Breaking Barriers and Building Bridges: Developing Intercultural Competence through Virtual Exchange Programs in Higher Education

Dr. Hiba Hamarshi

Izar Taha

Virtual Exchange (VE) entails “bringing together groups of learners from different cultural contexts for extended periods of online intercultural collaboration and interaction” (O’Dowd & O’Rourke, 2019) as a part of a formal learning programme and under the guidance of teachers or facilitators (Belz, 2003). VE is “based on student-centered, collaborative approaches to learning where knowledge and intercultural understanding are constructed through learner-to-learner interaction and negotiation” (Garcés & O’Dowd, 2020). This paper sets out to present the outcomes of a virtual exchange program held in cooperation between the Arab Academic College for Education in Haifa, Wingate Institute and the University of Connecticut. The research questions centre on students’ attitudes toward the effectiveness of VE in higher education to foster cultural and intercultural competence. A total number of 64 participants from the three academic institutions took part in the VE program. These students were divided into nine mixed cohorts. The data was collected through mixed methods research: (1) qualitative data using video conferencing recordings (i.e., Zoom), in which students were engaged in a weekly English discussion hour on various cultural, religious and societal subject matters. (2) The quantitative research method included a questionnaire, which was distributed at the beginning of the program and toward the end of the program. The initial findings indicate some changes in the perceptions of students toward their culture and the ‘other’ culture, in addition to students’ limited understanding of the theoretical background of their religious, cultural and societal rituals. The findings and the practical implications of the study illuminate the significance of VE integration in higher education at the national and international levels.