Developing Culturally Responsive Teachers Through Virtual Global Engagement

• In Event: Virtual Worlds, Real Learning: XR and Simulations in Teacher Training

Proposal

With diversity on the rise across the whole world, it is essential that educators are prepared to interact with diverse student populations. However, research suggests teachers are often lacking the skills and knowledge to successfully and effectively teach these students (Brown-Jeffy & Cooper, 2011; Cushner, 2011). Study abroad programs and international teaching experiences have been proven to be beneficial in better preparing preservice teachers for multicultural classrooms (Cushner & Mahon, 2002; Marx & Moss, 2011; Öztürk & Ekşi, 2022; Shiveley & Misco, 2015). Yet, many students are unable to take advantage of these experiences due to cost, transferability of coursework, and potential delays to graduation (Soria & Troisi, 2013).
As the topic of CIES 2025 suggested, technology brings new options for addressing this need, a new framework virtual global engagement (VGE) has been developed for preservice teachers to teach global k-12 students based on the virtual exchange model. The focus of this paper is to examine preservice teachers’ experiences in this VGE program and explore the potential of the VGE program to develop culturally responsive teachers.
Gay’s (2002) culturally responsive teaching serves as the foundation theory for this study. This transformative pedagogical approach emphasizes that culture impacts teaching and learning (Gay, 2018). By incorporating students’ culture and their lived experiences into the classroom, Gay (2002) suggests students' interests are peaked and learning becomes more meaningful. Consequently, ethically and culturally diverse students feel empowered, resulting in greater academic success and benefiting their development as whole human beings (Gay, 2018).  Therefore, ascribing to Gay’s belief that culture greatly influences teaching and learning, we belief it is important to educate future teachers about the influence of culture in the classroom and to train them to be culturally responsive teachers.
This study employed a qualitative case study design because it serves to study a phenomenon in the context of a bounded system (Merriam & Tisdell, 2015). Data included focus group and individual interviews, and data analysis utilized an inductive analysis approach (Saldaña, 2016). Participants included 39 preservice teachers in this program from a large land grant university in the Midwest. They were all undergraduates, ranging from freshmen to seniors.
Data collection took place during the Spring 2023 semester. The first data source came from 5 focus group interviews to gauge the initial experiences of the preservice teachers before their teaching. This was followed up by 18 semi-structured individual interviews at the end of the semester to triangulate data and to provide a more nuanced understanding of the outcomes that preservice teachers gained.
Data analysis was an iterative process which consisted of multiple rounds of coding. This was a collaborative process, involving all research team members to diminish misinterpretation and to increase reliability (Saldaña, 2016). We began by inductively coding the focus groups interviews and developed a codebook. Then the individual interviews were coded with the codebook. In each round of coding, we met to discuss our findings, make adjustments, and to address any discrepancies. Once all members agreed the process was complete, we worked together to identify overarching themes found across all data sources and to discuss the implications of our findings.
In terms of outcomes related to preparing preservice teachers to become culturally responsive teachers, three main findings emerged. The first major finding was that participants expanded their cultural understanding of others. This outcome was the most prevalent and was illustrated by comments such as, “My understanding of different cultures has definitely grown, and I have come to understand nuances about a lot of cultures that I did not see before”. Others yet, described learning about other cultures as an “eye-opening” experience and one that “changed [their] cultural outlook.” As another participant suggested, this may have to do with the design of [project name]: “I think even though we interact with a lot of cultures here on campus, it's different…they [students on campus] have all adapted to the American ways. But here, the cultures that we experience are very authentic.”
A second outcome that we identified was that participants displayed enhanced cultural understanding of self. Whereas some preservice teachers indicated that they previously had not given much thought to how their beliefs and norms are influenced by their culture or how they are different from others across the globe, VGE heighted cultural awareness of one’s own culture. As one participant described it, “I never realized how many Eurocentric or US centric idioms or sayings I used.” Lastly, in reflecting upon her own culture one participant said, “I think this program has definitely helped me…I can see what's different about it from other cultures, so that I can understand my own culture more.” These reflective thoughts demonstrate another quality found in culturally responsive teachers.
Lastly, participants demonstrated an enhanced understanding of the influence of culture in the classroom. This awareness was noted in statements such as “Here in the US there's so many different cultures, so being able to include that into your classroom is an important factor…It's important for your students to be represented in knowledge in the classroom.” One participant even lamented how often U.S. classrooms “are so geared toward American experiences,” and described how this can negatively impact the experience of students from other cultures. Moreover, many preservice teachers responses signaled the importance of the role of culture in the classroom. One participant expressed, “I've learned so much about being able to bring in the knowledge that students bring in….I get to see culture is definitely very present in education, and I think it really should be acknowledged per the student.”
This study highlights the potential of VGE to serve as a useful framework for teacher training programs seeking to expand exposure to multicultural environments and to foster culturally responsive teaching in preservice teachers. While these initial findings are promising, the VGE framework is still very new and requires more research to examine its potential to train and prepare preservice teachers to be successful in the multicultural classroom they will face throughout their career.

Authors

• Lu Xu, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

• Aigul Rakisheva, UIUC

• Allison Hinds, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign

• Nevine El Souefi, Edupedia

• Allison Witt, University of Illinois