Journal of Scientific & Industrial Research Vol. 58, March - April 1999, pp 285-290

Problems of Closing the International Divide: A Critique Of The Globalisation Of Information Systems Education

Brian Nichol son Information Systems Research Centre, University of Salford , UK,

e-mail : B.Nicholson@iti .salford.ac.uk

and Sundeep Sahay

Department of Accounting & MIS , Uni versity of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada

e-mail: sundeep.sahay@ UAlberta.CA

The impact of in fo rmati on and communication technologies with regard to the globali sation of education has been explored. Areas which have implications for the development of learning networks across countries and cultures are investi gated . The paper attempts to contribute to some key debates: the noti on of g lobali sati on, the role of education in a global network , problems of taci t knowledge and fi nall y arguments around cultu ra l imperi ali sm in the context of implicati ons fo r Informati on

Syste ms education.

Introduction For many utopian writers I 2 the spread of global

information networks heralds the demise of the nation state since frontiers are irrelevant to electronics fl ows. In this way production and di stributi on are conducted on a world stage which undermines national boundaries . Thi s phenom e no n is ti g htl y c oupl e d with th e development of business organisati ons such as the so­call ed "network enterpri se" a fl ex ibl e, fas t moving organi sa ti on which is time and space independent. Auth ors suc h as P e te rs ' see techn ology firml y is occupying the dri ving seat of change. They envision new form s of o rgani sa tion as ch a ng in g th e bas is of competiti o n in the " kn o wl edge based" indu stri es allowing multi national firm s to compete in a globa l market. F or be tte r or worse th ese argument s are increasingly being extended into educational provision 4

and thus it is important to think c ritically about IS deve lopme nt and education e xaminin g multipl e pe rspecti ves . Iaco no and Kling' demon strate th at increasingly computer technologies are linked to all socially valuable behaviour and are singled out as the panacea of a ll soc ial problems. With thi s in mind , we atte mpt to ga in in s ight into th e implicati o ns of technology dri ven global IS education within an exi sting sociological framework. We consider some of the issues and argue that educati on in this manner could be at best a "technological fi x" and at worst an example of cy nical

profiteering . The paper poses questions aimed at IS educators and profess ional s in volved in deve loping educational networks.

2 Education and Globalisation

Di s tanc e lea rnin g approac hes ha ve bee n in mainstream usage for a considerable period of time. For in stance the UK based Open Unive rs ity has been de live ring co urse s s ince th e ea rl y \ 970 's and is recognised as a leader in the area. Notably, the Open University now has its own Global Education department offerin g courses world-wide. When considering the impact on developing countries, most concerned bodies are enthu siastic for the future of di stance learnin g approaches. HaW' for instance recounts the interest of UNESC07

" ..... di stance education showed that it could provide educational opportunities to large nu mbers o f people who had previously been denied such opportunit ies, and that it could be done in a cost effecti ve manner. .. The developing countries have fou nd in distance educati on an answer to the pre vi ously almost in surmountabl e proble m of how to take education to a large numbe r of

the popul ati on who are isolated geographi call y"

There are many reasons which underpin the dri ve towards global education :

286 J SCI IND RES VOL 58 MARCH - APRIL 1999

• Students from many different countries can work together offering a range of benefits and efficiencies

• Shared expertise can be brought from different countries and international experts can contribute to localised learning

• Access to education can be extended to educationally disadvantaged including developing countries and those located far from traditional universities

• Multi-cultural course content can be developed by repurposing materials developed in the West

Importantly globalisation has led to the opening up of new markets and thus the opportunity to conquer new territories. Despite the recent economic down tu rn, the growing economies of the East are prime markets and the ability of the students there to pay higher fees is of relevance to Western educational institutions.

Computerised delivery mechanisms for distance learning have been on the agenda since the 1970's. Until relatively recently, the subject has largely been restricted to a small subset of educational computing dedicated mainly to computer aided learning (CAL). However there is feverish optimism in educational circles largely due to the rapid assimilation of the Internet and associated learning approaches using the World Wide Web. Masonx identifies four broad categories within which current educational technologies can be di vided:

• text based systems, including electronic mail • conferencing, real time chat systems and many uses

of the World Wide Web • audio conferencing and audio extensions such as

audiographics, and audio on the Internet . • videoconferencing, one-way and two-way, and

other visual media such as videoclips on the Web.

