Virtual short-term intercultural exchange as an inclusive educational strategy: Lessons from the collaboration of two classes in South Korea and China

Abstract

ABSTRACT This case study elaborates on the benefits and challenges of lecturer-led, class-level online international collaboration between two colleges in Korea and China, based on the students’ feedback and the lecturers’ reflections. More specifically, this study reports the content of collaboration as group assignments in 2015 and online joint classes in 2018. Students’ reflections on each task were collected and thematically analyzed. The results show that students perceived enhanced understanding of the topics and each other’s regions through the two collaborative activities. Furthermore, informal interactions among the students from the two different cultures appeared to facilitate intercultural understanding and enhance intercultural competence as a result. Students particularly appreciated the inclusive nature of this educational method, which is not bounded by prior educational achievement and financial restrictions. Reflections from the two lecturers further illustrate the challenges with joint class organization, including class scheduling, aligning course content, language issues, and technical problems. This study addresses consideration for international class collaboration among tertiary educational institutions at the class level in the field of tourism and leisure.