How Can Local Interactive on-Line Discussion Assist Culturally Diverse Students in Learning?

Abstract

A naturalistic inquiry approach was employed to determine culturally diverse students' perception on use of a computer-based collaboration tool, Daedalas, for instruction. Twenty purposive informants were chosen to represent two groups with different cultural backgrounds. Interview, observation, and on-line logs were used for collecting data. Interesting results included that culture did not always make differences in interactive on-line instruction, and cultural minority students felt much easier expressing their perspectives for sharing and discussing with others in such instruction.