Education is viewed by many as the "ki lIer application" for interacti ve multimedia, when libe rated from the CD ROM by the World Wide Web it is seen as enabling mass, global access to interactive learning re ~ ources. BatesY sums up the optimism:

... .. tech nological developments already avai lable or in the pipeline have the potential to revolutionise education and traini ng as we know it"

There is, however, considerable literature wh ich is critical of the globalisation of educat ion. Mason 1o

provides a summary of the critical arguments grouped into four main categories: cognitive, educational, social and cultural. The cognitive argument is based on a critique of the new delivery mechanisms for most global education necessarily leading to "digitisation" and "computerisation" of knowledge. The educational argument against global education centres on the undesirable aspects of consumerism, wherein learning ceases to be about analysis, discussion and examination, and becomes a product to be bought and sold, to be packaged, advertised and marketed. Social arguments against globalisation are related to the breakdown of community. Education which has always been a net contributor to the positive benefits of physi ca l communities, is seen as undermining still further the physical experience of community and offering instead a much less substantial substitute in the form of virtual communities. The cultural arguments against global education systems are concerned with imperiali st attitudes, the loss of indigenous cultures and the relentless imposition of Western values. Global educators are seen as the new colonisers, insensitively spreading their own views of the world onto deve loping nations. We will now expand on some of these themes and attempt to relate them to specific IS issues . Th e British Sociologist Anthony Giddens although not writing explicitly about information technology issues, writes extensively on the subject of time -space and globalisation . He identifies so me key features of contemporary life which, in his view, distinguish it from what has gone before. He uses the term "high modernity" to characterise this view and divides the key features into four main categories: time space distanciation , disembedding mechanisms, trust and self identity. We will use this framework to structure our discu ssio n concerning the implications of the globalisation of IS education.

3 Time-Space Distanciation And Disembedding Mechanisms Giddens ll writes extensively on the notion of the

changed conception of time and space in late modernity a key feature of which is that time and space are no longer linked to place. Place was previously linked to time and space but is now independent. This offers new market possibilities for education as a commodity involving new competitors, new customers and new entrants (small and large) competing on an equal footing. When coupled with the quasi incorporation of Uni ve rsities, this

NICHOLSON & SAHAY : CLOSING INTERNATIONAL DIVIDE 287

naturally leads to marketing of educational courses into emerging markets . This commodity of education is easily delivered by technology and thus education and knowledge is disembedded from local contexts of interaction . This is made problematic when considering the relevance of the global and local. For instance views of how learning should take place and on how learning actually does take place differ between time and place, as will be clear from reflection back on the recent changes in educational fashion in any part of the world .12

One of the central arguments Giddens makes about disembedding mechanisms concerns the stretching and disembedding of relations from local contexts leading to breaks with tradition. This is marked when considering philosophy, world view and the importance of tradition in local context. Consider the notion of truth . The Western scientific tradition has led to a belief in a Universal unvarying truth that is "waiting to be discovered". In other contexts truth may be a matter for agreement within a social group and in the East (a "key market") the influence of spirituality and religion is often much stronger than in the West. So tran slating this to teaching approaches, on the one hand it may be a matter of telling students the truth, on the other of enabling students to di scover their own truth n . In the domain of IS this lead s to confusion. The philosophical underpinnings of many IS methodologies such as the UK government standard approach SSADM, lead to a hard "engineering" or technical approach to development l4 . Despite the efforts of the "soft" or interpretive IS community in the UKl s , the technical , rationalist paradigm is still the dominant model for IS development. It could be argued perhaps rather s implistically that this will necessarily lead to an imposition of instrumental Western values on IS design and development. It is argued, however, that Western derived technology assisted distance education is likely to discourage development of indigenous approaches. Indigenous approaches have been seen to develop in other cultures, for instance Scandinavian design approaches are seen as distinctive from many others in the West with particular regard to attitude towards users and recommended levels of participation . No mainstream IS design approach based on for instance Indian philosophical underpinnings has yet emerged and the chances of thi s occurring decrease under the weight of Western education. The Indira Ghandi Open Uni versity itself was set up with help from the Open

