Abstract:

Collaborating universities remotely can also be successful between different continents. In the autumn of 2019, Savonia University of Applied Sciences in Finland and Shanghai University of Technology (SSPU) in China experimented with course-based cooperation between educational institutions in students' project work with the e-business course (eBusiness) and (Ecommerce). The topic of project work formed the collaboration. We divided the group into six (6) teams in both schools, and each team had a counterpart pair on the other continent for comparison. The Ebusiness group in Savonia consisted of international Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) degree students and exchange students, mainly from Europe. For example, there were students (63) from the following countries: Finland, Kosovo, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Belgium. Also, a few exchange students from outside Europe, for example, from China. SSPU students were predominantly Chinese.

In the project work, students analyze e-business services (eBay, Amazon, Alipay, Aliexpress, PayPal, and Wish) that operate in both European and Asian markets. The students mapped the key similarities and differences in the content of e-business services by qualitatively observing. First, the groups made introductory videos of each other from their team. Next, the groups mapped the business models and pricing models of the case companies. For the second joint Zoom meeting, the groups compared outputs and examined case companies' e-business processes, marketing communications, and user experience (UX). In the final seminar, the groups compiled the main similarities and differences in these areas. Students also wrote a written report for peer feedback. The gatherings took place in the classroom via a Zoom.us conference.

We used youtube for sharing introduction videos to other teams. Teachers also communicate via email and students in the learning environment Moodle (Savonia). We decided to write this pedagogical experiment article to encourage experimenting with joint projects internationally, across school and course boundaries.

Keywords:

E-Business, ecommerce, student project collaboration.