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Transforming Perspectives Through Virtual Exchange: A US-Egypt Partnership Part 1

With more classrooms within higher education mobilizing strategies for internationalization, collaborative online international learning (COIL), also referred to as virtual exchange, is an effective approach at offering intercultural competence through experiential learning. This strategy provides s...

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Autores principales: Wood, Elizabeth A., Collins, Sarah L., Mueller, Savanah, Stetten, Nichole E., El-Shokry, Mona
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9152246/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35655459
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.877547
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author Wood, Elizabeth A.
Collins, Sarah L.
Mueller, Savanah
Stetten, Nichole E.
El-Shokry, Mona
author_facet Wood, Elizabeth A.
Collins, Sarah L.
Mueller, Savanah
Stetten, Nichole E.
El-Shokry, Mona
author_sort Wood, Elizabeth A.
collection PubMed
description With more classrooms within higher education mobilizing strategies for internationalization, collaborative online international learning (COIL), also referred to as virtual exchange, is an effective approach at offering intercultural competence through experiential learning. This strategy provides students who face barriers to international travel the opportunity to engage with students from other countries in meaningful ways, while enhancing and reinforcing course content. Grounded in the transformative learning theory, this study evaluates the effectiveness of a virtual exchange that was implemented within an undergraduate global public health course. The virtual exchange connected students from the University of Florida (within the US) with medical students in a microbiology course at Ain Shams University in Cairo, Egypt. Using adapted reflection prompts, we assessed the students' knowledge and learning before, during, and after the virtual exchange. This was coupled with a final paper to capture how personal backgrounds and experiences may contribute to their perception of the virtual exchange, as well as if they felt their global perspective had changed or shifted during the experience. Using directed content analysis for each of the measurements, two researchers coded the data independently to then present agreed upon salient themes to the larger group. Of the 28 randomly sampled students who participated in the virtual exchange, seven major themes emerged from the data: Connectedness; Openness; Acquisition of Knowledge and Skills; Communication; Cultural Identity; Anticipation of Options for New Roles, Relationships, and Actions; and Absence of Change. Through this evaluation it was clear there was a variance of different perspectives with many sampled students having diverse lived experiences that influenced their worldview prior to the virtual exchange. Despite course-related barriers, students acknowledged several facilitating factors that improved their intercultural competence and knowledge of course content. The integration of a virtual exchange within the classroom, with careful design and implementation, can provide a unique experience for students and an inclusive approach to learning.
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spelling pubmed-91522462022-06-01 Transforming Perspectives Through Virtual Exchange: A US-Egypt Partnership Part 1 Wood, Elizabeth A. Collins, Sarah L. Mueller, Savanah Stetten, Nichole E. El-Shokry, Mona Front Public Health Public Health With more classrooms within higher education mobilizing strategies for internationalization, collaborative online international learning (COIL), also referred to as virtual exchange, is an effective approach at offering intercultural competence through experiential learning. This strategy provides students who face barriers to international travel the opportunity to engage with students from other countries in meaningful ways, while enhancing and reinforcing course content. Grounded in the transformative learning theory, this study evaluates the effectiveness of a virtual exchange that was implemented within an undergraduate global public health course. The virtual exchange connected students from the University of Florida (within the US) with medical students in a microbiology course at Ain Shams University in Cairo, Egypt. Using adapted reflection prompts, we assessed the students' knowledge and learning before, during, and after the virtual exchange. This was coupled with a final paper to capture how personal backgrounds and experiences may contribute to their perception of the virtual exchange, as well as if they felt their global perspective had changed or shifted during the experience. Using directed content analysis for each of the measurements, two researchers coded the data independently to then present agreed upon salient themes to the larger group. Of the 28 randomly sampled students who participated in the virtual exchange, seven major themes emerged from the data: Connectedness; Openness; Acquisition of Knowledge and Skills; Communication; Cultural Identity; Anticipation of Options for New Roles, Relationships, and Actions; and Absence of Change. Through this evaluation it was clear there was a variance of different perspectives with many sampled students having diverse lived experiences that influenced their worldview prior to the virtual exchange. Despite course-related barriers, students acknowledged several facilitating factors that improved their intercultural competence and knowledge of course content. The integration of a virtual exchange within the classroom, with careful design and implementation, can provide a unique experience for students and an inclusive approach to learning. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-05-17 /pmc/articles/PMC9152246/ /pubmed/35655459 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.877547 Text en Copyright © 2022 Wood, Collins, Mueller, Stetten and El-Shokry. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Public Health
Wood, Elizabeth A.
Collins, Sarah L.
Mueller, Savanah
Stetten, Nichole E.
El-Shokry, Mona
Transforming Perspectives Through Virtual Exchange: A US-Egypt Partnership Part 1
title Transforming Perspectives Through Virtual Exchange: A US-Egypt Partnership Part 1
title_full Transforming Perspectives Through Virtual Exchange: A US-Egypt Partnership Part 1
title_fullStr Transforming Perspectives Through Virtual Exchange: A US-Egypt Partnership Part 1
title_full_unstemmed Transforming Perspectives Through Virtual Exchange: A US-Egypt Partnership Part 1
title_short Transforming Perspectives Through Virtual Exchange: A US-Egypt Partnership Part 1
title_sort transforming perspectives through virtual exchange: a us-egypt partnership part 1
topic Public Health
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9152246/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35655459
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.877547
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