Abstract:

In virtual exchange (VE) there has been the misconception that students will automatically develop their intercultural and digital competences merely by being engaged in online interactions with members of other cultures (Lawrence & Spector- Cohen, 2018). In this regard, O’Dowd, Sauro & Spector-Cohen (2019) suggest that pedagogical mentoring is required to assist learners in their intercultural development. However, dealing with intercultural issues in VE is a multidimensional task in which results depend on many factors. Revealing, sometimes, how reality crashes against theory and recommendations. This is the case of the outcomes resulting from the project developed at Universidad Loyola Andalucía (Spain) in the fall semester of 2019. The participants in the study were 27 undergraduate students enrolled in the Early Childhood Education degree taking the subject Inclusion, Multiculturalism and Coeducation. The students took part in an intercultural project combining two different types of online intercultural exchanges. One based on the e- tandem model, for intercultural and foreign language skills (O’Rourke, 2005) in which students from Universidad Loyola Andalucía and University of Sussex (United Kingdom) carried out tasks collaboratively interchanging the expert/novice role in video conference meetings. The other one was an in-class activity based on the Cultura model (Furstenberg, Levet, English, & Maillet, 2001) with four virtual talks given by people from different nationalities (India, Iran, Morocco and Pakistan) who were invited as experts. The experts were provided with a list of topics to cover before their participation. On the other hand, students had two in-class activities, a pre-activity to prepare the session with the experts followed by a post-activity for reflection which were documented by the students and delivered as written assignments comparing previous and current knowledge of each culture. In order to analyse the effectivity of the project, a mixed-methods approach was designed. The intercultural sensitivity (IS) of the students was measured before and after the project using o the Intercultural Sensitivity Scale by Chen & Starosta (2000) in its Spanish version (Fondo & Jacobetty, 2019). In addition, the students’ documents comparing previous and current knowledge about each culture were analysed and a focus group during an in-class session was carried out to deepen into the student’s perception of the project. Results showed that the IS was modified after the experiment especially in items reflecting how students related to other cultures before and after the project. The perception of other cultures also changed being perceived as more open than before. In the focus group, students reported that experts avoided or approached superficially some controversial topics. To contrast students’ perceptions, the experts were interviewed to gather their perspective and behaviour around those controversial topics. Based on the results of the project, the present paper reflects on the concept of IS and the effect of cultural awareness on students arguing against the preconception of positive and negative intercultural outcomes. It also shows the challenges and limitations of VE as a tool for intercultural skills development (Kramsch, 2014) flagging the conceptual, practical and cultural quicksands of the project.

Keywords:

Higher Education, Intercultural skills, Virtual Exchange.