Research
New Collaborative Research Publication: “Assessing the Impact of Intercultural Virtual Collaboration on Global Citizenship Education” – Dr. Clinton Watkins
Dr. Clinton Watkins, Director of AIU’s Global Business Program, along with Dr. Ingrid Van Rompay-Bartels, Laurens Zijlstra, and Jannemieke Geessink from HAN University of Applied Sciences, one of AIU’s partners in the Netherlands, have published a chapter titled “Assessing the Impact of Intercultural Virtual Collaboration on Global Citizenship Education” in the new book Understanding Multiculturalism and Interculturalism in Cross Cultures.
This publication is continuation of joint research based on Dr. Watkins’ and Dr. Van Rompay-Bartels’ ongoing International Virtual Collaboration course, “Crossing Borders Without Crossing Borders”, which the two universities have been running since Fall 2022. For information about their previous joint publications, please see this article.
Abstract and Article Link
The development of the capabilities necessary to foster global citizenship in undergraduate university students is an important goal of many higher education institutions. We assess the impact of intercultural virtual collaboration (IVC) courses on the three key competencies of students—collaborative skills, ethical and social responsibility, and intercultural proficiency—that underpin global citizenship (GC). We analyse pre- and post-course test data related to the learning goals of three IVCs between the universities in the Netherlands and Japan, Spain, and the USA, respectively. Using one-tailed paired sample t-tests, we find statistically significant improvements in each of these competencies and conclude that IVC supports the development of GC in university students, even if they have prior international experience.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the Dutch Comenius Senior Fellow programme grant [40.5.22865.406] awarded in 2022 under the title “Raising Global Citizens at Home” to Dr. Ingrid Van Rompay-Bartels.