This presentation was delivered by Walkgrove UK at the recent Learning Technologies conference in London and addresses the topic of meeting the needs of a global audience when developing a learning solution.

1. How do we
meet the needs
of a global
audience?
Presenting at:

2. Introduction
• E-learning can deliver consistent training and
assessment for all employees, everywhere in the
world
• Can a one-size-fits-all e-learning solution meet
the needs of a global audience?
• Is training that works for one audience just as
effective for learners thousands of miles away?
• Should we attempt to integrate a mix of global
perspectives into our core program design, or is
it better to keep things as neutral as possible?
© Walkgrove Limited

3. What is culture?
• “… the manifestation of the patterns of thinking
and behaviour that results through a group’s
continuing adaptation to its changing social,
historical, geographic, political, economic,
technological, and ideological environment. Culture
incorporates race, ethnicity, religion, class, gender,
values, traditions, language, lifestyles, and
nationality as well as workplace and academic
cultures.” Lyn Henderson, 2007
• ‘The way we do things here’
• Global audience represents more cultures
© Walkgrove Limited

4. Identifying cultures
• Pre-existing frameworks
• Geert Hofstede’s six cultural dimensions
• Used in management, business, and instructional
design
• National character used to guide training design
• Speaking to stakeholders and cultural insiders
• Identifying company and learning cultures
• What works where
• Surveying learners
• Identifying expectations
• Building on past experiences
• Getting the inside picture
© Walkgrove Limited

5. Strategy 1: Blended solutions
• Local face-to-face trainers or facilitators
supplement core e-learning program
• Online communities and instructor feedback
support and shape the e-learning
• Can be used in combination with other
strategies
© Walkgrove Limited

6. Strategy 1: Blended solutions
Pros Cons
Trainers and facilitators can provide
cultural context
Face-to-face sessions can be costly
Interaction with audience can shape
future training
Problems of inconsistency in training
recurs
Training delivered by cultural insiders
will be culturally appropriate
Online facilitators may struggle to deal
with queries in a timely fashion
Learners feel that the training is
targeted to them
Interaction with trainers may not be
possible
© Walkgrove Limited

7. Strategy 2: Internationalisation
• Aims to remove any cultural markers from
e-learning
• ‘One size fits all’ solution
• Recently made the news with OUP – PARSNIP
(Politics, Alcohol, Religion, Sex, Narcotics,
Isms and Pork)
© Walkgrove Limited

8. Strategy 2: Internationalisation
Pros Cons
Cost effective – one version suffices Difficult to achieve – instructors have
their own culture and biases
Avoids potentially offensive material
and is appropriate for stringent
employer guidelines
Can become bland and difficult to
engage with
Training becomes simple and direct Doesn’t account for different learning
cultures
All learners share identical training
materials
Excludes non-dominant cultures
© Walkgrove Limited

9. Strategy 3: Localisation
• Delivers a different end product to different
audiences
• A spectrum from simple localisation (core content
is translated but otherwise unchanged) to complex
localisation (content and UI are localised)
• Highly flexible strategy
© Walkgrove Limited

10. Strategy 3: Localisation
Pros Cons
Offers a flexible and scalable
solution
Simplest form is cost effective but
similar to internationalisation
Highly targeted learning Can become very costly if fully
implemented
Enables inclusion of colloquialisms
and cultural references
Doesn’t expose learners to other
cultures
© Walkgrove Limited

11. Strategy 4: Cultural integration
• A single solution that incorporates ways of
learning, content and context from multiple
cultures
• Attempts to avoid instructor cultural bias
• Culturally rich and diverse content
• Inclusive solution that delivers multi-layered and
exploratory e-learning programs
© Walkgrove Limited

12. Strategy 4: Cultural integration
Pros Cons
One size fits all through cultural
inclusion, not cultural exclusion
‘Too many cooks’ – final product
may be confused
Exposes learners to multiple
cultures – important for global
organisations
Impractical to implement with short,
simple courses
User-led design The broader the audience, the more
complex the final course
Exploratory, multi layered course May be difficult to avoid surface
inclusivity e.g. tokenism
© Walkgrove Limited

13. Summary
• No simple answer – choose the best strategy
for the client
• Raise cultural and global considerations with
stakeholders at the start
• Avoid imposing your own culture
• Engage with cultural insiders to identify key
learning and organisational cultures
• Consult with users wherever possible
© Walkgrove Limited

14. Questions?