Abstract:

The ability to work successfully in intercultural teams is considered as a key competence for the global labour market. In the past, the acquisition of this competence was usually directly related to physical mobility, for example in form of a semester or an internship abroad. Nowadays, social software platforms enable virtual mobility as collaboration in international teams regardless of the physical location. The project module "Collaboration in the Virtual Classroom" offered at the Chair of Business Information Systems Engineering, especially Information Management facilitates this virtual mobility in the innovative teaching-learning setting of "Virtual Collaborative Learning" (VCL). In the past 20 years, the established online format has been intensively researched and continuously enhanced. Small mixed student groups work together on realistic task scenarios as part of a 5 ECTS project. The development of intercultural awareness, interdisciplinarity, collaborative skills and media competence are central learning objectives. VCL is based on four pivotal points: “Professionalised pedagogical support” by specially qualified E-Tutors; “realistic cases and working tasks” to reach a maximum of interaction between team members; a “technical platform” providing advanced technology for collaborative work; and “learning analytics & information visualisation”.

As a best-practice report, these pivotal points are presented with a concrete example of the current 63rd edition of the course in spring 2020. Despite COVID 19, forty German and Iranian students worked successfully together to develop solutions for a sustainable transformation of the gas and oil industry in the Middle East on a collaborative online platform.

The VCL setting promotes the location-independent exchange of ideas and the gathering of experience in international collaboration. Despite lacking travel opportunities, students can gain an insight into their potential international workplace of tomorrow while working from home.

Keywords:

Virtual Collaborative Learning, intercultural teams, virtual mobility, group learning, interdisciplinarity.