University and still uses much of the original repurposed material. Overall this could be seen to have weakened national initiatives to develop local educational provision to influence practice which might be better suited to local needs 16. The argument usually follows that "neutral" subjects (such as database design) can be taughteasily under these conditions of technology assisted di stance learning. Henderson 17 reports from an empirical study in Queensland, Australia that:

"IMM course ware can never be culturally neutral and that developing nations looking for technological solutions to their education or training needs will not be well served by packages designed for a majority Western culture and given superficial cosmetic changes

in an attempt to serve those markets".

More specifically, Cox and Saunders IX report their experiences with designing internet business games for players from different cultural backgrounds. Their work indicates cultural differences in learning behaviours in the particular areas of strategy formulation, communi­cation, decision making, intelligence gathering and problem solving. The development of IS is viewed by many with a technical disposition as culturally neutral. However, it is apparent from the literature that significant differences exist between countries and cultures with regard to the practical approaches to IS development and implementation . For instance, the importance of national culture on the systems development lifecycle is identified by Shore and Venkatachalam lY . Korpela, Soriyan and Mursu 20 are engaged in an action reserach project to define and develop an appropriate methodology for sub Sahara Africa. They assert that:

"inform ation systems methodol ogies used in industri ali sed countries are not applicable in Africa or other developing countries"

Differing skills of analysts in different national cultures are identified by Hunter and Beck2 1 and Ein Dol' and Segev22 . Understanding cultural and national effects on the use and management of IT has been recognised as vital for multi national firms by Robey and Rodriguez Diaz2J , Harrison and Farn24 , Kumar and Bjorn Anderson 2s and Rohitratana 2fi . Thus, when education is disembedded from local contexts there are important consequences for the appropriateness of IS development and management methodologi es . Education on these issues must therefore be matched to the local context.

288 J SCI IND RES VOL 58 MARCH - APRIL 1999

Let us now consider the importance of ethics in IS development as this is an issue which is of increasing importance in IS educational curriculum design . There are many systems of ethical beliefs across the world and yet IS ethics is a global issue due to interconnections between countries and cultures. Issues o f security, professionali sm, surveillance, privacy, reli ab ility, intellectual property and access are world wide issues of concern. Indeed in the UK there exists a code of practice from the Association for Computer Machinery dealing explicitly with these issues. However, a literature search revealed that research dealing with the subject of IS ethics used a Western philosophical framework. Western ethical sys te ms although powe rfu l, are inappropriate to deal with the issues in other cultures and yet "repurposing" of material s is co nsidered suffic ient for course delivery to deve loping countries.

4 Trust and Self Identity Conditions in late modernity also cause a need for

greater trust in what Giddens27 terms "expert sys tems", in thi s th e case global education sys tem s and th e information therein. Unfortunately the trust track record is poor. Sir Ron Dearing2X makes the point in the recent repo rt on UK high e r ed ucation th a t franchising agreements between Briti sh Universities and those in other countries have been seen to fail. The reasons for failure are varied but without wishing to cite particular cases from the UK Nati onal Press, largely they are due to poor quality. There are few, if any, guarantors that si milar debacles will not occur with the delivery of education to developing countries via new technolog ies. Similarly there are no guarantors in a free market that qu a lity products will emerge and customers will appreciate what they are buying is not "educati on" from a British University. One need s only to view the "quality" of broadcas t sa tellite TV to witness th e potential for mass trivia. In the absence of enforced standards, there is complete re liance on the ethics of the education providers in delivering an appropriate good quality "product" for the ir developing country based "customers" . The consequences of thi s strategy in the medium to long term may be as disastrous as many of the failed franchising arrangements .

