Educational Exchange Research Articles

Design Thinking Approach to Global Collaboration and Empowered Learning: Virtual Exchange as Innovation in a Teacher Education Course

This study discusses a design-thinking approach for a virtual exchange intended to introduce pre-service teachers to global collaboration and empowered learning through the use of educational technology. Principles of design-thinking (i.e., empathy, ideation, and testing) were aligned with broader educational goals of culturally responsive practices and metacognition. Findings suggested that participants in the study (n = 36), pre-service teachers in the US, drew on individual strengths, cosmopolitan interests in global partnership, and problem-solving strategies to leverage educational technology to achieve learning goals. This paper contributes valuable insights, and recommendations for practice, about how to conduct virtual exchanges in higher education and K-12 learning settings.

Virtual exchanges in language teacher education: Facilitating reflection on teaching practice through the use of video

Language teachers must be equipped with technological skills to respond to the needs of 21st‐century classrooms (Guichon & Hauck, 2011). The virtual exchange can be used as an innovative tool for developing these competences by connecting culturally and linguistically diverse populations through technologies. The study reported in this article explored how teacher candidates develop their ability to reflect on their teaching practice through virtual exchanges. Sixteen participants from universities in the United States and Poland met weekly in cross‐cultural teams via Zoom videoconferences to discuss cultural topics and subsequently reflected on their collaborative, interactive experience by watching their recorded synchronous sessions. Open‐ended questions and postproject structured interviews were analyzed through NVivo. By analyzing participants’ reflections on the potential of cross‐cultural exchanges for educational purposes and professional development, this study offers implications for the innovation and internationalization of curricula (Rubin & Guth, 2015) through virtual exchange and provides an example of how to integrate virtual exchanges into language teacher preparation programs (Dooly & Sadler, 2013). Furthermore, the results show that the development of participants’ ability to reflect on their teaching practice was facilitated through the use of video‐recorded interactions with other teacher candidates.

Non-native Professors' Adaption to Online Teaching during COVID-19: A Case Study

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, countries ordered or suggested schools to close their buildings. International education exchange and cooperation have been disrupted. Academic exchanges program between professors, instructors, and students from different countries has been suspended. International education exchange and cooperation strategies need adaptation. This paper discusses how to effectively implement online teaching to adapt to the international education exchange under the epidemic, taking a non-native professor who participated in the international education cooperation program and taught online courses for Chinese students as a case. The study combined choosing an online course platform, identifying the teaching content with accommodating the teaching and learning strategy, and discussing learning outcomes of this case for international education cooperation. The results show that: adjusting the teaching content, teaching strategies, and choosing the appropriate online course platform, could promote students’ learning achievement of international online courses. This paper proposes that under the epidemic, higher education exchanges between countries could continue strong international cooperation through adjusting exchange strategy actively, and applying educational information technology effectively.

Development of a Remote Online Collaborative Medical School Pathology Curriculum with Clinical Correlations, across Several International Sites, through the Covid-19 Pandemic

IntroductionDue to the Covid-19 social distancing restrictions, in March 2020, Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar decided to replace students’ clinical instruction with novel online electives. Hence, we implemented an innovative online and remote pathology curriculum, anchored on virtual microscopy and Zoom videoconferencing: ideal tools to support online teaching.ObjectiveTo assess a new curriculum implementation at Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar.Materials and MethodsThis for-credit, 2-week elective included 6 synchronous Zoom sessions where complex clinicopathological cases were discussed in small groups. We used open access digital microscopy slides from the University of Leeds’ Virtual Pathology Library (http://www.virtualpathology.leeds.ac.uk/slides/library/). Students independently prepared for these sessions by reviewing cases, slides, readings, and questions in advance (asynchronous self-directed learning anchored on a flipped classroom model), and wrote a final review of a case. An assessment and feedback were given to each student.ResultsFour elective iterations were offered to a total of 29 students, with learners and faculty spread over 4 countries. During the Zoom sessions, students controlled the digital slides and offered their own diagnoses, followed by group discussions to strengthen autonomy and confidence. We surveyed learners about the elective’s performance (program evaluation). Students conveyed high levels of satisfaction about the elective’s overall quality, their pathology learning and online interactions, with minimal challenges related to the remote nature of the course.Discussion and ConclusionsTechnological innovations mitigate sudden disruptions in medical education. A remote curriculum allows instruction at any distance, at any time, from anywhere, enhancing educational exchanges, flexibility and globalization in medical education.

