Creating a Prototype for a Seawater Farm through an American-Tunisian Virtual Exchange

Autor/inn/en	Cheikhrouhou, Nadia; Ludwig, Kenneth
Titel	Creating a Prototype for a Seawater Farm through an American-Tunisian Virtual Exchange
Quelle	(2021), (11 Seiten) PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Cheikhrouhou, Nadia) ORCID (Ludwig, Kenneth)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Monographie
Schlagwörter	Foreign Countries; International Programs; Entrepreneurship; College Students; Cooperative Learning; Water; Agricultural Occupations; Student Centered Learning; Barriers; Interpersonal Communication; Teamwork; Social Problems; College Faculty; Student Projects; Conservation (Environment); Student Attitudes; Teacher Role; Michigan; Tunisia + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ausland; Unternehmungsgeist; Collegestudent; Kooperatives Lernen; Wasser; Agriculture; Occupation; Landwirtschaft; Beruf; Landwirtschaftlicher Beruf; Group work; Student-entered learning; Student-centred learning; Student centred learning; Schülerorientierter Unterricht; Schülerzentrierter Unterricht; Gruppenarbeit; Interpersonale Kommunikation; Social problem; Soziales Problem; Fakultät; Schulprojekt; Conservation; Environment; Konservierung; Bewahung; Umwelt; Schülerverhalten; Lehrerrolle; Tunesien
Abstract	This paper will discuss a Virtual Exchange (VE) between the University of Michigan (USA) and the High Institute of Technological Studies of Béja (Tunisia) that took place between October and December 2019. Students from Tunisia and USA were enrolled in two entrepreneurship courses in their respective universities and joined together to work in groups on an innovative project on 'creating a prototype for a seawater farm in the region of Khniss' to be presented at the end of the semester. As this project was student-centered, the main focus was to show its impact on the students through their testimonials on what challenges they encountered and what benefits they gained from this experience at an academic and personal level. These testimonials showed that despite differences in intercultural communication competencies between American and Tunisian students and the use of English as a lingua franca, students gained valuable skills in team communication, collaboration, and coordination in a large team spread over two continents. Students taught each other and learned from each other while working toward solving a social and environmental problem the world is struggling with. Another light was shed on the impact of this VE on the instructors, the pedagogy adopted to conduct the project, as well as the contribution of the instructional support staff. Moving from a directive to a student-driven approach was rewarding for the Tunisian instructor who learned how to push students out of their comfort zone, dive into uncertain areas, and ask questions rather than accepting the norms. On his part the American instructor learned that it is possible to create meaningful, unconventional student-led projects across languages, cultures, and geography as long as the teams (students and faculty) are excited and committed to the project. He also learned that students get inspired to be brave, thoughtful, and resourceful when they can witness what effective professional collaboration by faculty looks like. [For the complete volume, "Virtual Exchange: Towards Digital Equity in Internationalisation," see ED614868.] (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Research-publishing.net. La Grange des Noyes, 25110 Voillans, France. e-mail: info@research-publishing.net; Web site: http://research-publishing.net
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01