Let us now turn to G iddens ' work on identity in modernity2~ . The effects of destabilisation on social and personal life in virtual communities has been analysed at length by Poster'O, who speaks of the dispersal of identi ty through computer network in g. We will not

labour on this point. However, educational provi sion without personal contact removes the tradition of lecturing. Castells , 1 asserts that U niversities are associated with "the intensity of face-to-face interaction" which is clearly an important facet of the University experience. In a practical discipline such as IS , the unstable role of education, teacher, leamer, guru etc. in the global education network is associated with concerns over personal and profess ional identity. Universities are not simply training establishments but places where young adults often forge their identities under the influence of peers and experienced role mode ls. The key thing that distinguishes distance education from conventional education is the situation the learner finds himself or herself in, that is separated from other learners in time and space. In this situation of phys ical separation it must be recognised that many aspects of knowledge are regarded as tacit in the sense of the desc ription given by Schon'2. In a s imilar vein, IntronaD clearly argues that a large part of IS practice is taci t. It is well known that tacit skills can only be transferred through a process of soc ialisation (master to apprentice), the guru re lationship is often alluded to both in the East and West. In a technol ogy based distance learning environment between countries, it is questionable where and when this process of face to face soc ialisat ion will happen to enabl e the learn e rs to draw on the source of tacit knowledge.

Our fina l point concerns existential anxiety, a condition where the role and purpose of a teacher, learner and student is brought into question. The rational , dis interested process of developing learning resources for students whom a teacher is likely never to meet could lead to a state of personal meaninglessness potentially affecting teache r and learne r. When coupled with problems over transferring tacit skill s and kn ow ledge, the education ofIS practitioners in an impersonal , remote and disinterested way may contribute to to the domi nance of a technica l, rational view of IS development. Regardless of cultural context the IS community has prov!ded detailed c ritiqu e of th e limitations o f th e in strumental approach to IS development '~ .

5 Conclusions

Our analysis has attempted to draw on ex ist ing critique of the globalisation of higher education and consider the relevance of these arguments for IS education . We see the implications as being associa ted with the lack of

)-.

NICHOLSON & SAHAY : CLOSING INTERNATIONAL DIVIDE 289

emergence of an indigenous approach to IS development in those countries served by global distance learning. The analysis used the example of the imposition of Western technical - rational ethical systems and IS development methodology. The drivers for moves to technology assisted distance learning are associated with the reducing cost of communication channels combined with a desire to conquer new global markets. However faceless distance learning may ignore the importance of tacit and social skills especially, important in IS development. The commodification of education ignores the highly personal and often spiritual experience attached to it by some learners. Our final example concerns the development of a multimedia kiosk in Arizona USA which allows people to divorce in the same way as they would obtain cash or cancel a standing order. This is an example of how, when taken to the extreme, technology can infiltrate and trivialise human existence in the name of efficiency. In the same way it is important that IS distance educators do not view efficiency as an end in itself and ignore the diversity of their students and the richness of our discipline .

References and Notes

Tomer A, The Third Wa ve (Collins, London) 1980.

2 Ohmae K, The Borderless World: Powe.r and Strategy in the Interlinked Economy (Harper,New York) 1990.

3 Peters T, The Pursuit of Wow! (Macmillan, London) 1993,

4 Daniel J, Mega Universities And Knowledge Media (Kogan Page, London) 1996.

5 Iacono S & Kling R, Computerisation Movements And Tales Of Technological Utopianism, in Kling R, Computerisation And Controversy, (Academic Press, New York) 1996, 85-105

6 Hall P, Distance Education And Electronic Networking Inf Technol Dev 7 t 1996) 75 - 89

7 Di stance Education In Asia And The Pacific, Bulletin of the Unesco Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific No 26 (Unesco Regional Office for Education in Asi a and the Pacific,Bangkok) 1985.

8 Mason R, Technologies for Teaching at a Distance, http://www­iet.open,ac.uk/staff/robinm/teachdist.html 1998 and in Globalising Education, Trends and Applications, (Routledge, London) in press,

9 Bates A, Educational Aspects Of The Telecommunications Revo­lution in Teleteaching, edited by G Davies and B Samways (Elsevier, North Holland) 1993, 1-10,

10 Mason R, Dangers of Global Education, http://www­iet.open .ac.uk/staff/robinmldangers .html

II Giddens A, Consequences Of Modernity (Polity, Cambridge) 1990.

