Promoting International Perspectives through Self-Selected Online Texts

• Published in: Frontiers (Boston, Mass.) Mass.), 2022-11, Vol.34 (4), p.317-328
• Main Authors: Humphreys, Gareth, Hirschel, Rob
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Citizenship Education; College Freshmen; Electronic Learning; Electronic Publishing; Foreign Countries; Intercultural Programs; Self Evaluation (Individuals); Social Problems; Study Abroad; Web Sites
• ISSN: 1085-4568; 2380-8144
• DOI: 10.36366/frontiers.v34i4.754

In the ongoing pandemic context, short-term study abroad opportunities remain limited for many students. As a result, there has been a need for universities to develop educational innovations for home context learning to meet institutional intercultural learning aims. The purpose of this action research paper is to outline how a small-scale e-learning innovation was designed based on characteristics of intercultural citizenship education to encourage connections with, and responsibility towards, communities beyond national borders. The innovation involved critical exploration of a student-selected social issue using online texts, and reflections and blogging on the issue from individual, local, national, and international perspectives. A qualitative content analysis of reflections in blogposts of 49 students showed that the majority expressed connections with intercultural citizenship, though a minority rejected international identifications. The paper offers a timely and systematically designed intercultural e-learning innovation, implementable in other contexts, to support intercultural learning in a context of limited study abroad.