Investigating Chinese Versus U.S. Attitudes Towards E-Learning

Chinese faculty and students in universities are just as capable of using e-learning as their U.S. counterparts but are more reluctant to do so. The attitude of faculty and students seems to be the determining factor- Chinese are more comfortable with the traditional objectivist model where an instructor professes and students are taught. In the U.S. more instructors and students are comfortable with an interactive learning style that places more of the re-sponsibility for learning upon the active participation of students. China's Ministry of Education is seeking to increase foreign students in China from around 140,000 in 2005 to 3000,000 in 2020. The strain on the infrastructure is one issue but another significant issue will be that many of students who are foreign to China will have substantially different learning style from Chinese students. E-learning is one possibility to address both the infrastructure issues as well as differences in student learning styles