Thesis Title: ‘Towards a Collaborative Virtual Cloud Campus: Ireland-China’

Thesis Subtitle: The design, build, testing and evaluating of a new Virtual Cloud Campus

Platform for Irish and Chinese collaboration, incorporating Cross-cultural Collaborative Game within the bespoke virtual world

Abstract

This thesis, and the research project upon which it is based, was inspired by the desire to create a productive collaborative learning tool for Chinese students coming to Ireland; a desire underpinned, in large part, by the researcher’s own previous challenging experiences in preparing to make this cultural transition.

The main research question explores, to what extent can virtual 3D collaborative platforms, informed by the theory of Gamification, help to alleviate the difficulties and challenges experienced by Chinese international students in Ireland, who are engaged in cross-cultural collaborative learning, including addressing issues such as language barriers and cultural understanding. In response to this question, the thesis sought the creation of a customised bilingually-designed virtual world on a new 3D virtual cloud platform, integrating an original Cross-cultural Collaborative Game (CCG), designed to enable Chinese students to easily approach a variety of resources about the contexts of UCD, Dublin and Ireland more generally, and also to enhance communication and collaboration with Western students (Irish students), through game co-play. The process of research includes how to design, build, test, and evaluate the Cross-cultural Collaborative Game (CCG) (also referred to as Context-specific Collaborative Game (CSCG)) based on a virtual cloud platform.

The thesis employs a mixed methods approach, combining quantitative and qualitative analysis of results of two online questionnaires (Q1 and Q2), and an Email questionnaire (EQ) and a Use Case (focus group) associated with a questionnaire (Q3), with analysis on the impact of using bespoke virtual collaboration tools.

Overall, the thesis studies the potential effectiveness of a unique virtual world platform (Terf, using the Virtual World in a Backpack model created by Hao2 for SMARTlab), integrated with bespoke mobile context-specific collaborative learning games, which, together, comprise the platform for a new Collaborative Virtual Cloud Campus, to link students in China and Ireland. The researcher’s own original contribution to this evolving platform is the new, shared Cross-cultural Collaborative Game (CCG). The aim in developing this CCG is to make a “bridge” between Chinese students and Irish students, to assist future Chinese students in addressing language barriers and cultural issues.

The research plan for the virtual cloud platform, integrated with the CCG, has been informed by the mechanics of ‘gamification’. Overall, the research provides an original and effective tool to enhance communication and collaboration between groups collaborating at a physical distance and across a cultural divide.

Table of Contents

Abstract……………………………………………………….

Statement of Original Authorship………………………………………

Acknowledgements………………………………………………..

Table of Contents…………………………………………………

List of Figures……………………………………………………

List of Tables…………………………………………………….

Key terms in this research……………………………………………

Timeline of this Research……………………………………………

Chapter 1: Introduction…………………………………………….

1.1 Context…………………………………………………….

1.2 Setting the Scene: Policy Analysis on Educational Modernisation- the 20 Year Plan for China Education

1.3 Comparative Reports on European Educational Modernisation using new Technologies and Policies on Irish International Education Strategy (2012-2015)

1.4 Environment Scan: Chinese and Irish Population Overall Compared to Overseas Student Mobility

1.4.1 China and Ireland: Population Comparison………………………….

1.4.2 China and Ireland: Overseas Students Data………………………….

1.5 The Population of Total International Students and Chinese students in Ireland………

1.6 Statement of Research…………………………………………..

1.7 The Purpose of the Research……………………………………….

1.8 The Research Questions………………………………………….

1.9 Methodology: Structuring an Evidence-based Framework for Analysis Survey Research..

1.10 Research Rationale…………………………………………….

1.10.1 The Main and Cognate Fields of Study……………………………

1.10.2 Educational Technology……………………………………..

1.10.3 Virtual Reality -3D Virtual World……………………………….

1.10.4 Gamification Theory and Game-based learning………………………

1.11 The Structure of the Dissertation……………………………………

List of Figures

Figure 1. China and Ireland Population, 2008-2014. Source: OECD……………..

