The Influence of Culture on Collaborative Learning Practices in Higher Education
The Influence of Culture on Collaborative Learning Practices in Higher Education

Summary/Abstract: Objective: This study systematically identifies the various pertinent cultural dimensions and the group processes involved in collaborative peer learning before empirically exploring their associations among a sample of university students. Methodology: Twenty statements encompassing various cultural dimensionsthat could possibly influence students’ preferences towards collaborative peerlearning practices were incorporated into a survey. The data were collected from147 multicultural students studying applied sciences in Finland. Chi-squared test of independence was used to test the association between the cultural dimension scores for students and their stated preferences for collaborative learning practices. Findings: A major finding of this study is that learners from diverse cultural background shave differing modes of engaging in the eight separate collaborative learning processes. The findings clearly reveal that students from cultures that are hierarchical, collectivist, less bound by rules, and traditional are less likely tohave any prior familiarity with peer-learning methods. It seems relatively clearthat the power distance and collectivism dimensions have the greatest impacton shaping the preferences of students for collaborative peer-learning methods. Value Added: Very few studies have looked at how the cultural backgrounds ofstudents can influence their use of, and preferences towards, collaborative peerlearningmethods. This study identifies key processes in collaborative learningpractices, which are shaped by culture as communication, decision-making,leadership, evaluation, trust building, the expression of disagreement, scheduling,and persuasion within a peer group. Recommendations: This study found that Hofstede’s framework might be tooconstraining when understanding how culture shapes a student’s preferencestowards collaborative peer learning in the educational context. It would be evenmore fruitul to develop an altogether endogenous framework that is more suitablefor exploring the influence of culture on learning and education. Such a model should identify the various dimensions of culture beyond those of na-tional identity and consider how they jointly influence atitudes towards collaborative learning rather than considering them in isolation. This model should also take a more dynamic approach towards both culture and learning.

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