A FRAMEWORK OF INTERCULTURAL UNDERSTANDING IN A BLENDED E-LEARNING COURSE

This paper explores the intercultural learning experience of the participants who followed the ‘eLearning development and implementation (eLDI) Asia 2011’ blended online course, conducted by the university of Philippines open university in collaboration with the deutsche gesellschaft für internationale zusammenarbeit (giz) Germany. The course was conducted within 250 study hours (200 hours online and 50 hours of face to face) having six modules covering almost all aspects of the e-learning course development. During the online phase learners were supported by an array of expert online tutors from Asia, under the guidance of two umbrella tutors. They facilitated learning using different kinds of interactions, such as synchronous, asynchronous communication tools and web 2 social networks. There were collaborative activities, individual activities and educational games to further support the learners in comprehending and constructing knowledge. The participants of the program are educational specialists and training experts from seven different countries in Asia (Jordan, India, Mongolia, Philippines, Sri-Lanka, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Vietnam). They have varied educational backgrounds, cultures, and languages. This paper aims at capturing the intercultural understanding that transpired in the entire e-learning process. How does intercultural understanding manifested in the online and face to face interactions between and among learners and tutors? How do participants adjust and consider the so called intercultural understanding in the varied aspects of interactions? What are the factors of intercultural understanding that were evident in the process? Through a dominant qualitative research method, the above given questions will be answered.