Figure 2. Global Flow of Tertiary-Level Students from UNESCO Institute of Statistics (2012)-China. Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS)

Figure 3. Global Flow of Tertiary-Level Students from UNESCO Institute of Statistics (2012)-Ireland.

Figure 4. International students in Ireland, 2001-02 to 2011-12

Figure 5. Knowledge Circles of this Thesis……………………………….

List of Tables

Table 1. Number of total Chinese students (including Hong Kong), onshore and offshore Chinese students in Ireland, 2001-02 to 2011-12

Key terms in this research

3D Virtual Cloud Campus Platform/3D Virtual Cloud Platform/3D Virtual Collaborative Platform: all refer to the Platform; all represent the customised bilingually-designed virtual world, which is developed for this research and build on the novel 3D virtual cloud platform, Terf.

Cross-cultural Collaborative Game (CCG): originally developed in this research, which is imported into the 3D Virtual Cloud Campus Platform, developed based on Terf, designed mainly to encourage two players from different cultural backgrounds to engage in the process of puzzles/games solving/playing collaboratively, for the purpose of improving English language and learning the specific context/cultures blended into these puzzles and surrounding virtual space. The CCG includes Word Game and Matching Game in this thesis.

Context-specific Collaborative Game (CSCG): represents all the collaborative games created following the framework developed in this thesis. Based on the findings of this research, it is predicted that the CSCG can be applied in a variety of domains where comparative study is needed, such as cross-cultural studies, such as this PhD research, interdisciplinary research, such as the disciplines of business and computer science, combined courses with learners at varying levels of prior knowledge and ability, such as students with autistic spectrum disorders and peers, and intergenerational learning contexts, such as youth – old. In each of these cases, a focus on collaboration for language/concepts barriers and knowledge/information sharing and understanding can be supported by use of the CSCG.

Virtual Cross-cultural Game-based Collaborative Table (VCGCT): the first iteration of the games designed for this PhD research, and replaced by the CCG in a later study.

Terf: a novel virtual cloud platform – second generation of Virtual World, which is used to develop the above Virtual Collaborative Platform, incorporating a Cross-cultural Collaborative Game (CCG) for this research. In this thesis, Terf is also referred to as the Terf Platform. More specifically, the Room/Forum inside Terf is called the Terf Forum, Terf room, or Terf virtual space.

Timeline of this Research

Year 1: September 2013 – September 2014

1. Decided research question
2. Finished policies and literature review and background case studies review

Year 2: September 2014 – September 2015

1. Conducted questionnaire 1 and Email questionnaire
2. Finished data analysis of these two questionnaires

Year 3: September 2015 – September 2016

1. Conducted questionnaire 2 and finished data analysis
2. Design and build virtual collaborative campus platform incorporating CCG based on Terf platform
3. Implement the Use Case – technical trial
4. Conducted questionnaire 3

