Abstract:

The use of online audio/video synchronous conferences promotes collaboration among graduate students, practitioners, and researchers seeking to globalize the classroom. Using Zoom, a cloud-based meeting client, graduate students enrolled in on-line courses of Appalachian State University, USA, collaborated with practicing educators in Bamako, Mali in the spring of 2016. The goal of this project was to create a model of classroom level globalization that encourages student interaction and engagement with the use of technologies. The model consists of developing an interactive conference in which participants review and present a summary of their respective course content as applied in a specific context. Graduate students of Business Accounting developed a presentation on the knowledge and skills needed to work for an international company. Another class of graduate students in Instructional Technology (IT) prepared a presentation on the need for planning as a framework for infusing the power of IT into instruction. Another class of graduate students in Instructional Technology presented multiple ways technologies may enhance instruction. Teachers of English in Mali presented the challenges of using technologies in their 9-14 classrooms. The teachers in Mali shared the difficulties of using technologies in instruction, including infrastructure and access limitations; educational policy concerns; and social issues among others. Qualitative and quantitative data indicate a positive impact on the participants.

Approximately thirty percent of Appalachian State University’s students take advantage of study abroad and travel study programs. The majority of these programs are for undergraduate students. This project demonstrated the use of technology to enhance cross-cultural understandings in the area of 21st Century skills without leaving the classroom. Ultimately, this project seeks to suggest a rethinking of the vision, goals and needs for a 21st century educated person and implications for classroom instruction.

Keywords:

Global Classrooms, Online Conferences, on-line courses in Higher Education.