Opportunities and Challenges of Socio-Cultural Cooperation in China’s Belt and Road Initiative in Indonesia

In addition to developing international relations, trade and infrastructure financing, China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) also includes efforts to build human relations and socio-cultural exchanges between China and other countries. Human relations and socio-cultural exchanges have not been widely discussed in previous China’s BRI studies, such as labor migration, tourism relations, education, and social and cultural exchanges. All sectors have the potential to further increase in the amount and larger scale of cooperation in the future. This paper examined the extent to which this cooperation has developed in Indonesia. Furthermore, what are the constraints, to what extent are the critical roles of human relations and socio-cultural exchanges, and what matters should be followed up to strengthen relations between Indonesia and China?

Confucius Institute and the Development of Chinese Language Teaching in Cameroon

Cameroon and China have been cooperating and exchanging in several areas for a long time. In the educational sector, the Confucius Institute plays an important and ‘unique’ role in the materialisation of the educational and cultural exchange between the two countries. In recent years, the institute is experiencing a resurgence of interest in Chinese language and culture among young Cameroonians. The number of learners enrolled in the Confucius Institute is increasing, and the realisations of the Institute are obvious, it includes the grant of scholarships to study in China, the training programmes for local Chinese teachers and the opportunities of work for graduated students. Nevertheless, despite the success and various realisations of the Confucius Institute in Cameroon, some issues influencing the performance of this institution and the quality of the cooperation need to be addressed. It remains necessary to conduct some reforms on the management of the cooperation to attend an effective and successful educational and cultural exchange and mutual understanding. Keywords: Confucius Institute, Cameroon, China, Educational and Cultural exchange, Chinese teaching. DOI: 10.7176/JEP/12-3-05 Publication date: January 31 st 2021

Strategic consulting and capacity building in US humanitarian policy

Strategic advising and capacity building are closely interconnected, as they involve the deployment to foreign countries of American advisers who will act by strengthening democratization, attracting military and police contingents, civil administrators, providing humanitarian assistance, economic stabilization and infrastructure development. All of these instruments are aimed at strengthening American influence everywhere and are used by Washington through the activities of American advisers dealing working in developing and post-conflict countries. The practice of the U.S. strategic advising and capacity building exists since the 1940s, during the Cold war it was aimed at confrontation with the socialist system. The role of advisers in advancing interests is enormous and ubiquitous: from Ukraine to Syria, from Somalia to Haiti. It is closely related to other instruments of American humanitarian policy: public diplomacy, educational exchanges, development assistance. The transplant of US civil society concepts to foreign countries is doubtful, but meets American goals. The author evaluates US system of strategic advising and capacity building analysing activities of federal ministries and agencies. The hypothesis of the article that Washington would use these instrumwnts more broadly, and theyvwould be oriented more explicitly towards national defence interests. The article includes SWOT analysis of the US system of strategic advising and capacity building.

ЛИБЕРАЛИЗАЦИЯ ИММИГРАЦИОННОГО ЗАКОНОДАТЕЛЬСТВА КНР СКВОЗЬ ПРИЗМУ АФРИКАНОФОБИИ

The article discusses the draft "Regulations of the People's Republic of China on the Management of Permanent Residence of Foreigners" (Exposure Draft) 2020, the adoption of which in the future will allow African students to obtain a residence permit in China. The new rules introduce concessions for foreign citizens in obtaining permanent residence, which is part of the PRC's policy of attracting highly qualified specialists. Attracting African students to the PRC is part of the “Go abroad” economic strategy. Through educational exchanges, Beijing also participates in the formation of African political and business elites, oriented not towards China. Further, the author examines the popular anti-immigrant theses of a professor at Beijing Normal University, according to whom the relaxation of immigration control will lead China to Islamization. The professor's article received a wide response in the Chinese segment of the Internet, as many Chinese people are unhappy that foreign citizens will receive more rights and privileges. Under the new Regulation, foreigners, for example, are not subject to forced family planning. A new wave of Africanophobia has risen during the COVID-19 pandemic. African migrants were discriminated against. All this is related to the problem of adaptation of African migrants, since China does not provide for institutional mechanisms to facilitate the successful integration of African migrants. The impossibility for the majority of African migrants who want to stay in China after graduation from Chinese universities and meet the listed requirements leads to their illegal status, which in turn contributes to the formation of Afro-Towns and criminal activities.

How Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) are Reshaping China's Soft Power?

