Photo created by Luz Infante (2011)
I have examined and re- examined my ARP website in order to have everything correctly as it has been requested for submission. I have read over and over again the results from my ARP and I have reflected one more time on them and I came to the conclusion that one of the most important things to consider in the learning process is, the audience's characteristics.
The audience characteristics enclose more than age, gender, nationality, or language. There are also things like the way or circumstances in which learners learn better. For example, characteristics such as synchronic and asynchronic enclose audiences that are compounded by different types of learners. It is important to differentiate between audiences, which are made up in the majority by autodidact learners, and in the majority audiences compounded by social learners. Even though nowadays technology gives us a variety of opportunities to approach both kinds of learners I can say based on my own experience through my action research project that there are societies like Mexico that are culturally more synchronic and are more the social learner type. This is an important reason why nowadays online education and home office jobs are not popular in the country.
People tend to think that the better and only way to create and do their networking is in a face-to-face environment and day-by-day learning and working places. I think that there are clear cultural factors that determine the use of technology in Mexico. People are scared to loose human touch, to loose real contact and control of what they perceive through body language. I think that all these elements in addition to a clear delay on certain crucial areas as technology and education has made many Mexican educators consider and see virtual worlds as delivery content management systems more than as learning managements systems where they can deliver content and also ones that can add the human touch that they don’t want to loose. These are some thoughts I wanted to share.
Luz, you raise some valid points about audience and culture. I would also offer that even culture at a particular business or school can face the same challenges. In my case, I work at a private liberal arts college where we offer no distance ed. The culture of our school is that the personal touch, as you put it when describing the Mexican culture, is also highly valued. Cultures may shift over time, but it is a strong force.
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