Bridging the Distance: How Global Virtual Exchange Connected Future Teachers in Kenya and the US

• In Event: Navigating challenges in education: exploring technology, activism and suppression in diverse contexts

Proposal

Globalization pushes us all to use cross-cultural skills evermore readily in the 21st century (Thomas, et al., 2015). Teachers from every side of the globe need to prepare their students to interact successfully in this global community, yet these skills can be elusive to teach and assess. According to experts in the field of intercultural competencies, Kemmelmeier and Kusano (2018), questions remain as to what types of activities promote positive gains in cross-cultural competencies. Global virtual exchange offers one answer for teaching cross cultural awareness, sensitivity, and even leading to cultural humility through exposure to relationship-building.
What is global virtual exchange (GVE)? It is a means of connecting people through digital technology to engage in intercultural dialogue and educational exchange. It is also a transformative pedagogy which can yield deeper understanding and lessen stereotyping and othering (Lanham & Voskuil, 2022). GVE also provides more affordable and accessible cultural exchange than traditional study abroad, this increases access for all students to these potentially transformative deep learning experiences (CoVE, 2022). As the theme of the conference suggests, “Envisioning Education in a Digital Society” includes the prevalence of pedagogies which rely on cultural exchange through virtual means, while also prioritizing equity and inclusion.
In this paper presentation for CIES, we will report on our study of a global virtual exchange implementation between preservice teachers in the US and in Kenya which consisted of multiple class sessions on zoom together over four weeks. Access is a key concept in this research project, and the implications of gaining access and the equity challenges faced in both contexts will be discussed (Smith, 2022). The Conference Call outlined the need to ask questions such as “what are the experiences of learners and educators as digital technology is increasingly influencing our society?” This paper explores this through the lens of the digital Global Virtual Exchange which might be a pervasive and progressive new edge of digital education in the future… indeed, the future is now. According to the Stevens Initiative (2023) report, over 200,000 students all over the globe participated in virtual exchange in one year post-Covid. If global virtual exchange is becoming the bridge between cultures for our students, then our future teachers need to experience the transformation for themselves.
In our study, preservice teachers in Kenya and in the US were grouped together to learn from one another in a multi-session exchange co-designed by the two teacher educators and co-authors of this paper. In addition to providing an equitable, respectful, and accessible exchange experience for the university students on both continents, we desired this collaboration to provide mutual benefit of cultural awareness building and appreciation for the other, both personally and culturally. We intentionally sought places where the students’ stories would connect naturally and they would find common ground even while sharing diverse perspectives. This paper examines the benefits and constraints to using virtual exchange in increasing the capacity for cross-cultural communication between young people in Kenya and the US.

Authors

• Michelle Dawn Cude, James Madison University

• Florence kisirkoi, Maasai Mara University