A rising and globalizing China has evoked mixed reactions. There is a growing body of literature that highlights China's military hegemonic tendencies. This has overshadowed the Chinese efforts at promoting co-operative interdependence, of which the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a symbol and emerging reality. This paper contextualizes the BRI, along with the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), to examine and explore the symbols, tools and contours of the Chinese soft power. This study contends that, despite apprehensions by critics about China's motives underlying the BRI, for the participant countries it offers infrastructural development through economic investment and educational exchanges that showcase Chinese culture and its soft power. Do the participating countries find these offers appealing? This raises two critical questions: Does China's economic development oriented soft power through BRI obviates its military designs? Does China have the tools that Joseph Nye conceptualizes for the soft power that a global power requires? This study makes a critical appraisal of Joseph Nye's concept of Soft Power and analyses how the Chinese scholars and policy makers are transforming its usage and conceptual applicability as China stands for globalization, multilateralism, common and shared goals for the planet and humanity. Given COVID 19, China's soft power appeal could have political and security implications for the global world order.

Scientific and technological cooperation between Russia and China in Chinese mass media

Nowadays, Russia and China are the most important partners for each other. Cooperation is developing in all areas of bilateral cooperation: from politics and economics to culture and security. Today, a large number of articles are also devoted to Russian-Chinese scientific and technological cooperation, which plays an increasing role in bilateral relations. Meanwhile, there is a shortage of studies that would aim to analyze publications in the Chinese media. This kind of analysis is necessary to better understand the perception of the image of Russian achievements in science and technology in the People’s Republic of China. At the same time, it will prevent potential disputes in sensitive areas. In addition, given the analysis in the Chinese media, it is possible to identify the concrete areas of interest for both sides. Successful cooperation between Russia and China in science and technology is based, on the one hand, on stable interstate relations which have the character of a strategic partnership, and, on the other hand, on mutually beneficial and long-term projects in business, joint scientific research and educational exchanges. At the same time, there are certain disproportions in Russian-Chinese scientific and technological cooperation. Russia is an important source of technical talents and know-how for Chinese partners, but the protection of intellectual property rights, which, unfortunately, is not always respected in China, is hardly discussed at the state level. In addition, there is not enough official support for cooperation in the field of information technology. Even if there are no problems that need to be solved at the highest level in this industry, it seems important to include it among the priority areas for cooperation for further development.

Приоритеты интернационализации региональных университетов Японии (на примере префектуры Аомори)

The subject of the research is internationalization priorities of regional universities in Aomori Prefecture (Japan). The purpose is to point to the differences in approaches depending on specialization of base city and university ownership. The main method is comparative analysis of data from official webpages of three major universities in Aomori Prefecture. As a result, state university in cultural and historical city leans towards educational exchanges in humanities; private university in industrial city gives priority to international collaboration in technical sciences; and municipal university in administrative city attracts researchers and representatives of arts

Effectiveness, efficiency, engagement: Mapping the impact of pre-lecture quizzes on educational exchange

Our study addresses a systemic issue facing higher education – a lack of rigorous educational research alongside new technology-assisted ways of teaching and learning. The issue highlights the disciplinary disconnect as many academics do not research outside their discipline, yet are tasked with educational modernisation through trying out new educational technology. Addressing this issue, we present our conceptual framework, the course transaction space (CT-space), and use it to analyse the impact of an intervention we designed that involved the use of regular online pre-lecture quizzes in a university mathematics course. The aim of the intervention was to optimise the effect of distributed (spaced) practice on long-term retention. Our findings suggest that a relatively small change in course instruction can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of educational exchange. Our analyses of data from multiple sources provide evidence that our intervention resulted in a sustained increase in the frequency of students’ engagement with the content, increased attendance of lectures, and improved grades. Additionally, we discuss the impact of our intervention on the quality of student engagement with reference to competence related beliefs and self-efficacy. Finally, we discuss how our intervention can be used in other contexts for supporting an evidence-based approach to teaching and learning.
 Implications for practice or policy 
 
 For teachers designing an intervention with the aim of improving students’ learning engagement during a course of tertiary study, we advise incorporating a series of frequent low stakes online quizzes with low level of difficulty.
 For students, these will act as an incentive, enabling improvement in the frequency of their learning engagement and its quality.
 The course transaction space (CT-space) model can be used to explore and analyse the impact of a variety of interventions introduced in tertiary courses through the lens of engagement.

Postcards From: An Intercultural Exchange in Design Education

Postcards From: An Intercultural Exchange in Design Education

Africa and China Higher Education Cooperation and Exchange: Effects of the Short-term Seminars

Africa and China Higher Education Cooperation and Exchange: Effects of the Short-term Seminars

Learning through Esports in Innovation Practice on Electrical Technology

The innovation practice on electrical technology was constructed in April 2018. We practice learning skills through esports by holding esports events into training curriculum. Esports is attracting attention as something of diversity. It is used in the medical and welfare fields, regional revitalization, education, and international exchange. In particular, the medical and welfare fields, utilization as parasports, expansion of exchange opportunities on the theme of esports and disabilities, and efforts as a hobby that can be enjoyed for a lifetime have begun. Since esports can be exchanged online, it is possible to play against anyone anytime, anywhere, and it is highly competitive and is implemented with abundant titles. This esports is most suitable for interest-driven learning, and it is possible to learn basic skills of working adults and communication technology through planning and management of esports competitions in innovation practice on electrical technology. In this paper, we report on learning through esports in innovation practice on electrical technology and examine how to incorporate esports into the educational curriculum.

