Partnering undergraduate academic writers with graduate professional writers, this project encouraged intercultural communication, curiosity, openness, and problem-solving by tasking students to take on new perspectives, write collaboratively, and adapt genre conventions to multinational contexts.
The virtual exchange lasted four weeks, allowing students to build teams and produce final documents that reflect their understanding of and ability to enact intercultural communication best practices. To do this, the students in Brazil wrote country-based communication guidelines that the US-based students then used to inform their writing of persuasive memos.
Students also reflected weekly on their experiences and completed pre/post-assessment surveys to measure changes in intercultural critical thinking and communication assumptions and beliefs.
● Analyze audience and target their needs
● Communicate clearly, concisely, with an eye toward action
● Persuade others through strategic communication
● Adapt to various communication tasks and contexts
● Use International Communication as a tool to communicate effectively and avoid misunderstanding in different cultural scenarios
● Decipher, understand and adapt to other cultures
Student-to-Student Project
Zoom, Teams or Google Meet
WhatsApp or GroupMe
Padlet
Jamboard