, while Common Practices and Human interactions are manifestations schemes. Fig. 2. Cultural variables in the professional culture of instructional design (CPDP, in French) For each of the variables presented in Figure 1, we have represented the possible values via instances, and established a link with each of the cultures represented based on responses to the Web questionnaire. Table 1 shows an example for human interactions variables, about the learner's role for Mauritius and French learners. Table 1. Common human interactions in the VC-CPDP functional ontology. VC-CPDP Functional Ontology Human interactions (manifestation schemes) Variable Object Attribute Value Learner's role Mauritius Learner Has role Work in class Ask questions Argument Suggest resources France Learner Has role Listen passively Work in class Argument

5 This data set, for each of the variables identified, constitutes the Cultural Diversity knowledge base (KB), which is used by the system to give advice to the designer. 4 A Method for Cultural Variable Processing The method that we propose for processing cultural variables is generic and can be used with any instructional design method used by the designer. This method helps define the digital adaptation scenario (for interactions with the advisor system) that we developed to guide the designer, which triggers the advising services. 4.1 Step 1 : Evaluating one's own cultural sensitivity (preliminary) Obviously, we cannot take into account things that we are not aware of. [11] defines cultural sensitivity as the capacity of an individual to see the world from the point of view of a culture other than his own. We believe that before even trying to adapt a learning scenario, the designers must reflect on their own cultural sensitivity, on their ability to see the world from a different point of view from that to which they are used to. This is preliminary to the process of cultural adaptation. 4.2 Step 2 : Establishing the case of cultural crossings The second step consists in recognizing the cultures involved and being able to anticipate the fact that cultural variables exist, and to recognize the importance that these variables can have on the success of an educational process. At this step, we think that it is important for the instructional designer to identify which case of cultural crossing exists and declare it to the advisor system. As indicated in Table 2, there are two big categories of cultural crossings in instructional design: addressing a homogeneous group of students or heterogeneous group of learners from diverse cultural origins. Table 2. Cases of cultural crossing Culture Learners(L) Designer (D) Designer A Designer B Designer C Designer Diversity Learner A Learner B Learner C Learner Diversity Easiest cases For each of these two categories, we distinguish three underlying cases: 1) Homogeneous group : a) The designer comes from the same culture as the group (DA-LA, DB-LB, DC-LC); b) The designer has to design a scenario for learners from a different culture (DA-LB, DB-LA, etc.); c) A team of designers from diverse cultur-

6 al origins work in collaboration on a scenario intended for a homogeneous group of learners (DDiv-LA, DDiv-LB, DDiv-LC). 2) Heterogeneous groups : a) The group includes one or more learners from the same culture as the designer; b) The designer has to design for different cultures, all different from his or her own; c) A team of designers from diverse cultural origins collaborate on the design of a scenario intended for an heterogeneous group of learners. Our advisor system can help designers with type b homogeneous groups. 4.3 Step 3 : Comparing portraits of crossed cultures Once a case of cultural crossing has been identified, the differences and similarities between the cultures must be assessed. The designer can do this based on the data in the Cultural Diversity knowledge base, which are presented to him or her in the adaptation scenario, according to the cultural crossing that he or she has declared. 4.4 Step 4 : Evaluating the adaptation strategy In order to be able to compare and adapt, we need to carry out an analysis on a common base, and acquire points of comparison. We created a template for any instructional scenario, based on the variables identified and presented in Figure 1. This template can be used to build an outline of a scenario to be adapted or created. Once the outline has been defined in the system, the designer is called to assess the complexity involved in adapting the scenario with the help of the advisor system that can compare the outline with the information (contained in the Cultural diversity KB) about the culture of the learners to whom they want to address. In the case of a scenario that he or she wants to reuse, the designer has then to determine if the scenario seems simple or complex to adapt and to take a decision as to reusing it or not. The work involved in this stage is largely inspired by the Cultural Adaptation Process (CAP) presented by Edmundson [1]. On the other hand, contrary to this author, who presented a single grid permitting a rather technical evaluation of the complexity of an adaptation, we present two grids: one to evaluate the technical complexity (Grid 1) and the other to evaluate the complexity of an instructional adaptation (Grid 2). In fact, the technical evaluation gives us an idea of the time and technical efforts to be invested to adapt the scenario. However, this evaluation does not allow us to predict the pedagogical relevance of the scenario in the target culture. For this, it is also important to evaluate the effort to be invested for the pedagogical adaptation of the scenario. The designer is therefore called upon to compare the common practices and interactions in the learner's culture and the ones proposed in the scenario to be reused. Once completed, the advisor system determines the needs as well as the level of complexity involved in the adaptation of the scenario according to the technical evaluation, carried out using Grid 1, and the summary instructional evaluation, carried out using Grid 2. It then suggests different adaptation strategies (also adapted from Edmunson's work) [1]: translation, localization, modularization and origination of a

