Developing Cultural Competency in Engineering through Transnational Distance Learning

2014 ◽  
pp. 1571-1589 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie Moore ◽  
Dominik May ◽  
Kari Wold
Keyword(s):  
Distance Learning ◽  
Online Education ◽  
Study Abroad ◽  
Cultural Competency ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
The United States ◽  
Intercultural Awareness ◽  
International Experiences ◽  
Course Sequences

While cultural competency is a stated priority for engineering education in the United States, as emphasized by Outcome H in the ABET standards, it is often difficult to engage students in immersive international experiences that develop intercultural awareness. Undergraduate engineering students face packed curricula with little or no room for languages and an often unforgiving structure that puts them a year out of course sequences if they do travel for study abroad. In this case study, the authors examine how online education can be a transformational factor in this challenge. When designed to create interactive, engaging learning across nations, online education can support joint international experiences that develop cultural competency without requiring the time and expenses that are often a barrier for students. This online model could easily be scaled up to offer more students an international collaboration opportunity without institutional reliance on study abroad. This online transnational distance learning approach saves students and universities time and money, while accomplishing the intended professional competencies.

Developing Cultural Competency in Engineering through Transnational Distance Learning

2012 ◽  
pp. 210-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie Moore ◽  
Dominik May ◽  
Kari Wold
Keyword(s):  
Distance Learning ◽  
Online Education ◽  
Study Abroad ◽  
Cultural Competency ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
The United States ◽  
Intercultural Awareness ◽  
International Experiences ◽  
Course Sequences

While cultural competency is a stated priority for engineering education in the United States, as emphasized by Outcome H in the ABET standards, it is often difficult to engage students in immersive international experiences that develop intercultural awareness. Undergraduate engineering students face packed curricula with little or no room for languages and an often unforgiving structure that puts them a year out of course sequences if they do travel for study abroad. In this case study, the authors examine how online education can be a transformational factor in this challenge. When designed to create interactive, engaging learning across nations, online education can support joint international experiences that develop cultural competency without requiring the time and expenses that are often a barrier for students. This online model could easily be scaled up to offer more students an international collaboration opportunity without institutional reliance on study abroad. This online transnational distance learning approach saves students and universities time and money, while accomplishing the intended professional competencies.

scholarly journals Gender and Language Learning at Home and Abroad

2009 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eton Churchill
Keyword(s):  
Study Abroad ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
The United States ◽  
Oral Proficiency Interview ◽  
Japanese Male ◽  
Field Notes ◽  
Learning At Home ◽  
At Home

This case study investigates the language learning experiences, both at home and abroad, of a male Japanese high school learner of English. The qualitative data consist of field notes taken in Japan and the United States, interview data, and a semi-structured diary. Proficiency data include an oral proficiency interview (OPI), an institutional TOEFL, a dictation, and a narrative recorded immediately following the study abroad experience. By examining dynamics at different levels of analysis, it is argued that gender played a significant role in shaping short-term and long-term language learning opportunities and outcomes. This case study contributes to the study abroad literature in two ways. First, it adds a case study of a Japanese male to the literature on the gendered experience abroad. Secondly, it allows us to investigate how language study at home and abroad differs for a single learner, and how gender contributes to these differences. 本研究は、一人の日本人男子高校生の日本とアメリカにおける英語学習経験を調査したケーススタディである。日米両国で記録したフィールドノート、インタビュー、記載様式をある程度規定した日記などの質的データを資料とした。習熟度に関する資料としては、OPI と呼ばれる会話測定能力テスト、TOEFL、ディクテーション、留学経験直後に録音した体験談などを使用した。多様なレベルのダイナミクスを検証し、ジェンダーが、短期・長期両方にわたる言語学習の機会と成果を得るために、重要な役割を果たしていることを論じた。本研究は、日本人男性のケーススタディである点、個人においても母国と外国とでは言語学習の方法が異なり、ジェンダーがその違いにどのように影響しているかを探ることができた点において、海外留学体験におけるジェンダーの影響を扱った研究分野に貢献するものである。

scholarly journals Developing Global Competencies through International Teaching: Using Critical Cosmopolitan Theory to Compare Case Studies of Two Study Abroad Programs

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 105-120
Author(s):  
Erik Jon Byker ◽  
Tingting Xu
Keyword(s):  
Study Abroad ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Teacher Candidates ◽  
Study Abroad Programs ◽  
Global Competencies ◽  
Global Citizens ◽  
Intercultural Awareness ◽  
International Teaching ◽  
Study Abroad Program

For students to become global citizens they need globally competent teachers. The purpose of this article is to describe and compare the development of global competencies in teacher candidates who participated in international teaching-focused study abroad programs. The article is framed by Critical Cosmopolitan Theory (Byker, 2013), which offers a lens for the development of global competencies through the fusion of critical consciousness (Freire, 1970) and cosmopolitanism (Appiah, 2010). In the field of teacher education, study abroad experiences can help enhance teacher candidates’ commitment to culturally responsive teaching practices (Gay, 2002) and intercultural awareness (Hammer, Bennett, & Wiseman, 2003). The article reports on two case studies of study abroad programs for U.S. teacher candidates. One case study focuses on a study abroad program in China (n=13) and the other case study focuses on a study abroad program in South Africa (n=22). The article compares the teacher candidates’ perceptions of their study abroad experiences in relationship to the development of global competencies.

scholarly journals Catalyzing Cultural and Global Competencies: Engaging Preservice Teachers in Study Abroad to Expand the Agency of Citizenship

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 84-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik Jon Byker ◽  
S. Michael Putman
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Study Abroad ◽  
Mixed Methods Research ◽  
Research University ◽  
The United States ◽  
Global Competencies ◽  
Intercultural Awareness ◽  
International Teaching ◽  
Study Abroad Program ◽  
The Impact