12 Hall P, consequences of Modernity (Polity, Cambridge) , p.87

13 Hall P, consequences of Modernity (Polity, Cambridge), p.87

14 Middleton P, Euromethod: The lessons from SSADM Proceed-ings of the 2nd European Conference on Information Systems (University Press , Breukelen) 1994359-366.

15 for example Walsham G, Interpreting Information Systems in Organisations (Wi ley, Chichester) 1993.

16 Evans T, Globalisation, Post-Fordism And Open And Distance Education, Distance Education 16 (2) (1995) 65-73

17 Henderson L, Interactive Multimedia And Culturally Appro­priate Ways Of Learning in : Interactive Multimedia, Practice And Promise edited by, C Latchem, J Williamson and Henderson-Lancet L (Kogan Page, London) 1993 165-1 82,

18 Cox B & Saunders P, Designing for Cyber Based Business Simu­lations J Comput Higher Educ 8 ( I) 1996 29-47.

19 Shore B & Venkatachalam A, The Role Of National Culture In Systems Analysis And Design J GloballnfSyst Manage 3 (3) 19955-14.

20 Korpela M & Soriyan H, A Blueprint for an African Systems Development Methodology: An Action Research Project in the Health Sector, Proceedings of the Fifth International Working Conference of IFIP WG 9,4 (Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand) 1998 273-285 .

21 Hunter M & Beck J, A Cross Cultural Comparison Of Excel­lent Systems Analysts, In/ Syst J 6 (1996) 261-281.

22 Ein Dor P & Segev E , The Effect Of National Culture On IS: Implications For International Information Systems, J Global InfManage 1 (I) (1992) 33-44.

23 Robey D & Rodriguez Diaz A, The Organisational and Cul­tural Context of Systems Implementation : Case Experience from Latin America Inf Manag e, 17 (1989) 229-239.

24 Harrison W & Farn C, A Comparison Of Information Manage­ment Issues In The USA And Republic Of China , Inf Manage, 18 ( 1990) 177-188.

25 Kumar K & Bjorn Andersen N, A Cross Cultural Comparison Of IS Designer Values , COIIl/nun A CM 33 (5) ( 1990) 528-538,

26 Rohitratana K, The Role of Thai Values in Managing Informa­tion Systems: A Case Study of Implementing an MRP System Proceedings of the Fifth International Working Conference of IFIP WG 9.4 (Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok , Thai­land) 1998 188-20 I.

27 Giddens A, The Role ofT/wi Values in Managing Infor/l/ation Systems: A Case Study of Implementing an MRP System Pro­ceedings of the Fifth International Working Conference of IFIP WG 9.4 (Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand) 1990,

23 Dearing R, Hi gher Education in a Learning Society, Report of the National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education. NCIHE Publications (HMSO, London) July 1997.

290 J SCI IND RES VOL 58 MARCH - APRIL 1999

29 Giddens, A. Modernity And Self Idelltity, (Polity, Cambridge) 199 1.

32 Schon D, The Reflective Practitioller - How Prof essiollals Thillk In Action, (Temple Smith, London) 1983.

30 Poster M, The Mode Of Information. Poststructuralism And Soc ial Context (Polity Press, Cambridge) 1990.

3 1 Castell s M, The Rise Of Th e Network Society (B lackwell , Ox­ford) 1996397.

33 Introna L, Mallagement, Ill/orlllalioll And Power (Macmi ll an, London) 1997.

34 Checkland P & Holwell S, In/o rmation, Systems and Illfo rma­tion Syslems - Making Sense of the Field (Wil ey, Chichester) 1997.

Brnan Nicholson is a lecturer and researcher within TIM E research institute, Uni versity of Salfo rd . His research interests are in globalisati on and the potential for adva nced comm uni ca ti on technologies fo r co ll abo ration across time and di stance. Since coming to Salford he has taken an interest in research problems associated with educati on and its delivery at a di stance usi ng info rm ati on technology.

Sundeep Sahay is currentl y assistant professor at University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. He is of Indian origin and was educated in USA and the UK. He has interests in IT in developing countries, geographical information systems, globali sati on and societal im pact of IT. Sundeep has publi shed widely including a book on geographical information systems in developing countri es and resea rch papers in several internati onal journals.