Technology Enhanced Learning Experience in Intercultural Business Communication Course: A Case Study

Abstract

Intercultural business communication courses have become a must in today’s world and they have already been implemented into university curricula. However, due to their novelty, they still lack detailed methodology how to introduce them to the students using modern communication technologies. The presented paper focuses on hands-on experience of web-based learning in an intercultural business communication course at the Faculty of Information Technology and Management, University of Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic. The course itself was introduced in 2014, as an academic effort to improve intercultural competence of the students of business and IT. However, after a few years, the tutor realised that the standard ways of transferring information were not sufficient and tried to create a supporting online (web-based) course for the participants to help them develop intercultural awareness in a modern interactive way. The students follow classic educational patterns of university curriculum and also they have an opportunity to use the online course with additional materials to enhance their learning experience. The conducted comparative research clearly proved that the students benefited from the introduction of technology enhanced learning experience significantly. The results of the research will thus be very important for curricula makers and for the tutors themselves as well.