Abstract:

There is growing developing consensus regarding the importance of certain key competences in national and international education systems. Among these are communication, collaboration, (ESG, 2015; Lumina, 2014; UNESCO, 2009) and global awareness that supports the development of social responsibility and constructive participation in a changing world (NAFSA, n.d.).

Instructional opportunities for the development of communication, collaboration, and global competences are multifaceted and may be facilitated with 21st century tools. These technologies offer instructors the opportunity to develop and integrate experiences that are appropriate for the goals of their respective learning environments while navigating financial and logistical limitations of international travel. Students within these mediated environments can still reap the benefits of these mediated international experiences especially when given the opportunity to communicate, collaborate and learn with international peers.

This paper describes the development process of an international communication experience between American and Israeli university students. This project’s course professors – one from the US and the other from Israel – met at an international education conference. They decided to invite their respective students, in an introductory classroom assessment course (the US students) and an introductory course in organizational psychology (the Israeli students) to participate voluntarily in an international-communication task for extra credit.

This is Phase 1 of the project.
The Phase 1 task was to:
a) correspond via mail and 2) write a report concerning the similarities and differences between their experiences as students in each country. The results of this phase indicated both participating US students and Israeli students felt the experience was beneficial and positive. Despite this positive response, we encountered several difficulties regarding the design and implementation. These included:
• uneven participation rates and ratio (US students: Israeli students)
• synchronizing of calendars and the need for clear deadlines
• the need for specific, structured and more meaningful deliverables that are related to the courses material for both US and Israeli students, and
• an extended preparation phase for both US and Israeli students
In Phase 2 we are implementing the lessons learned from Phase 1 and designed a task with the following requirements and changes.
• The creation of a structured 2-3-week task, with requirements built into both the US and Israeli syllabi with clear communication goals and assignment deliverables.
• The assignment of participating students to international pairs.
• The assignment of clear participation roles that are directly related to each student’s career goals.
• The possible removal of extra credit in favor of mandatory participation.
• The inclusion of at least one computer mediated meeting (e.g. via skype).
• Clear articulation of each student’s role within the pair.
• Ensuring both institutions’ course calendars were synchronized to accommodate assignment expectations.

We will present a resulting suggested roadmap for the design and implementation of an international communication task.

Keywords:

Global competence, computer-mediated communication, undergraduate education, collaborative international education, psychology, pre-service teacher education.