OERauthors: Requirements for Collaborative OER Authoring Tools in Global Settings

Why Does Cultural Diversity Foster Technology-enabled Intergenerational Collaboration?

“…Lack of autonomy or independence to customize the user interface is the least significant perceived barrier (RW = 55.6) according to respondents as to why they refused digital collaboration with different generations. The results indicate that the current technology allows a significant degree in flexibility in system control, such as the flexibility of language selection, customization of user interface [33] and automatic translation. Moreover, there is flexibility to access the system remotely from different devices [30,41].…”

“…We analyzed the barriers based on a project that is used to support the real-time co-authoring of Open Educational Resources (OER) [32,33]. Although the system [33] was not specifically developed for an intergenerational setting, this study [33] was selected because the developed system includes aspects of collaborative innovation in a multicultural and multinational setting that fit our study objective. Therefore, the proposed system requirements [33] can be further developed for intergenerational collaboration by considering the six correlated barriers to intergenerational collaboration.…”

“…Although the system [33] was not specifically developed for an intergenerational setting, this study [33] was selected because the developed system includes aspects of collaborative innovation in a multicultural and multinational setting that fit our study objective. Therefore, the proposed system requirements [33] can be further developed for intergenerational collaboration by considering the six correlated barriers to intergenerational collaboration. First, in regard to the barrier "no right time to collaborate", the system designer can design a system that provides semi-synchronous collaboration, thus enabling users to share tasks and activities.…”

“…Moreover, bias in favor of a particular culture can also occur due to the cultural background of the system's developer [10]. To address this issue, through the OER authors project, we learned that the system designer could focus on the targeted user's current digital competence and skill [32,33,40]. Finding balance between the challenge and the collaborator's skills can lead to experiential flow [32].…”

“…It is also possible to reduce the complexity of the technology by training people on digital collaboration [40] in an intergenerational context. In addition, to overcome a lack of training, providing digital or online guides in the form of videos or images can help avoid misunderstandings caused by the diversity in language and culture [33]. Lack of autonomy or independence to customize the user interface is the least significant perceived barrier (RW = 55.6) according to respondents as to why they refused digital collaboration with different generations.…”