Exploration of Multi-Cultural Teaching and Learning in a Collaborative Virtual Environment

Abstract

This chapter presents an experiential case study of a multicultural virtual team project conducted by educators at two countries of three universities whose students came from very different cultural backgrounds. The authors suggest that new technologies present businesses and the institutions charged with training business professionals with a significant paradigm shift. Among the devices enterprises now employ to compete in the global business environment are virtual teams. We submit that it is incumbent upon educational institutions to formulate processes by which students may gain experience in the virtual work environment. The chapter details the experiences both students and instructors encountered in creating and participating in a cross-cultural virtual team conducted predominantly in a virtual environment. We describe problems encountered and often (though not always) overcome. Students learned both the rewards and the frustrations such teams experience as they learned to participate in and contribute to the collective intelligence of the team.