Department of Environmental and Global Health, College of Public Health and Health Professions, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States.
College of Public Health and Health Professions, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States.
Front Public Health. 2022 May 17;10:877547. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.877547. eCollection 2022.
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.
随着高等教育中越来越多的课堂采取国际化动员策略，合作式在线国际学习（COIL），也称为虚拟交流，是通过体验式学习提供跨文化能力的有效方法。这种策略为那些面临国际旅行障碍的学生提供了与其他国家的学生以有意义的方式互动的机会，同时增强和强化了课程内容。本研究基于变革性学习理论，评估了在本科全球公共卫生课程中实施的虚拟交流的有效性。虚拟交流将美国佛罗里达大学（美国）的学生与埃及开罗艾因沙姆斯大学微生物学课程的医学生联系起来。使用改编后的反思提示，我们评估了学生在虚拟交流之前、期间和之后的知识和学习情况。此外，还要求学生撰写一篇期末论文，以捕捉个人背景和经历如何影响他们对虚拟交流的看法，以及他们是否觉得自己在体验过程中全球视野发生了变化或转变。对于每项测量，两位研究人员使用定向内容分析对数据进行独立编码，然后向更大的群体展示一致的突出主题。在参与虚拟交流的 28 名随机抽样学生中，有七个主要主题从数据中浮现出来：联系感；开放性；知识和技能的获取；沟通；文化认同；对新角色、关系和行动的预期；以及没有变化。通过这项评估，很明显，由于许多抽样学生在虚拟交流之前具有不同的生活经历，因此他们的观点存在差异。尽管存在与课程相关的障碍，但学生们承认了一些促进因素，这些因素提高了他们的跨文化能力和对课程内容的了解。在课堂中融入虚拟交流，并进行精心设计和实施，可以为学生提供独特的体验，并为学习提供包容的方法。
