Case studies

The following is a collection of case studies, illustrating practical examples of global classrooms that have been implemented across different countries and on different subjects.

United states-based case studies

• Collaborative Online International Learning. (n.d.). COIL Institute for Globally Networked Learning in the Humanities: Course Development and Implementation Case Study.

This report presents 25 case studies of COIL projects between institutions in the United States and partner institutions across the globe, including Australia, Belize, Canada, Croatia, Ecuador, Germany, Ghana, India, and more. The case studies offer many useful information such as curricular information, asynchronous technologies used, synchronous technologies used, assessment information, institutional support, reflections, and student feedback.

• O’Brien, A. J. (2011). Global citizenship and the Stanford Cross-Cultural Rhetoric Project. Journal of the NUS Teaching Academy, 1(1), 32–43.

This article shares lessons from the Stanford University’s Cross-Cultural Rhetoric Project (CCR) and the growing importance of global citizenship in higher education. It presents an overview of the Stanford protocol, technology used, and responses from exit surveys. The author also presents three core competencies which she sees as imperative for fostering global citizenship in today’s society: digital literacy, cultural literacy, and socio-communicative literacy.

• O’Brien, A. J., & Eriksson, A. (2010). Cross–cultural connections: Intercultural learning for global citizenship. Intercultural Communication Competence: Educating the Global Citizen, 1–19.

The authors examine the implementation of a curriculum that has been developed to incorporate the use of multimedia technologies in global, collaborative learning. The technologies discussed include video conferences, writing collaborative blogs, creating a Wiki, and chat boxes. The authors share evaluations of the project implementation and its implications in the context of intercultural communication and digital pedagogy, as well as its implications for global, collaborative learning.

• Boehm, D., Aniola-Jedrzejek, L., & Kurthen, H. (2010). Do International Online Collaborative Learning Projects Impact Ethnocentrism? E-Learning and Digital Media, 7(2), 133.

This article examines the impact of Globally Networked Learning Environments (GNLE)s on ethnocentrism, and seeks to answer the question of whether stereotypical ethnocentric assumptions are mitigated by increased intercultural awareness. The authors hypothesize that GNLEs can help reduce ethnocentric attitudes. To explore this hypothesis, the authors assessed the effects on ethnocentric attitudes based on the findings of a study over a period of six semesters in 2006 of virtual collaborations between the United States and Poland at the undergraduate level. To measure ethnocentrism, the authors applied James Neuliep’s Generalized Ethnocentrism (GENE) scale.

Canada-based case studies

• Bégin-Caouette, O., Khoo, Y., & Afridi, M. (2015). The Processes of Designing and Implementing Globally Networked Learning Environments and their Implications on College Instructors’ Professional Learning: The Case of Québec CÉGEPs. Comparative and International Education, 43(3), 1.

This paper describes the design and implementation of Globally Networked Learning Environments (GNLE)s in Quebec CEGEPs in order to explore the potential of GNLEs as professional learning opportunities for participating instructors. The authors note that GNLEs need to be established upon close and equal relationships and that working relationships between partners is shaped by the support each institution offers. Thus, the authors analyze the respective influence of provincial, collegial, and e-learning contexts through semi-structured interviews with five CEGEP college instructors. The processes of design and implementation were then visualized using Fretchling’s (2007) logic model for a thematic analysis of how GNLEs may foster professional learning.

• Starke-Meyerring, D., & Andrews, D. (2006). Building a Shared Virtual Learning Culture: An International Classroom Partnership. Business Communication Quarterly, 69(1), 25–49.

This article analyzes the pedagogy of a classroom partnership pilot project, connecting a management communication course in McGill University in Canada to another in the University of Delaware in the United States. The authors discuss challenges that were encountered during the pilot project, and provide recommendations and guidance for future GNLE implementation and research.

europe-based case studies

• Guth, S., Helm, F., O’Dowd, R., & et al. (2012). University Language Classes Collaborating Online: A Report on the Integration of Telecollaborative Networks in European Universities.

This report analyzes the findings from the INTENT project (Integrating Telecollaborative Networks into Foreign Language Higher Education) which was conducted in order to raise awareness of Online Intercultural Exchanges (OIEs, which refer to “Internet-mediated intercultural engagement between classes of foreign language learners in geographically distant locations”). The INTENT project serves as an educator’s model to enhance foreign language education through virtual mobility. The INTENT project was developed to address major obstacles in achieving virtual mobility, including the lack of awareness of such practices, how to foster virtual mobility, and the need for tools, training, and support to be provided to maximize the benefits of virtual mobility.

case studies from other countries

• Baer, C. (2012). Live from Yemen: Navigating the Challenges of Virtual Collaboration. MASCD.

This article describes the challenges faced by educators with regards to virtual collaboration based on the author’s own experiences of setting up a synchronous, multinational, virtual teaching workshop. The author highlights challenges such as communicating across different languages, technical problems, and time zone issues. Nonetheless, the author finds that the ability to share educational practices and pedagogy was met with enthusiasm by the two dozen teachers from eleven countries who participated in the workshop. He notes that collaborative, unbound, technologically, and socially-based learning is the future of online education, and notes the value in working towards a decentralized, networked, collaborative classroom.

• Ramirez, R. (2015, December). Global classrooms bridge Philippines communities. The Philippine Star.

This news article describes the progress of implementing a Global Classrooms project, launched in partnership between PeaceTech (an NGO) and the Department of Education, to promote education among Muslim and Christian youth in the Philippines. PeaceTech is an NGO seeking to bridge communities affected by armed conflict, and have already reached out to approximately 40,000 students. In the past, the organization was able to link various conservative and liberal Muslim groups across Indonesia. Through implementation of this project, Filipino students report that they have come to respect religious differences, and teachers also find that teaching has become easier as a result of the collaborative and interactive nature of the lessons.