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University of Florida

Intercultural Awareness


UF Faculty: Anthony Manganaro
Department: University Writing Program
College: College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Partner Faculty: Reine Azzi
Department: Communication, Arts, and Languages Department
Partner Institution: Lebanese American University
Title: Intercultural Awareness Between Lebanon and the U.S.
Project Description: This virtual exchange project is a collaboration between undergraduate students at the University of Florida and Lebanese American University. UF students taking the “Arabs in America'' course will create interview questions, administer interviews to LAU students, reflect on their results in synchronous class sessions, and incorporate their relevant primary research into their final assignment. At LAU, students completing the “Advanced Academic English'' course will create a comprehensive questionnaire containing diverse student research angles, administer the attitudinal survey to UF students, reflect on the survey results, and incorporate their reflections into their final assignment (the results and discussion section of an IMRD paper). Student collaboration will be completed asynchronously through icebreaker activities and the Google form survey, while small working groups will meet synchronously to gather data for the interviews.
Learning Outcomes:
  • Identify connections between the perspectives and experiences of multiple cultures
  • Ask complex questions about other cultures, identify and articulate answers to these questions that reflect multiple cultural perspectives
  • Synthesize other perspectives when investigating and collecting data on a specific topic
  • Interpret intercultural experience from more than one perspective/worldview and demonstrate ability to act in a supportive manner that recognizes the feelings of another cultural group
  • Recognize new perspectives about their own cultural rules and biases 
Participating Countries: Lebanon
Number of Participants: 11 UF students and 28 students from the partner institution
Discipline: English
UF Course Code & Name: ENC2305 - Analytical Writing and Thinking: Arabs in America
Project Duration: 4 weeks
Activity Type(s):
  • Student-to-Student Dialogue
  • Student-to-Student Project
  • Other
Time allotted to each activity:
  • Synchronous Activities: 2-3 hours
  • Asynchronous Activities: 3-5 hours
  • Local group activities: 2-3 hours
  • Individual work: 5-6 hours
Technology Tools:
  • Videoconference (Zoom)
  • Messaging Applications (WhatsApp)
  • Learning Management Systems (Google Drive)
  • Collaborative Authoring Platforms (Google Forms)
  • Message Boards/ Video Boards (Padlet)
  • Email
Sequence of Activities:
  • Project Introduction and Google Drive Orientation 

After initial coursework on the themes and relevant readings, the VE project is introduced to students in each respective university in week 5 or 6. Students will be able to clearly identify the purpose of the project, their roles, and expectations. They will also review the material on Google Drive to identify upcoming tasks and deadlines. The Google Drive will also include some background on the different institutions and links for students who wish to learn more about the other group. 

  • Shared Icebreaker Activity

This activity will be conducted via Padlet as soon as the VE project is officially launched. Students from both universities will participate and respond to questions and scenarios pertaining to intercultural communication differences between Lebanon and the United States. This activity will also allow them to brainstorm ideas for their upcoming interviews/collaborative questionnaire. 

  • Individual Prepwork

The UF group will begin preparing their interview questions while the LAU group will work on their collaborative class questionnaire. This will be done separately as the nature of the courses and data collection methods used are different. 

  • Assigning Dialogue Groups/Data Collection 

In the meantime, course instructors will assign small dialogue groups (4-5 students from both institutions) and set guidelines for students to communicate via Zoom (or, as backup, WhatsApp voice memos) over a two-week span for the synchronous component of the VE. UF students will use this opportunity to interview LAU students and complete their primary research collection. Even though LAU students will administer their questionnaire asynchronously via Google Forms, this could be an opportunity to connect with UF students and include their interactions in their final reflection section.

This international dialogue will serve as scaffolding for two separate, though parallel, major assignments: 

In Azzi’s “Advanced Academic English,” students will create an attitudinal survey (mostly quantitative data collection with open-ended questions), administer the survey to UF students, reflect on the survey results in small synchronous study groups (back at LAU), and incorporate their reflections into their final assignment (likely the results and discussion section of an IMRD paper). 

In Manganaro’s “Arabs in America,” students create interview questions and follow-up questions, administer interviews synchronously to LAU students, reflect on their interview results in synchronous class sessions (back at UF), and incorporate their relevant interview-based “primary research” into their final assignment (a 2,750-word research essay on the Middle East).

  • Post VE: Data Analysis/Final Reflection   

LAU students will then use the data generated to complete the method/results section of their empirical paper (an oral presentation), focusing on their specific research angle. They will also write their final reflection as part of their discussion section (approx. 1,000-1,500 words) in which they discuss the nature of intercultural exchange and the experience of VE, while offering recommendations  and discussing limitations. 

UF students will use portions of their interview answers in their final research paper, and also reflect on their VE intercultural dialogues both during synchronous class discussions and in their final portfolio. The portfolio is a 1,000-word reflection of what students learned in the entire class, and at least 500 words will be a specific reflection of the VE component: students will analyze their competency with the 5 VE outcomes, and reflect more broadly on their personal reactions to the experience.