Digital Internationalization in Higher Education: Beyond Virtual Exchange

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

This proposed panel brings together chapter authors of a newly published edited volume, Digital Internationalization in Higher Education: Beyond Virtual Exchange. The purpose of this edited volume was to highlight current digital trends in and around higher education internationalization with the goal of moving current conversations beyond a myopic focus on virtual exchange. Although virtual exchange programs are certainly an important component of digital internationalization, a focus on these programs alone ignores the ways in which digital technology touches all aspects of internationalization. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has certainly increased attention to digital internationalization (Martel, 2020; Redden, 2020). However, work in this area has been on-going for nearly three decades (O’Dowd, 2023). Until recently, research and practice in digital internationalization developed separately in different areas of the field, such as foreign language study or business. This development has led to disparate and disconnected terminology, themes, and knowledge development (O’Dowd, 2018). Current initiatives seek to unite this literature into a coherent whole so that conversations happening in different arenas can cross-pollinate and inform one another, thus enhancing scholarship, policy, and practice in the field (e.g., Satar, 2021; Whatley et al., 2022).
Technology impacts higher education internationalization efforts in myriad ways and touches various aspects of students’ mobility experiences. In recent years, technological innovations and disruptions have become a mainstay of education practice. Technology has also been used as a tool to respond to disruption, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, when digital means of accomplishing previously in-person tasks were necessary. These advances in digital technology have impacted higher education generally, and thus their impact is also felt in international education. Virtual exchange is possibly the most frequently mentioned approach to digital internationalization in higher education contexts. O’Dowd (2018) defines virtual exchange as “the engagement of groups of learners in extended periods of online intercultural interactions and collaboration with partners from other cultural contexts or geographical locations as an integrated part of their education programmes and under the guidance of educators and/or expert facilitators” (p. 5). Although virtual exchange experiences are certainly an important aspect of digital internationalization, this term, as defined by O’Dowd, does not encompass other digital developments in the field, such as virtual internships and digitally-informed approaches to global learning. The chapters that comprise this edited volume, and especially those represented on this proposed panel, highlight emerging innovations in the field that move the conversation beyond virtual exchange.
Although internationalization is often defined as an “intentional process of integrating international, intercultural, or global dimensions into the purpose, functions, and delivery of postsecondary education, in order to enhance the quality of education and research for all students and staff, and to make a meaningful contribution to society” (de Wit et al., 2015, p. 281), we find this definition unsatisfying, particularly when considering the digital elements of internationalization. As Lee (2021) suggests, “a new conceptualization of internationalization is needed to acknowledge and to center the role of power in international higher education [...]. To approach internationalization without critical awareness, one overlooks the relative power dynamics between participating countries, institutions, and individuals and inadvertently maintains the global status quo” (p. 3). Addressing the development and disruption caused by digital approaches to internationalization is essential to the future of international education, especially given the field’s recent critical focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion, unequal power relations globally, and environmental sustainability (e.g., Berger, 2020; Lee, 2021; Shields, 2019).
Indeed, numerous leaders both in the United States. and elsewhere have recently advanced claims that digital approaches to internationalization are a viable means through which opportunities can be more equitably distributed, particularly for groups who have traditionally been excluded (e.g., Abdel-Kader, 2021; de Wit, 2016; Helm & Guth, 2022; Oviedo & Krimphove, 2021; Whalen, 2020). Others have suggested that digital internationalization can address the sector’s contribution to global climate change through a reduction in unnecessary carbon emissions that result from international travel (Helm & Guth, 2022). Finally, digital approaches are particularly needed as individuals participating in international education are increasingly from generations to whom technology is a normal part of everyday life (Seemiller & Grace, 2016). At the same time, other voices in the field argue that current digital internationalization practice does not improve access to international opportunities for traditionally excluded populations, but rather serves to perpetuate already-existing power structures and social hierarchies (Bali, 2014; Schueller & Sahin, 2022; Knight, 2023; Whatley et al., 2022). Moreover, recent evidence that participation in virtual international exchange doubles the likelihood that a student will study abroad draws into question the extent to which virtual programs may reduce carbon emissions in the long term (Lee et al., 2022). Current reports suggest that young people do not view virtual experiences as desirable alternatives to in-person mobility (López-Duarte et al., 2022; Santiso & Sanz, 2022). Tensions around digital internationalization, whose “meaningful contribution to society” (de Wit et al., 2015, p. 281) has been called into question, abound.
The chapter presentations that comprise this proposed panel aim to address several of these pressing issues in our field. The first presentation, “Defining Digital Internationalization,” lays the groundwork for a unified approach to terminology in what has to-date been a diverse, expansive, and disconnected field. Secondly, “Curriculum Internationalization in the Digital Age: A Networked Approach,” focuses on the implications of digital information and communication technologies for the design of internationalized higher education curricula. A third chapter presentation, “Access and Equity in Virtual Environments,” addresses the question of whether digital approaches to internationalization serve to address the access and equity issues that seem endemic to more traditional internationalization approaches. The fourth presentation, “Connections Through Digital Internationalization: Lessons on Partnerships and Networks from the Virtual Exchange Field” addresses key questions around power dynamics in virtual partnerships. Finally, the fifth presentation, “Overcoming Virtual Voyeurism: Design considerations for building cross-cultural solidarity” explores dynamics of cohesion and othering within communities connected across cultures through technology. This proposed session will be chaired by two of the volume’s editors, while the session’s discussant will offer an outside expert perspective of this volume of work.

Sub Unit

• Study Abroad and International Students SIG

Chairs

• Melissa Whatley, School for International Training Graduate Institute

• Taylor C Woodman, University of Maryland

Individual Presentations

• Defining Digital Internationalization - Amelia J Dietrich, The Forum on Education Aborad

• Curriculum Internationalization in the Digital Age: A Networked Approach - Stephanie Doscher, Florida International University

• Access and Equity in Virtual Environments - Casey Aldrich, SIT Graduate Institute; Melissa Whatley, School for International Training Graduate Institute

• Connections Through Digital Internationalization: Lessons on Partnerships and Networks from the Virtual Exchange Field - Henry Shepherd, Stevens Initiative at the Aspen Institute

• Overcoming Virtual Voyeurism: Design considerations for building cross-cultural solidarity - Kate Maloney Williams, Ripple Effect

Discussant

• Chrystal A. George Mwangi, George Mason University