International Cross-Cultural Online Learning and Teaching: Effective Tools and Approaches

ABSTRACT

“Study abroad” college programs can transform domestic students into a kind of “global citizens” with international experience and cross-cultural competences demanded in the emerging global market. Can a full-time international online undergraduate class serve as a virtual alternative to study abroad experience? Two questions were asked of a virtual class on Social Control that was taught for more than ten years: (1) Can an international online class can be a virtual option to the study abroad and (2) Which selected pedagogical tools and approaches can stimulate creativity of students and contribute to achieving a sufficient level of student satisfaction in this class? Students from several countries were taught in a virtual classroom while being physically “at home.” The research was based on observations and analysis of student-led discussions that were required of students. The class improved students’ substantive knowledge and created a learning environment to develop their skills in cross-cultural open dialogue with virtual classmates. The teaching design allowed instructors to attain many educational goals, enhance students’ understanding of foreign countries and cultures, and learn from each other through online communication. The results confirmed the effectiveness of selected pedagogical approaches and asynchronous communication technology in an international online class. Their effectiveness was demonstrated through the students’ postclass feedback and evaluation of the class. Findings indicate that an international online class can indeed help the students learn cross-cultural communication firsthand and obtain knowledge beneficial for future jobs in a global market.

In higher education, online distance education is useful for teaching large classes distributed among different campuses and universities or for teaching students abroad. Web 2.0 tools are widely used in the United States with transnational partnership programs (Martins 2015; Starke-Meyerring and Wilson 2008c). The American Center for the Study of Distance Education helps newcomers in this field learn transactional distance theory and tap into the broad experience already assembled by U.S. universities and other centers (Open University in the United Kingdom, similar Centers in Canada, the Netherlands, Germany, and Sweden).

Notes

¹ Although Dewey considered education a democratic tool and insisted on the direct interdependence between education and democracy, contemporary economic and statistical correlations between people’s educational level and the level of democratization of a country do not support this direct dependency in the short-run perspective (Acemoglu et al. 2005, 48). However, it does not disprove that “changes in education have very long-run effects.”

² Belarusian students were admitted based on English proficiency and personal motivation to participate in online classes in English.

³ Students did not express themselves in such categories as “democratic dialogue.” This is our conclusion as researchers and teachers. Establishing democratic dialogue was our pedagogical (latent) goal. The students’ goals were to learn and communicate.