International Virtual Exchange

This week I would like to share a SoTL article that may appear to be outside of some of our normal teaching methods, however I believe that almost all of us could integrate attributes of the approach into our courses to enhance student success. The recent article by Lee et al. (2022) is entitled, “The Impact of International Virtual Exchange on Student Success.”

The study shares another context for integrating high impact instructional practices (HIIP) by assessing the effect of global experiences, including international virtual exchange (IVE) and study abroad, on student success, measured as GPA, first year retention, and graduation rate. IVE is an international education modality that focuses on online intercultural interaction among geographically separated students and instructors. It includes peer to peer interaction through facilitated dialogue and collaboration that is generally embedded into academic courses and sustained over time (O’Dowd, 2018). IVE leverages technology to allow students to engage and collaborate with peers from across the world without traveling abroad. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, IVE had been practiced only at a moderate scale, but with travel being curtailed by the pandemic, interest in, and implementation of IVE increased. The Stevens Initiative in their 2021 Survey of the Virtual Exchange Field found that 69% of respondents indicated that their participation in IVE expanded because of the pandemic.

The authors analyzed data from 47,000 students over 10 years at a large U.S. university. Their fixed effects models show that these HIIPs increase average GPA. Using logit models, they found that taking IVE courses positively impacts the probability students are retained and graduate on time. The findings also show that first generation college students, financially disadvantaged students, female students, and Black and African American students who take IVE courses benefit more than their demographic counterparts who do not.

Designing IVE experiences within our courses can be accomplished in any academic discipline, made easier now that more of the world has access and experience with relevant technologies. Historically HIIPs have included first year experiences, learning communities, writing intensive courses, collaborative projects, research, diversity and global learning, capstone courses, and experiential learning activities (Kuh & Schnieder, 2008). Creating project-based learning (PBL) activities that allow/empower students to connect to colleagues and experts via IVE can extend the learning and resource allocation beyond the traditional classroom or regional resources. Structuring teaching methods that help students connect conceptual frameworks with colleagues around the world can diversify the content, rhetoric and outcomes as well as begin students' professional networking abilities. Many of these attributes have been seen in the informal settings research throughout the years (Davis, 2009; Uttl, White, & Gonzalez, 2016).

References

Lee, J., Leibowitz, J., Rezek, J., Millea, M. & Saffo, G. (2022). The impact of international virtual exchange on student success. Journal of International Students, 12(20), 77-95. ISSN: 2162-3104. Doi: 10.32674/jis.v12iS3.4593

Kuh, G. D. & Schneider, C. G. (2008). High impact educational practices: What they are, who has access to them, and why they matter. Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities.

O’Dowd, R. (2018). From telecollaboration to virtual exchange: State of the art and the role of UNICollaboration in moving forward. Journal of Virtual Exchange, 1(23). Research publishing.net.