Hello, I'm Amy Giocelli, Student Services Coordinator at SUNY Empire State College. Welcome to iMOOC 102, the on-demand version of Mastering American eLearning. In this introductory video, we'll define what American eLearning is and explain how this course works. As you know, the e in E-learning stands for electronic. So any learning process that uses digital technologies and electronic communications, such as email, electronic databases, and the internet, can be called eLearning. Considering its reach and accessibility, eLearning is truly global, as it is not constrained by geographic borders. Students, teachers, and learning materials can be located anywhere in the world. In terms of design and intended audiences, eLearning resources are developed with both global and domestic audiences in mind. Global designs are intended to serve students and professionals regardless of their national origin and location. Those designs are particularly useful in the field of science and technology. For example, many massively open online courses or MOOCs are intended for global audiences. To excel in those courses, participants are not required to have any country specific knowledge. All they are required to have is a computer with internet access and basic technological skills. Well, a little English can also be helpful, however, some eLearning resources are intended for country specific or domestic use. This is because a very significant part of the Internet serves the need of localized populations, for example, national and local businesses, municipalities, schools, colleges and hospitals. In the United States, many local organizations use websites and electronic resources for their members in order to keep them informed, educated and connected, even remotely. It is implied that domestic users have much in common. In particular, they share the common language, have grown up in the same social, legal and cultural environment, and are familiar with local contexts and events. In educational activities this cultural capital serves as the common ground for gaining new knowledge and skills. By American eLearning, we mean eLearning resources and practices that are designed by American colleges and organizations for domestic users. With an assumption that the students have been born, raised, and educated in the US and share the same cultural background. For local students this approach seems to be working very well. But what happens to non US students in the American online environment? Mastering American eLearning can be very beneficial for newcomers to the US, international students and professionals, visitors and immigrants. Learning about how to overcome barriers and navigate American virtual environments is important as they learn to understand American society and culture and to become fully proficient in the American work environment. Barriers for international students in US online courses are basically the same as barriers for foreign professionals in US virtual environments. They include obstacles which are organizational, technological, linguistic, cultural, academic, and professional and other obstacles. The problem is that international students and foreign born professionals often find themselves in a situation where they do not know what they do not know. In this course we try to systematically address those barriers and discuss strategies to overcome them. Whenever possible we discuss scenarios of cross-cultural encounters and also invite students to contribute. This course is linked to a credit-bearing course at SUNY Empire State College's center for distance learning. If you are interested in getting college credit for this course you should contact the college liaison person for more detail. We are excited to have you here with us and hope that you'll enjoy the course.