Abstract
Today’s era of societies comprise of one coherent global village, in which learning about and understanding other cultures is crucial. Fu-Jen Catholic University (FJCU), a private university in northern Taiwan, has joined the “Global Academic Initiatives” (GAI) coordinated by East Carolina University (ECU) in USA since 2007. A course entitled Cross-Cultural Communication: Global Understanding is offered in FJCU to allow students in the English department to discuss cultural topics with students from two other countries via Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for authentic contacts. The ICT tools support both the synchronous and asynchronous mode of communication. This paper describes the instructional design of the Cross-Cultural Communication: Global Understanding course including the pre-connection trainings and the connection discussions. For the post-connection part, students’ learning and reflections will be discussed along with their e-learning styles. This example could offer other educators who are interested in designing similar intercultural communication courses.
Highlights
In this day and age of global villages, cultural empathy and understanding are of great importance, as one comes in contact with people of various backgrounds frequently, either for the purposes of learning and teaching or business communication
This paper describes the instructional design of the Cross-Cultural Communication: Global Understanding course offered by the Department of English Language and Literature in Fu-Jen Catholic University (FJCU) in Taiwan, which joined the “Global Academic Initiatives” (GAI) coordinated by East Carolina University (ECU) in USA since 2007
Through Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) tools, students are able to learn through situated learning
Summary
In this day and age of global villages, cultural empathy and understanding are of great importance, as one comes in contact with people of various backgrounds frequently, either for the purposes of learning and teaching or business communication. With a variety of digital media appropriate for teaching and learning, without a doubt, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) currently play an important role in intercultural communications and learning [1]. This paper describes the instructional design of the Cross-Cultural Communication: Global Understanding course offered by the Department of English Language and Literature in Fu-Jen Catholic University (FJCU) in Taiwan, which joined the “Global Academic Initiatives” (GAI) coordinated by East Carolina University (ECU) in USA since 2007. Students in this course are given the opportunity to experience authentic contacts with counterparts. Through ICT tools, students are able to learn through situated learning
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