Year 4: September 2016 – September 2017

1. Finished data analysis of questionnaire 3 and videos (recorded during the trial)
2. Writing the PhD thesis

Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1 Context

This thesis discusses the development of a technological tool for Chinese students, to use as a platform, to increase their level of social awareness and inclusion, in their preparation for leaving China to study in Dublin (and by extension, in the West, more generally). This large number of Chinese students have identified a need to better understand and collaborate internationally and to understand some of the key aspects of life in Dublin (and the West), not only in their preparations for leaving China, but also when they are newly arrived and settling into their new context and culture. The thesis takes, as its context, the recent emerging literature and policies showing that internationalisation/student diversity (cultural, linguistic, social, etc.) can be very important in raising the levels of awareness in the scholarly community, at large, when it comes to key areas such as language and linguistics, cross-cultural comparisons and collaborations, cultural heritage and invisible digital heritage, and games for learning and international tools for inclusive learning. As Issa et al. (2014) suggest, in their 2014 edited volume on Multicultural Awareness and Technology in Higher Education: Global Perspectives, one of the key elements of an educational strategy is to aim for increased student diversity. In the university sector, as Issa (2014) and many authors agree, diversity (of ethnicity, nationality, language, culture, religion, age, ability) has a significant impact in terms of awareness raising, with particular relevance to the domain of cross-cultural collaboration in international educational programmes (Issa, 2014). When any diverse student body in any university is further supported by relevant and accessible technologies, then the opportunities for fruitful and impactful personalised learning and collaborative learning can be multiplied significantly, with, potentially, a very positive impact, not only for the students and the universities, but also for society at large.

1.2 Setting the Scene: Policy Analysis on Educational Modernisation- the 20 Year Plan for China Education

Below is an extract from, A Blueprint for Educational Modernisation:

A strong nation requires quality education, and quality education is a prerequisite for national development.

In July 2010, China announced its Outline of China’s National Plan for Medium and Long-term Education Reform and Development (2010-2020) (hereinafter referred to as the Plan, presenting a blueprint for achieving the modernization of education in the next 10 years in accordance with China’s overall strategy of reform and opening up and socialist modernisation.

This is China’s first national plan for medium and long-term education reform and development since the beginning of the 21st century. It is of decisive significance for our effort to build a learning society, develop human resources, improve people’s living standard and make China a prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced and harmonious modern socialist country.

(Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, 2010a)

As the quote above shows, the modernisation of education is a top priority in the country. The means by which this modernisation will be achieved is through technology development. In China, the term used by the Ministry to describe the need for a major intensive programme of technological innovation and development in Educational Technologies is ‘Education Informatisation’. Professors Wu and Tang, of Yangtze University, China, have provided the following definition of the term ‘education informatisation’:

Educational information refers to the use of modern information technology such as computers, multimedia and network technology in the field of education to promote updating of educational concepts, the reform of education content and methods and learning ways, to train high-quality innovative talents and upgrade educational quality, to establish a new educational system which meets the needs of social development (Wu and Tang, 2013 p.608).

Another educator, Zhou, provides an alternative definition of ‘Education Informatisation’:

a process to use modern information technologies, develop education resources and optimise the education process, in order to cultivate and improve the students’ qualities and promote education modernisation. The connotation of education informatisation contains two aspects of meanings: 1) Computerisation, networking and ‘intelligentisation’ of education. Education should be changed from the analog age to the digital age. 2) Education aims to cultivate and improve students’ qualities, especially their information capacity.” (Zhou, 2013 p.666).

As one of the most important national development tasks in the last three decades of China’s gradual process of ‘reform and opening up’, including the ‘opening up’ of certain borders and communications with the West, the term ‘education informatisation’ has emerged as a means to describe the important and catalysing role of technologies in the modernisation of education. The central role of technology, and of technology-enhanced learning in particular, is emphasised by the Chinese government and is inscribed in its national policies, including

• China’s National Plan for Medium and Long-term Education Reform and Development: 2010-2020 (Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, 2010b) and
• the Ten-Year Development Plan of Education Informatization: 2011-2020 (Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, 2012).

‘Education informatisation’ has been cited as a significant indicator of the educational modernisation of China. This was emphasised by Jinping-Xi, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, in his speech at the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012, on the subject of using the process of ‘education informatisation’ to drive the development of educational modernisation.

In order to promote the further implementation of China’s National Plan for Medium and Long-term Education Reform and Development: 2010-2020, another important policy – the Ten-Year Development Plan of Education Informatization: 2011-2020, was published in March 2012 to meet the demands of ‘driving educational modernisation by education informationisation’.

