Page 112 - Cyberculture and New Media

Rita Zaltsman 103
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Some of us (including me as I found out to my
astonishment) seem to like to go ahead from the beginning,
discuss their point of view [...], simply they want to start
working. Others are used to seeing the whole thing a little
more relaxed: The deadline is then-and-then - why
bothering weeks ahead?

It turns out, however, that due to time zone differences Easterners
can acquire some extra time which they need to actually start learning.
This “delayed reaction time” phenomenon seems to significantly
influence online communication: e.g. a 12-hour time zone difference between
the USA and China, which normally hinders communication, has also
another (positive) aspect – the Chinese are given additional time to think their
answers through and formulate arguments. Thus, the Internet turns into an
ideal communication setting for these two contextually different cultures.
This means that a) virtual communities are not culture-free settings
as the Internet effects the quality of online communication; b) a cyber
environment can play not only a destructive role in online learning (due to
preferences for written communication, a contrasting values paradigm in
different cultures, etc.), but also a constructive role making online
communication across cultures less complicated.
Thus, virtual settings can bring cultures of different contexts closer
together through bridging a “cultural divide.”
The further dispute centres on communication, active participation,
and collaboration in the seminar that the participants consider crucial for e-
learning. Although it takes a great amount of time to learn online (“It took me
the whole day until 23.30 CET in the evening to get the final paper finished
and uploaded.”), they indicate their satisfaction with this kind of learning
primarily due to their successful integration into virtual groups:

This sense of flow is something I experienced within
IKARUS! It was the final chatting session of the groupwork
and we had to finish our paper. There was a lot to do, but
everybody contributed. In the end I worked simultaneously
on a part of the paper and chatted, did some formatting etc.
Three hours of real flow. It was a great experience...

The emphasis is put on the factors that affect this process, in
particular, a social/cultural dimension within online classes:

... it was fun [...] to see a team of four completely different
people actually working together and ‘creating’ something
out of nowhere.