The Necessity of East-West Educational and Cultural Exchange in an Era of Risk and Challenge

The Necessity of East-West Educational and Cultural Exchange in an Era of Risk and Challenge

Soft Power: A Driver of the Rise of the Treasury of a Language

This paper argues that through soft power techniques including cultural missions and education exchange programs, the treasury of language expands. Speakers of a language deposit a number of language aspects such as grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation into the treasury of that language. If an expanded treasury is a concern, soft power techniques should be adopted. The English language treasury has been in the rise as a result of cultural missions and education exchange programs, namely run by the British Council and AMIDEAST.

Global Market of Highly Qualified Specialist under Pandemic Conditions

The article examines the state of the global market of highly qualified specialists under the pandemic conditions (demand, supply, and the main areas of activity). The author points at an increased importance of such an economic resource as knowledge. In most countries there is a need for qualified, healthy, and entrepreneurial specialists. The labor force began to be evaluated not by quantity, but by quality. The author gives data on “global talent index” how to prepare and keep professionals in the largest countries of the world. This paper pays special attention to entrepreneurial talent that is being encouraged, developed, and has an impact on relative competitiveness of various economies. The author indicates intensive movements of professionals between countries because of intra-firm transitions, common programs because of professional exchange, international movements of scientific personnel. Due to digitalization scientific connections are expanding between countries and effectiveness of cooperation in the online format is increasing. The role of a student mobility is increasing in an international educational exchange as one of the forms of an international migration of highly qualified specialists. The author defines the main travel directions of scientific personnel such as the USA, western European countries, South Korea, Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore, and others. It is established that during the pandemic restrictive measures have dramatically reduced the inflow of highly qualified specialists to all countries of the world, including Russia. There is an increase in unemployment in Canada, Norway, Spain, Sweden, the USA and in other countries. During this period, an international outsourcing becomes particularly important allowing to penetrate to the professional labor market at closed borders. As a result, start-ups in the form of online exhibitions have appeared. During the pandemic scientists, information technology specialists, engineers, teachers, and doctors have become popular. The author highlights the problems at the labor market occurred in pandemic terms and indicates an increased demand for all kinds of digital projects with the participation of Russian professionals.

НОРМАТИВНО-ПРАВОВОЕ РЕГУЛИРОВАНИЕ АКАДЕМИЧЕСКОГО ВЗАИМОДЕЙСТВИЯ РОССИИ И ГЕРМАНИИ В РАМКАХ БОЛОНСКОГО ПРОЦЕССА: ПРОБЛЕМЫ СОВЕРШЕНСТВОВАНИЯ

The article is devoted to the problems of improving the legal regu- lation of academic interaction between Russia and Germany in the framework of the Bologna process. The work uses methods of retrospective, statistical, comparative research. The author outlines the key areas regulated by the Bolo - gna Declaration, gives the main characteristics of the regulatory framework for the participation of Russian universities in the Bologna process. The role of the Russian-German scientific and educational partnership in reforming the higher education system in Russia is highlightted. The article considers the regulatory legal acts that form the organizational and legal framework of educational coop - eration between Russia and Germany in the framework of the Bologna process. Insufficiency of the Russian legislative framework, the lack of legal conditions for active academic mobility of students and academic staff are pointed out as a fundamental problem preventing the expansion of academic cooperation between Russia and Germany within the framework of the Bologna process: (1) high requirements for obtaining a student visa (both for Russian and German students); (2) a limited amount of educational exchange programs for students and teachers; (3) lack of funding for educational trips (conferences, internships) abroad; (4) incorrect interpretation and assessment of the Russian qualification “specialist” in the countries of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA).

The Emerging Problems and Challenges Faced by Sino-foreign Cooperation Education: A Case Study from Students’ Perspective

The internationalisation of higher education has become a recognized development trend, and international cooperation in running schools has become an important feature of international education exchanges. Universities and colleges are increasingly focusing on becoming global institutions and place global education as the most important institutional priority. With this context in China, this paper explores the emerging problems faced by the Sino-foreign cooperation universities, such as quality insurance, employment related issues, and cultural-related issues. The findings show a clearer map of the situation of the Sino-foreign cooperation education in China and help these organisations better manage and improve their competitiveness in the global education market.