Perspective-taking is essential for preparing students to be globally competent and career-ready. Cross-cultural environments now exist at students’ fingertips through their smartphones and other devices. It is possible to leverage this virtual environment by creating directed and protected digital environments. Sustained cross-cultural communication followed by a collaborative project may result in learning outcomes similar to study abroad in our students. Our e-Portfolio design is based on best practices in global education, e-learning, and the new field of online cultural learning (Jung, Gunawardena, & Moore, 2014). We will share our initial findings from a pilot project, as well as the toolkit we used to produce the learning activities and ongoing assessment practices. We are interested in whether digital cross-cultural education may provide a supplement to or preparation for the study abroad experience. At the same time, we argue that online cross-cultural experience is equally deserving of the same standards that study abroad programs are held to. Digital spaces for cross-cultural interaction and collaboration also require well-designed learning experiences in order to be considered a valid component of the academic landscape.
Conference page: http://academy.osu.edu/annual-conference/
Breakouts page: http://academy.osu.edu/annual-conference/breakout-sessions/#110
