Cross-cultural online encounters with peers from different countries

ABSTRACT

Multicultural dialogue has an important socio-educational role in light of demographic changes. Research shows that attracting international students to campus or sending them abroad is not enough (Ashwill, 2004; de Hei et al., 2019). Therefore, the higher education system should design programs that expose students to international contexts (Fabregas et al., 2014; Roorda et al., 2011). The aim of this qualitative interpretative study was to examine the types of dialogue created between 47 undergraduate students from Israel and other countries. Data were collected from a portfolio written by all the students and were analyzed using content analysis (Creswell, 2012). The study was based on online encounters between two groups: Israeli and other countries. The findings indicated that the students deepened their understanding and shaped intercultural competence. The open and flexible curriculum enabled them to hold three types of dialogue: personal, disciplinary, and ethnocultural (Dotger, 2015; Phillion & Malewski, 2011).

KEYWORDS:

• online learning
• cooperative learning
• peer instruction
• multiculturalism
• intercultural competence

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Dolly Eliyahu-Levi

Dolly Eliyahu-Levi is a senior lecturer at Levinsky College of Education, Tel Aviv, Israel. Her research interests include e-learning, collaborative learning, migration, and language acquisition in multicultural educational environments.