Five primary goals of educational informatisation have been expressed in this ten-year plan, to be accomplished by 2020:

1. to build an ‘informationalised’ learning environment/platform, sharing high-quality educational resources, available for everyone;
2. to form a learning society equipped with various service systems supported by informatisation;
3. to achieve overall internet accessibility across all the schools in China;
4. to make further significant improvements in ‘informationalised’ management and its applications in education; and
5. to promote the combination between technologies and education, enhancing the autonomous learning ability of students.

(Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, 2012).

More specifically, the latest report from the Ministry of Education of China was published online, under the title Priorities 2015: Informatisation of Education on 12 February 2015 (Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, 2015). The report discusses eight core targets in this process, two of which are closely related to this PhD study:

1. Great efforts will be attached to the development of the virtual/ online learning space amongst teachers and students.
2. In order to improve the quality of educational resource sharing systems, attention will be paid to developing and enlarging the provision of cloud services.

The report also states that China will need to develop and maintain closer relationships with other countries in order to exchange educational experiences and technologies and to achieve true ‘modernisation’, in a global context. These aspects of the Chinese ‘education informatization’ process perfectly fit with the aims of this PhD project.

1.3 Comparative Reports on European Educational Modernisation using new Technologies and Policies on Irish International Education Strategy (2012-2015)

In Europe, the NMC Horizon Report: 2014 Higher Education was published in 2014. This report investigates the potential impact of emerging technologies on teaching and learning, as well as on the domain of ‘creative inquiry’ within the area of Higher Education. Regarding the significant developments in Educational Technology for Higher Education, the NMC Horizon Report: 2014 Higher Education predicts that games and gamification will be adopted within two to three years, and that virtual assistants will be utilised in the next four to five years, in higher education. Both predictions are closely related to this PhD research (Johnson et al., 2014).

A follow-on study, the NMC Horizon Report: 2015 Higher Education Edition was published in 2015. It details the crucial trends accelerating the utilisation of technology in Higher Education, and reveals that rapidly developing cultures of change and innovation, as well as advances in ‘cross-institutional collaboration’ will be of great importance to the task of driving forward technology in the next five years (Johnson et al., 2015).

In the following year, NMC Horizon Report: 2016 Higher Education Edition highlighted the importance of advancing cultures of innovation, and pointed out another long-term impact trend, that is, fundamentally rethinking how universities and colleges work. The report signalled that these two significant trends would drive educational technology adoption in Higher Education for next five or more years (Johnson et al., 2016).

From a broader perspective, it is reasonable to consider that the impact of cross-cultural collaborative learning tools, developed for the Higher Education sector, will have a positive influence on the development of technology for universities across the world, as well as for the well-being of international students, globally.

Since 2010, the Irish government has attached great significance to the development of its process of ‘internationalisation’ in higher education, emphasising:

1. the positive impacts of multicultural relations, in enhancing the quality of learning, teaching and research for teachers and students in Ireland;
2. the importance of accelerating the cultural integration of international students with Irish students and their wider communities, and;
3. the importance of collaborative institutional and research links internationally, based on a number of policies, such as: Investing in Global Relationships: Ireland’s International Education Strategy 2010-15 (Strategy 2010-15) (High Level Group on International Education, 2010), Irish Educated Globally Connected: An International Education Strategy for Ireland, 2016-2020 (Strategy 2016-20) (Johnson et al., 2016) and The National Strategy for Higher Education to 2030 (known as Strategy 2030) (Hunt, 2011), all published by the Irish Department of Education and Skills.

Strategy 2010-15 specifically describes a determination to increase the number of international students (including full-time, part-time, and exchange students) in higher educational programmes in Ireland by 2015, with an anticipated increase of 50% on current numbers, up to 38,000. The report also makes clear Ireland’s aim of increasing the number of offshore students (i.e. those undertaking Irish education programmes outside the jurisdiction, such as those studying by distance learning) by 50%, up to 4,500 (High Level Group on International Education, 2010).

