Abstract:

The School of Computer Science at Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) is positioning itself in becoming a truly international department characterised by:
(i) offering a curriculum with a largely global perspective,
(ii) providing mobility opportunities for students and staff to and from international Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), and
(iii) becoming an international institution in providing a global outlook to students.

To achieve this, the School has pioneered new modules with international partners using input from multinational companies to equip students with highly specialised skills with a strong international context.

In this paper, an innovative module called the Global Classroom is presented that simulates the development of group-based, large-scale software applications where all student team members are in different locations. The Global Classroom was developed by the School of Computer Science at DIT and enables participant students to experience the complexities and strategies of working in an international Information and Communications Technology (ICT) company, to share their own experiences and learn from the experiences of other students.

The paper will discuss how the Global Classroom module provides an ‘internationalisation classroom experience’ that is very difficult to deliver using traditional teaching methodologies. In essence, a single virtual classroom is created regardless of the student’s geographical location. The module is delivered completely online with academic mentors meeting their student group weekly using online collaborative meeting tools. The module is specially designed to mimic the design and development of corporate-level software applications, which teaches highly desirable team-based skills to students.

The Global Classroom provides students with the opportunity of being mentored by academic staff with cross-cultural experience and offers a unique learning experience that would otherwise not be available. Learning outcomes discussed in this paper will describe how students learn the intricacies of managing team members as well as mastering new technical skills whilst also having to be mindful of cultural differences, language barriers and different time zones.

Keywords:

Global, Classroom, Internationalisation, Virtual, Module, Methodology, Student, Team, Cultural, Simulate.