From my limited experience,I have found that one difference is that we in West put more stock in academic learning from the standpoint of classes, tests etc. In the East, they put more stock in learning from an experiential standpoint. i.e. we would say that someone is a progressing disciple due to the completion of a set of classes. They (in the East) would say that someone is a progressing disciple due to level of experience they have attained.
I know this is an oversimplification, but it has been explained to me this way before and I can see the validity in it to a degree.
(BTW, Scott, thanks for the voicemail!)