The primary goal of the International Education Strategy is that Ireland, as a country of destination for many international students, aims to become a global leader in delivering high-quality international education, by providing students with a unique experience and long-term value. Mary Coughlan – Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills – notes, with regard to Ireland’s role: ‘We must continue to offer international students a high-quality education and a unique student experience that is based on strong integration with their Irish peers’ (High Level Group on International Education, 2010)

Strategy 2016-20, published in October 2016, aims to achieve real progress, from Strategy 2010-15, and looks to new targets for the next five years. Strategy 2016-20 signalled that the goals set by Strategy 2010-15 for full-time international student recruitment and economic impact were exceeded and Ireland’s reputation as a destination for students and the student experience is strong (Johnson et al., 2016 p.7).

In the next five years, Higher Education Institutes in Ireland will continue to focus on quality and building long-term engagement with students and partners worldwide. Strategy 2016-20 sets new international student targets of 44,000 in higher education, up from 33,118 in 2014/2015, with a 33% increase by the end of the 2019/2020 academic year (Johnson et al., 2016 p.43).

In addition, the OECD reported in 2012 (Education at a Glance: OECD Indicator) that:

As national economies become more interconnected and participation in education expands, governments and individuals are looking to higher education to broaden students’ horizons and help them to better understand the world’s languages, cultures and business methods. One way for students to expand their knowledge of other societies and languages, and thus improve their prospects in globalised sectors of the labour market, such as multinational corporations or research, is to study in tertiary institutions in countries other than their own (OECD, 2012)

Overall, Western education institutions can be seen to be taking increased responsibility for exploring new ways to support international students’ well-being as they study ‘abroad’ in European countries. A particular concern was raised by the Strategy 2030, which suggested that more attention should be paid to first-year students, to help them engage with new and different study environments more effectively, by providing more information and learning experiences in universities (Hunt, 2011). It could further be argued that additional attention should be paid to first-year international students, and perhaps specifically graduate students, as they are more likely to experience social exclusion due to the smaller cohort and class sizes, and to the largely independent nature of their studies.

These policies, taken together, demonstrate the need to provide a unique and accessible online (and real) shared collaboration space for international students and their western peers, which can serve as a motivation to increase their communication and levels of social engagement. In this way, the research seeks to address the real world social issue of the well-being of international students, as part of their process of gaining social inclusion in Ireland.

1.4 Environment Scan: Chinese and Irish Population Overall Compared to Overseas Student Mobility

In order to understand the importance of technological development to the educational sector of China, it is necessary to understand the size and scope of the country in comparison to Ireland, as this helps to demonstrate the scale of the process of modernisation to be undertaken in China. At the same time, the significant increase in collaboration and cultural or educational exchange between the two countries will rely, to some extent, on the direct and indirect interaction of the students from these two counties. It is important to consider the demands of the advanced technologies for collaborative learning of both countries as a baseline for this study.

1.4.1 China and Ireland: Population Comparison

Figure 1, below, shows the size of China and Ireland’s population from 2008 to 2014. The total Chinese population in 2011 was recorded as 1368,440 million, and as 1377,065 million, in 2012, and as 1385, 567 million, in 2013. Comparatively, the size of Ireland’s population in 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014 did not experience notable changes: the numbers were reported as 4.575 million, 4.585million, 4.593 million, and 4.610 million, respectively.  According to the data of 2012, the total population of China was recorded as 1377,065 million, whereas the total population of Ireland, in the same period, was 4.585 million; the population of China is, currently, roughly 300 times larger than that of Ireland (OECD, 2016).

Figure 1. China and Ireland Population, 2008-2014. Source: OECD

1.4.2 China and Ireland: Overseas Students Data

Figure 2. Global Flow of Tertiary-Level Students from UNESCO Institute of Statistics (2012)-China. Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS)

Since China adopted international education in the late 1970s, there has been a very rapid and significant increase in Chinese students heading West for their studies. In 2012, 694,041 Chinese students from Mainland China had studied abroad, at Tertiary-Level, accounting for over 20% of total mobile students in the world (UNESCO, 2014). According to the latest data, the number of Mainland Chinese students who studied abroad, at Tertiary-Level, increased to 712,157, in 2013, 21% of total mobile students in the world (UNESCO, 2016a).