Study abroad is an experiential learning pedagogy that has many positive outcomes. In the field of teacher education, study abroad provides opportunity for the development of global competencies and agency. Similarly, study abroad can help expand notions of what it means to be a global citizen. This article examines the effects of preservice teachers engaging in a study abroad program to South Africa. Critical Cosmopolitan Theory provides the article’s theoretical frame for the investigation of the impact of this study abroad program. The study’s participant sample comprised preservice teachers from a large research university located in the Southeast region of the United States ( N = 21). Using a mixed-methods research design, the study examined the participants’ perceptions of their study abroad and international teaching experiences. It was found that the study abroad experience was a catalyst for enhancing preservice teachers’ global competencies, intercultural awareness, and cultural responsiveness as the participants widened their perspectives of what it means to be a critically cosmopolitan educator and citizen.

Faculty Participation in Online Higher Education

2018 ◽  
pp. 2000-2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael S. Hoffman
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Online Education ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
The United States ◽  
Faculty Participation ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Online Higher Education ◽  
Student Demand ◽  
Education Report

In the past decade, enrollments in distance education, and specifically online education, have grown dramatically in the United States. According to the 2009 Sloan Report (), enrollments in online courses increased from 9.6% of total postsecondary enrollments in 2002 to 25.3% in 2009. Unfortunately, a number of barriers exist that may result in an inability of higher education institutions to provide quality online education programming in sufficient scale to meet the expected student demand. The Managing Online Education report () identifies the resistance of faculty towards teaching in an online environment as foremost among ten factors that “impede institutional efforts to expand online education programs” (p. 1). An understanding of the factors that both motivate and discourage faculty member participation in online education programs is critical if institutions are to leverage their existing faculty to meet the current and future demand for online education. This case study first presents a number of motivating and inhibiting factors and then discusses how St. Bonaventure University leveraged these factors in an attempt to boost faculty participation in online education.

scholarly journals Distance Learning under the Covid-19 Conditions within Architectural Education

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emel Unver ◽  
Asli Sungur
Keyword(s):  
Distance Learning ◽  
Online Education ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Architectural Education ◽  
Spring Semester ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Learning Platforms ◽  
Academic Year

Distance learning is one of the means of education used in various levels, from primary school to college. However, distance learning in architectural education differs from other disciplines, as architectural education is design-based with predominantly applied courses. As the spring semester of the 2019/20 academic year had to continue online due to the Covid-19 pandemic and it remained uncertain whether or when face-to-face (FtF) education will start till the end of the term, the necessity to focus on online education suddenly raised in architectural faculties. This study aims to start a discussion on how to proceed with online architectural education, focusing on quality, defining the fundamentals, and proposing suggestions within this scope. In order to achieve this aim, research on the evaluation of the existing distance learning platforms of universities, the differences between the implementations of theoretical and applied courses, the advantages and disadvantages of the process are made. For this purpose, a comprehensive literature review on universities that provide fully online, hybrid and conventional (FtF) education throughout the world is conducted, given and discussed in the paper. After the research on ongoing processes, a case study to determine the experiences, opinions and approaches of students and academic staff with the scope of emergency remote teaching is designed and conducted. Together with the findings of the review and the case study, the challenges, strengths and opportunities of online architectural education are discussed and evaluated with a focus on maintaining and raising the quality of the education. In conclusion, suggestions and proposals are made and presented to be applied and developed in architecture faculties’ future online education experiences.

scholarly journals Utilizing Comparative Education as a Platform for Deepening Student Engagement with Catholic Social Teaching: An Exploratory Case Study in Study-Abroad

2021 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 170-186
Author(s):  
Bryan Meadows ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Student Engagement ◽  
Study Abroad ◽  
Catholic Education ◽  
Comparative Education ◽  
Catholic Social Teaching ◽  
The United States ◽  
Social Teaching ◽  
Catholic Higher Education ◽  
Exploratory Case Study

Central to the mission of Catholic higher education are the themes of Catholic social teaching. This contribution to the Education in Practice section recounts a 15-week undergraduate course that deepened student engagement in Catholic social teaching themes through comparative education studies and a study abroad experience to Japan. A detailed description of the course’s main segments draws on artifacts of student coursework and post-interviews. The contribution of comparative education is that students are provided a platform upon which they can explore deeper, underlying principles to individual Catholic social teaching themes. This contribution further provides practitioners step-by-step guidance in how to develop similar learning experiences for students in their university context. This report of Catholic Education at the classroom-level fits into the existing knowledge of how universities in the United States are engaging undergraduates in Catholic social teaching themes, as an expression of Catholic mission.

Faculty Participation in Online Higher Education

2018 ◽  
pp. 1148-1161
Author(s):  
Michael S. Hoffman
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Online Education ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
The United States ◽  
Faculty Participation ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Online Higher Education ◽  
Student Demand ◽  
Education Report

In the past decade, enrollments in distance education, and specifically online education, have grown dramatically in the United States. According to the 2009 Sloan Report (), enrollments in online courses increased from 9.6% of total postsecondary enrollments in 2002 to 25.3% in 2009. Unfortunately, a number of barriers exist that may result in an inability of higher education institutions to provide quality online education programming in sufficient scale to meet the expected student demand. The Managing Online Education report () identifies the resistance of faculty towards teaching in an online environment as foremost among ten factors that “impede institutional efforts to expand online education programs” (p. 1). An understanding of the factors that both motivate and discourage faculty member participation in online education programs is critical if institutions are to leverage their existing faculty to meet the current and future demand for online education. This case study first presents a number of motivating and inhibiting factors and then discusses how St. Bonaventure University leveraged these factors in an attempt to boost faculty participation in online education.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document