Employer perspectives on virtual exchange.

Crawford, Izzy

Abstract

International trade, enabled by rapid technological advances, has had a profound effect on the way employees work and communicate in a borderless, virtual environment. To remain competitive in a dynamic and uncertain global environment, employers need graduates who have knowledge, competency, creativity, confidence, flexibility and resilience which is future proof. It is therefore incumbent on Higher Education to deliver new pedagogies that will deliver these graduate attributes with programmes that focus on experiential learning, problem solving, soft skill development, interdisciplinarity and digital literacy (SUNY COIL Center, 2019; Deardorff, 2009; Essig 2013; Tucker et al, 2013). Within this context, classroom collaboration through online virtual teams can be an effective strategy to enhance intercultural and employability skills. Leask (2016) argued that assessing internationalization outcomes must be directly connected to students' learning; however according to Deardorff (2016) a profound intercultural competence assessment must go beyond self-reports, as only others' perspectives will effectively assess the appropriateness of communication and behaviour. Therefore, this presentation will reveal the results of a series of in-depth interviews with employers and alumni regarding their perceptions of virtual exchange as a classroom activity and the potential impact it has on intercultural competency and transferable skills in the workplace. The purposive interview sample includes new and experienced professionals who work in communication related roles within public, private and third sector organisations of varying sizes and sectors. This research forms part of a wider virtual exchange project spanning four countries (USA, Germany, Portugal and Scotland) from 2018 to 2020, and builds on previous evaluative research concerning student and faculty perceptions of virtual exchange.

Citation

CRAWFORD, I. 2020. Employer perspectives on virtual exchange. Presented at the 2nd International virtual exchange conference (IVEC 2020), 14-16 September 2020, [virtual event].

• Presentation Conference Type: Presentation / Talk
• Conference Name: 2nd International virtual exchange conference (IVEC 2020)
• Start Date: Sep 14, 2020
• End Date: Sep 16, 2020
• Deposit Date: Jul 17, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 17, 2024
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Keywords: Graduate skills; Employability; Online learning; Pedagogy
• Public URL: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/2413034