E-learning in multicultural environments: An analysis of online flight attendant training.
- Autores: Jose Felix de Brito Neto, MaryJo Smith, David Pedersen
- Localización: British journal of educational technology, ISSN 0007-1013, Vol. 45, Nº. 6, 2014, págs. 1060-1068
- Idioma: inglés
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Resumen
Throughout the first decade of this century, financial challenges in the airline industry compelled airlines to maximize competitive advantage through a focus on human resource management. Consequently, e-learning gained increasing attention as it imparted knowledge on an asynchronous and global basis with substantially reduced costs. However, while focusing on learning technologies, airlines failed to acknowledge learners' needs and cultural backgrounds by creating culturally neutral e-learning environments, resulting in ineffective training and negligible performance improvement. This research aimed to study the perceptions of a multicultural group of flight attendants about e-learning courses developed by their employing airline. A questionnaire verified the opinion of these flight attendants on course relevance and learner motivation; cultural sensitivity; course organization; and course interactivity. The results showed that the employing airline developed e-learning courses that were highly technological and interactive, but had little regard for learners' cultural and language backgrounds. Consequently, ineffective e-learning prevailed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
