Abstract
As we move further into the twenty-first century, businesses continue to seek employees with global experience and intercultural competence, but the reality is that many students are unable to gain this experience through study abroad programs for a variety of reasons. The purpose of this study was to determine if there is value in using web conferencing technology to provide students with access to international learning activities or ways to internationalize the curriculum for students who are unable to travel abroad. This formative case evaluation is the first in a series of iterative studies aimed at developing a viable, sustainable, technology-based solution through design-based research. The Online Learning Consortium’s (OLC) Quality Framework is composed of five pillars that support successful online learning: access, student satisfaction, faculty satisfaction, learning effectiveness, and scale (Online Learning Consortium 2017). Using the OLC Quality Framework, this formative case evaluation focuses on both quality (student satisfaction, faculty satisfaction, learning effectiveness) and value added (access, scale) when web conferencing technology was used to allow participants in the USA to participate live in study abroad activities in a global health management course in Brazil. Researchers found that web conferencing technology appears to be a viable alternative that provides its own set of benefits to students in higher education. Using the OLC Quality Framework to explore the evaluation questions revealed both success factors and areas for improvement in each of the five categories promoted by the international professional organization dedicated to the advancement of quality online learning.
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Practitioner Notes
What is already known about this topic:
• According to the Institute of International Education (2016), less than 10% of undergraduate students participate in a study abroad program prior to graduation. The reasons cited included the cost, curriculum did not include it, and cultural barriers (Berdan and Johannes 2014).
• Employers value international experience when making hiring decisions (Fischer 2015)
• In response to workforce demands, many institutions of higher education are making efforts to internationalize the curriculum (Leask 2004; Nilsson 2003; Soria and Troisi 2013).
• Global and intercultural competencies are life skills that include knowledge of and sensitivity toward the world and its unique cultural backgrounds (Hunter et al. 2006; Deardorff 2006).
• There continues to be a need for exploration of alternative solutions for travel abroad.
What this paper adds:
• The study sets up a design-based process to develop a model that may provide students access to live study abroad activities in the field without requiring travel.
• The paper evaluates a unique interactive design for delivering instruction via web conference technology that has possible benefits as an alternative to study abroad constraints.
• Qualitative results reveal high levels of student and instructor satisfaction with the web conferencing-based model along with indications of learning effectiveness for online participants.
Impact and implications for practice:
• This paper describes an effective alternative that could be implemented by institutions of higher learning as a sustainable solution for internationalizing the curriculum.
• Through this model, communication, web conferencing, and other technologies provide the capacity to create interactive international experiences at a much more economical value.
• The results of this case study indicate that while the immersive experience of traditional study abroad programs cannot be replicated, there is value in providing international activities using web conferencing technology, which also has its own set of benefits for students unable to travel.
• The findings also include a list of recommendations for improvement that may be implemented and re-evaluated in a series of iterative design-based studies aimed at improving and refining the model.
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Howard, W., Gunter, G. Examination of an Innovative Solution for Internationalizing the Curriculum Through Online Study Abroad. J Form Des Learn 1, 3–15 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41686-017-0002-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41686-017-0002-4