Share Paper: Creating Intercultural Learning Space Online: Discourse between Home and International Students

1. Jane Jackson, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, China

Abstract: With the internationalization of university campuses, it is often assumed that local and international students will interact with each other and experience significant gains in intercultural understanding. Increasingly, however, education abroad researchers are finding that international students spend much of their time with co-nationals and have little interaction with host nationals. This presentation focuses on the online elements of a credit-bearing, blended intercultural transitions course that brings together students with recent or current international experience. As the participants engage in guided, critical reflection (online and in class), they cultivate a more ‘intercultural mindset’. The presenter summarizes the lessons learned from ...