Abstract
Despite the upsurge in interest in e-learning (or online learning) in Chinese higher education, little is known about the ways in which lecturers design and run their online courses, or about how they perceive e-learning. This paper reports the results of interviews with higher education teachers in China working in conventional, campus-based universities, concerning their conceptions and beliefs of e-learning. The interviews were analysed from a grounded theory perspective that gave rise to seven emerging themes, namely: the ‘centrality of the lecture’, ‘online cooperative learning’, ‘network learning’, ‘student learning’, ‘lecture plus online work’, ‘infrastructure and access’ and ‘professional development’. Discussion of these emerging themes helps us understand the ways in which these teachers think about e-learning and teaching, the beliefs they hold about their ‘e’ practice, the ways in which they implement e-learning, the problems they face in incorporating e-learning into their courses and the ways in which they perceive e-learners. This provides a fascinating and unique insight into e-learning in Chinese higher education. Evidence shows that it is a complex area with many influences, some of which can be attributed to social, cultural and Confucian-heritage factors. It is concluded that, despite enthusiasm by some for innovating e-learning, the dominance of traditional teaching methods in China suggest that the conditions for mainstreaming e-learning in the near future are not strong.
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Notes
The methodological approach used here is not phenomenography, as may be the case with other studies investigating conceptions of teaching and learning.
‘Networked Learning is the equivalent of ‘Wangluo Xuexi’, or ‘Shuzihua Xuexi’. Wangluo means Network and the meaning of Xuexi is learning. Shuzihua means digitalized. In Chinese, the meaning of networked learning is digitalized learning (most researchers think about it in this way)’. (translation and interpretation courtesy of Jianhua Zhao).
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Acknowledgements
The research reported in this paper was supported by The Higher Education Funding Council for England. Special thanks are due to the two Research Associates: Nicholas Bowskill, who helped develop the interview protocol, and Jianhua Zhao, who conducted the interviews in China and arranged the translations into English. I would also like to acknowledge the two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.
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McConnell, D. E-learning in Chinese higher education: the view from inside. High Educ 75, 1031–1045 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-017-0183-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-017-0183-4