INTERNATIONAL VIRTUAL EXCHANGES AND GLOBAL CLASSROOMS: EDUCATING GLOBAL CITIZENS FOR PEACE

Abstract

The outbreak of a global pandemic in the form of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the ever-increasing xenophobia on immigration policies have called for a need to reexamine how universities can internationalize beyond traditional classroom instruction methods. Virtual exchanges have been shown to provide students with a more equal opportunity to develop their global competencies and cultural skills than study abroad. The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of virtual classroom exchanges in higher education for global citizenship development and peace education at a public institution in the United States. It examined university administrators, faculty, and student experiences, perceptions, and voices on global citizenship and peacebuilding within virtual exchange/global classrooms. The study utilized a qualitative case study approach. The qualitative approach consisted of interviews, classroom observations, and document analysis allowing for students and faculty to share their experiences of learning and teaching in the virtual global classroom respectively, and administrators managing the virtual global classroom. The research found that university and departmental administrators served as curators of virtual exchange enabling global citizenship development by providing support via funding, pedagogy models, and navigating several of the international partnerships. Faculty served as facilitators of global citizenship development both within the classroom and outside of the classroom, shaping the project-based projects and challenging their students to think in a non-local mindset. The student participants in the virtual exchanges experienced development of cultural competencies for global citizenship by gaining direct, collaborative experiences working with students of other countries. Promotion of peace education within the virtual exchanges can happen. Albeit as unintentional outcome, students were able to develop much-needed peacebuilding skills that otherwise would not have been possible due to this being the sole form of internalization open to them and their community at the time of the study.