7 new scenario. Two agents, one specialized in technical adaptation and the other in instructional adaptation, advise the designer according to the level of complexity. This is the global adaptation strategy. 4.5 Step 5 : Adapting After having evaluated the complexity of adaptation and determined a global adaptation strategy, the designer has to elaborate and detail the adaptation strategies for each of the main aspects identified as having 'to be adapted' and to apply them. Our advisor system support the designer in this approach using the knowledge represented in the Cultural diversity KB in comparison with the one in the outline entered earlier. 4.6 Step 6 : Objectivation - regulation Once the instructional scenario has been completed and experimented upon in the new culture, it is essential to take a step back to check if it is well adapted or not. We must be able to look critically at the way things have taken place and to be able to explain why the adaptation was successful or not. Ideally, this reasoning should be documented, because it lets us accumulate knowledge regarding the cultures and develop the inter-cultural skills of the designer. 4.7 Step 7 : Accumulating knowledge about cultures To be able to appropriately take cultural variables into account, we need valid and trustworthy information regarding them. The last stage of our method consists of the accumulation of information on different cultures on a continuous base to make sure we take the evolution of cultures represented into account. 5 Advisor System Operation As we said earlier, our advisor system accompanies the designer through the digital adaptation scenario that we have designed using the method described in the previous section. It orchestrates different software agents, with one specialized agent for each of the variables used, which advises the designer who needs to create and detail the strategies used. When part of the instructional scenario is displayed, the system looks for relevant data in the Cultural Diversity knowledge base. It compares them, displays relevant advice, depending on the case of cultural crossing diagnosed and according to the predefined rules. Table 3 presents an example of a rule that determines the advice that will be provided by the software agent Adapting Cooperation- Collaboration, to the attention of the instructional designer. Adapting Cooperationcollaboration is a reference to a variable in the category Common Practices, presented in Figure 1.

8 Table 3. Examples of rules determining the advice of software agents Use Cases : Adapt: Adapting common practices Software Agent: AdaptCooperationCollaboration Name of the Rule If Then AttentionCompetitionPresenrationScena- CooperationCollabo- Display: Attention! Your scenario contains a lot of activities in which you ask for the cooperation and/or collaboration of the learners and we rio==present OR are in a culture where competition is part of the values. CooperationCollaborationScenrio==Omnipresente AND CompetitionCollaboration==Competition In a culture where competition is very present, it can be difficult, even impossible, to get the students to collaborate together, especially for evaluated activities. We suggest for you to: 1) Check what causes this competition. Sometimes it can be the normative interpretation of results. The students are sorted from the strongest to the weakest (and access to the best schools depends on this order) and it is in their interest that their colleagues do not have good results 2) Try to discuss it with them, to see how they see these cooperation-collaboration activities and try to find an acceptable compromise. 3) Adapt your activities, by replacing cooperation-collaboration exercises by individual ones, if you feel that they will not enable you to reach the objectives you aim for. The designer must therefore decide if he or she accepts, rejects or completes the advice. For each advice received, this decision will take the form of a string positioned in the space provided for this purpose in the TELOS environment. All these strings are compiled to form a collection of strings: the detailed strategies. At the end of the digital adaptation scenario, the system provides to the designer a document that brings together all these adaptation strategies. In all, sixteen software agents advise the designer during the elaboration of the strategies. Each of a hundred and twenty rules enables the system to display advice appropriate for the designer. Figures 3 presents an example of advice given by a software agent and, on the left, the lists of tasks that make up the digital scenario and the progress bar associated with each task.

9 Fig. 3. Tasks list of a digital scenario and advice displayed by a software agent in TELOS The advisor system is functional, it has been integrated and tested within the TELOS system. It remains to be tested with users in authentic situations. Different evaluations, at differents steps of the research, were carried out and are reported in [16]. 6 Conclusion The importance of dealing with cultural variables in the instructional design process is no longer to be proven. On the contrary, the lack of tools for the designer has been noted by several authors [1], [2], [4], [7]. We propose tools that may be useful as well as a method that guides the designer in his adaptation process, without however imposing excessive changes in his usual design process. The Cultural Diversity knowledge base can prove to be instrumental to acquire knowledge regarding a new culture, if we improve the validity and reliability of the information it contains. In fact, we do not consider that our knowledge base currently has sufficient trustworthy knowledge since the number of respondents per culture was too low. However, we have imagined sources of information that can be interesting to improve the validity and reliability of the information in the KB. For example, the revised questionnaire can remain a good source of information. Each new user of the system should fill out the questionnaire in order to supply the knowledge base. The indexation of scenarios can also allow us to accumulate information regarding cultural variables. This indexation would eventually be very useful, if a database of scenarios were created. Finally, the advisor system that accompanies the designer in the creation of adaptation strategies is an interesting interactive guide that can improve the efficiency of pedagogical scenarios and thus improve the learning process according to cultural variables. 7 Reference

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