Abstract:

Academic communications courses, whether online or face-to-face, can provide opportunities for learning and personal growth beyond presentation and writing skills and language development in the case of second language environments. This article presents our insights from the results of our cross-cultural communication exchange project and an analysis of student posts for the degree of “cultural exchange and learning” that took place in the virtual setting. We will also discuss project design, challenges faced, student feedback and best practices in order to support educators who may be inspired to integrate these learning experiences in their courses.

Our main goal was to foster global competencies such as cultural appreciation through direct contact and learning, the ability to communicate across cultures and to increase awareness and sensitivity to cultural differences. To achieve these goals we developed and implemented a joint China/ Israel cross cultural communications project using Padlet, a free virtual bulletin board.

The project took place in fall 2020 in a blended classroom and online learning environment with undergraduate business students in Israel and in an online learning environment (“live” lectures via zoom) with undergraduate engineering students in China. Working in class (virtually) students and instructors logged onto the platform and the instructor monitored the live postings on the virtual bulletin board. Using the Padlet platform, students exchanged information and shared ideas on predetermined categories, including: introductions with photos, favourite tourist spot, simple language teaching, description of a secret skill and an open question. We modeled each category with a personal post to illustrate the depth of content required. Every post from a student in one class required a reply from a student in the other class.

The Padlet project proved to be a successful way to introduce each class of students to the other, both on a group and individual level. There were over 200 individual posts, with an average of two replies per post. While many initial postings were uniform in content, creativity and conversations emerged on a wide variety of topics. Cultural curiosity and cultural learning were fostered. Although two posts needed to be moderated due to unintentional inappropriate content, cultural cues were quickly learned and adapted into practice.

Although the goals of the project were met, there were challenges along the way. These challenges included initial shyness on the part of the majority of Chinese students, logistical challenges of working across three time zones, language issues, and some cultural biases that needed to be addressed on an individual and group basis.

Keywords:

China, Cross Cultural Communications, Israel, Padlet Online learning platform, Web 2.0 teaching tools.