Virtual exchange : collaboration and problem-solving across continents and cultures
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Opinion polls in multiple countries recount a grim story, that people from Western and Muslim-majority countries regard one another as arrogant, intolerant, and violent, and that attitudes are not improving. Student exchange programs, which were widely expanded after World War II and during the Cold War, have become a vital component of public diplomacy in countries across the globe. Designed around the principles of Contact Theory, exchange programs have demonstrated reduction in stereotypes, improvement in attitudes, building of relationships, and development of professional capacity among students from distant backgrounds. However, traditional in-person exchange is an expensive and demanding form of educational experience, one more often available to students from high-income countries, and one that requires even these students to have sufficient means and flexibility to live far from home for extended periods of time. For this reason, in-person exchange programs have proven difficult to scale. Moreover, students with fewer resources and non-dominant forms of social capital, including many from underserved racial and ethnic communities, are much less likely to participate. Along with lost opportunity for these individuals, in-person exchange exposes peers in host countries to a skewed sample of travelers. This Design-Based Research (DBR) comprises an investigation into Virtual Exchange, informed by principles of Contact Theory and related pedagogical approaches, including Problem-Based Learning, Collaborative Learning, and Interdependent Learning. The investigation focuses on whether this new form of learning has potential to reduce pernicious stereotypes, broaden personal perspectives, foster productive relationships, and build professional capacity among students from geographically, economically, and culturally distant backgrounds. Results of extended trials, conducted with faculty partners around the world, suggest that it does, for a small fraction of the cost of in-person exchange, with real potential to increase access.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic resource; remote; computer; online resource |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Place | California |
| Place | [Stanford, California] |
| Publisher | [Stanford University] |
| Copyright date | 2020; ©2020 |
| Publication date | 2020; 2020 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Bowen, Keith |
|---|---|
| Degree supervisor | Goldman, Shelley V |
| Degree supervisor | McDermott, Ray (Raymond Patrick), 1946- |
| Thesis advisor | Goldman, Shelley V |
| Thesis advisor | McDermott, Ray (Raymond Patrick), 1946- |
| Thesis advisor | Thille, Candace |
| Degree committee member | Thille, Candace |
| Associated with | Stanford University, Graduate School of Education. |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|---|
| Genre | Text |
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Keith Bowen. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Graduate School of Education. |
| Thesis | Thesis Ph.D. Stanford University 2020. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2020 by Keith Bowen
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