This presentation reports a short-term study abroad program enhanced by virtual exchange (VE) projects where two Japanese courses at a university in the U.S. (AMU) works with a group of Japanese college students from its partner university (JPU). A faculty-led group of JPU students visits AMU for two weeks every March, after AMU and JPU students engage in bilingual virtual exchange for each AMU course, to complete the projects. One of the projects, Sakura Project, focuses on collaborated research and critical reflections on Japanese and American college life, and the transpacific groups first engage in virtual discussion various aspects of the topic for six weeks followed by creating a video on the AMU campus in person to highlight their findings as a final product. The other project, Speech Project, allows students to collaborate to give a speech in the target language. Each group engages in peer-editing and peer-practice to improve their scripts and performance during the virtual period, followed by an in-person speech presentations during JPU’s two-week visit to AMU. This VE-enhanced study abroad program comes with benefits and challenges. On one hand, it creates an environment for deep intercultural learning and encourages them to commit to a longer-term intercultural experience in the future. On the other, it requires a lot of coordination between institutions and administrative preparations. It is also critical to have a robust assessment system shared between the two institutions to gauge student developments. Detailed project design and pedagogical implications will be presented.

Authors:
Tomoe Nishio, University of North Georgia, United States
Chie Fujikake, Nanzan University, Japan

About the Presenter(s)
Tomoe Nishio is Associate Professor in the Department of Modern Languages at the University of North Georgia.

Chie Fujikake is a lecturer and coordinator at Nanzan University in Japan teaching courses on diversity and education. Her research focuses on student diversity and the internationalization of higher education pursuing her PhD at Nagoya University.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/chie-fujikake-55637b14a/

See this presentation on the full schedule – Sunday Schedule

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