Individual Cultural Orientations among Distance Learners

Distance learners generally consist of multicultural students spread out over different regions. However, the variation of students’ cultural backgrounds are generally neglected in understanding students’ needs and persistence in open and distance learning. This paper aims to explain individual cultural orientation among distance learners and its relationship with student support at Universitas Terbuka Indonesia. The study used an online survey to investigate students’ individualism and collectivism. The results of the survey indicated that more than 50% of participants had positive responses to both individualism and collectivism. Moreover, the majority of participants was statistically indicated to have both individualism and collectivism. These results interestingly revealed that to some extent individualism and collectivism might exist together on the individual level. Finally, this study findings may be relevant for distance education institutions in providing student supports related to students’ needs