Figure 3. Global Flow of Tertiary-Level Students from UNESCO Institute of Statistics (2012)-Ireland.

As one of the most important strategic actions to enhance Ireland’s performance for internationalisation from 2010, enhancing the outward mobility and multicultural exchanging of Irish staff and students have been encouraged, according to Strategy 2010-15. However, based on the June 2016 – Education from the Data Centre of UNESCO Institute of Statistics, it shows that Ireland has a total 18,917 mobile students abroad in 2012, and has lower mobile students abroad, with 16,302, in 2013 (UNESCO, 2016b). The Statistics also indicate that only less than 5 Irish students enrolled, at Tertiary-Level, in Hong Kong, China, with no data recorded in Mainland China until 2013.

1.5 The Population of Total International Students and Chinese students in Ireland

As Figure 4, below, shows, over the last decade, Ireland saw a large growth in the number of its total international students, from only 11,000 in 2002, to 32,132 in 2012; there was only one period within that time that indicated that Ireland experienced a slight decrease in its population of international students: from 27,275 to 25,781, during 2009 to 2010.

In addition, Strategy 2016-20 reported that 20,995 students attended Irish HEIs (public and private HEIs) in Ireland in 2010/2011, and this increased by 58%, to 33,118 in 2014/2015. This significant growth was due to a rise in non-EU international cohorts, with an upsurge of 85%, from 11,604 to 21,440; in comparison, there was an increase of 25% in the EU student group (Johnson et al., 2016).

In addition, per Strategy 2016-20, there was a large increase of Asian cohorts in Ireland, with a growth from 4,448 in 2010 to 10,094 in 2014/2015. China is one of the main contributors to this increase, with 817 Chinese students (Johnson et al., 2016). In addition to the off-shore campuses of UCD, the number of off-shore global students is significant rising (High Level Group on International Education, 2010).

Figure 4. International students in Ireland, 2001-02 to 2011-12

Source: Education in Ireland, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2006-2007, 2009-2010, 2010-2011, 2011-2012

According to the report, International Students in Irish Higher Education 2005, there was an observable slowdown in the number of Chinese students who chose to study in foreign countries, in 2005. A number of reasons for this were given, including enhanced educational opportunities at home, and declining job prospects in China for graduates with foreign degrees. This trend led to a greater number of Chinese students, who wished to study abroad, neglecting the West and choosing to study in other Asian countries such as Japan, The Republic of Korea, and Singapore (Education Ireland, 2005). This could be seen in 2009, when the first observable decrease in Chinese numbers abroad occurred.

Of course, Chinese students are not alone in facing difficult issues and choices on the location of their studies. The issue of geographical choices of studying abroad has always been important to international students, and this is the reason why, in recent years,  online learning/distance learning and offshore delivery are experiencing great popularity around the world. From my own experience in China, Chinese universities have always been interested in attracting more international students by employing more foreign teachers and enhancing offshore delivery, including the development of branch campuses from English-speaking countries; this has also been proven in Strategy 2010-15.

As Table 1, below, shows, China (including Hong Kong) holds the top position from 2011 of students registered in Irish higher education, with 5,105 Chinese students (including 1,618 offshore students, accounting for 32% of Chinese students), replacing the top position previously held by USA, where no American students were recorded studying offshore (Education in Ireland, 2011). As Table 1 shows, the number of offshore students increased from 32% in 2011 to 46% (2349), by 2012.

Table 1. Number of total Chinese students (including Hong Kong), onshore and offshore Chinese students in Ireland, 2001-02 to 2011-12