Centering Equity in Community College Virtual International Exchange
An Exploration of Program Typology and Participant Demographics
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32674/jis.v12iS3.4621Keywords:
community college, virtual exchange, program typology, access, equityAbstract
Using data from two community colleges in the US southeast, this study uses an equity-focused research lens to address two complementary purposes. First, it situates community college virtual exchange programs within a pre-existing program typology to explore how well these programs are represented. Second, it examines demographic characteristics of community college students who participate in virtual exchange and compares them to students who study abroad to provide insight into the extent to which community college virtual exchange programs improve access to international education. Results indicate that while community college virtual exchange programs often fit well within the typology, broad, open-access exchanges were not as well-described, nor were programs that were not explicitly connected to a cost. Regarding access, findings suggested that some demographic groups, particularly Black students, were less likely to access virtual exchange. Institutional structures related to a student’s degree program offer a potential explanation for this finding.
References
Abdel-Kader, M. (2021, July). The viability of virtual exchange. Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2021/07/29/virtual-exchange-will-be-key-part-internationalizing-education-even-after-covid
Bali, M. (2014). Why Doesn’t This Feel Empowering? The Challenges of Web-based Intercultural Dialogue. Teaching in Higher Education 19(2), 208-15.
Bali, M., Goes, P., Haug, E., & Patankar, A. (2021). COVID-19 impacts on virtual exchange around the world. Journal of Virtual Exchange, 4, 117-124.
Barbosa, M.W., & Ferreira-Lopes, L. (2021). Emerging trends in telecollaboration and virtual exchange: a bibliometric study. Educational Review, DOI: 10.1080/00131911.2021.1907314
Buckner, E., & Stein, S. (2020). What counts as internationalization? Deconstructing the internationalization imperative. Journal of Studies in International Education, 24(2), 151-166.
Custer, L., & Tuominen, A. (2017). Bringing “internationalization at home” opportunities to community colleges: Design and assessment of an online exchange activity between US and Japanese students. Teaching Sociology, 45(4), 347-357.
de Wit, H. (2016). Internationalisation and the role of online intercultural exchange. In R. O’Dowd & T. Lewis (Eds.), Online intercultural exchange: Policy, pedagogy, practice (pp. 69-82). Routledge.
de Wit, H., & Jones, E. (2018). Inclusive internationalization: Improving access and equity. International Higher Education, 94, 16-18.
DeJong, P., Schnusenberg, O., & Goel, L. (2010). Marketing study abroad programs effectively: what do American business students think? Journal of International Education in Business, 3(1/2), 34-52.
Duffy, L. N., Stone, G. A., Townsend, J., & Cathey, J. (2020). Rethinking curriculum internationalization: Virtual exchange as a means to attaining global competencies, developing critical thinking, and experiencing transformative learning. SCHOLE: A Journal of Leisure Studies and Recreation Education, 37(1-2), 11-25.
George-Mwangi, C.A., & Yao, C.W. (2020). US higher education internationalization through an equity-driven lens. In L.W. Perna (Ed.), Higher education: Handbook of theory and research (pp. 1-62). Springer.
González Canché, M.S. (2014). Is the community college a less expensive path toward a bachelor’s degree? Public 2- and 4-year colleges’ impact on loan debt. The Journal of Higher Education, 85, 723-759.
Helm, F. (2019). Languages and international virtual exchange: Introduction to the special issue. European Journal of Language Policy, 11(2), 139-142.
Hilliker, S. (2020). Virtual exchange as a study abroad alternative to foster language and culture exchange in TESOL teacher education. TESL-EJ, 23(4), n4.
Hurst, A.L. (2019). Class and gender as predictors of study abroad participation among US liberal arts college students. Studies in Higher Education, 44(7), 1241-1255.
Institute of International Education (IIE). (2020). Open Doors 2019: Report on international educational exchange. Retrieved from https://opendoorsdata.org/
Jones, E., Leask, B., Brandenburg, U., & de Wit, H. (2021). Global social responsibility and the internationalisation of higher rducation for society. Journal of Studies in International Education, 25(4), 330-347.
Knight, J. (2012). Concepts, rationales, and interpretive frameworks in the internationalization of higher education. In D.K. Deardorff, H. de Wit, J.D. Heyl, & T. Adams (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of international higher education (pp. 27-42). SAGE.
Lingo, M. D. (2019). Stratification in study abroad participation after accounting for student intent. Research in Higher Education, 60(8), 1142-1170.
Lucas, J.M. (2018). There and back again: A study abroad journey with men. In H. Barclay Hamir & N. Gozik (Eds.), Promoting inclusion in education abroad: A handbook of research and practice (pp. 82-98). Sterling, VA: Stylus.
Martel, M. (2020). COVID-19 effects on U.S. higher education campuses: From emergency response to planning for future student mobility. Institute of International Education. https://www.iie.org/Research-and-Insights/Publications/COVID-19-Effects-on-US-Higher-Education-Campuses-Report-2.
Mayhew, M. J., & Simonoff, J. S. (2015). Non-White, no more: Effect coding as an alternative to dummy coding with implications for higher education researchers. Journal of College Student Development, 56(2), 170-175.
Ng, R. (2003). Toward an integrative approach to equity in education. In P.P. Trionfas (Ed.), Pedagogies of difference: Rethinking education for social justice (pp. 206-213). Routledge.
O’Dowd, R. (2013). Telecollaboration and CALL. In M. Thomas, H. Reindeers, & M. Warschauer (Eds), Contemporary computer-assisted language learning (pp. 123-141). Bloomsbury Academic.
O’Dowd, R. (2018). From telecollaboration to virtual exchange: state-of-the-art and the role of UNICollaboration in moving forward. Journal of Virtual Exchange, 1, 1-23.
Ovideo, L.E.Z., and Krimphove, J. (2021). Virtual exchange contributions to the development of intercultural competence: A Brazilian higher education institutions’ perspective. Revista Actualidades Invesígativas en Educación, 22(1). 1-23.
Redden, E. (2020, April). Study Abroad Faces a New Reality. Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/04/28/study-abroad-field-faces-altered-reality-and-unknowns-about-when-regular-programs
Rosinger, K. O., & Ford, K. S. (2019). Pell grant versus income data in postsecondary research. Educational Researcher, 48(5), 309-315.
Salisbury, M.H., Paulsen, M.B., & Pascarella, E.T. (2011). Why do all the study abroad students look alike? Applying an integrated student choice model to explore differences in the factors that influence white and minority students’ intent to study abroad. Research in Higher Education, 52(2), 123-150.
Satar, M. (2021). Introducing virtual exchange: Towards digital equity in internationalisation. In M. Satar (Ed.) Virtual exchange: Towards digital equity in internationalisation (p. 1-13). Research-publishing.net
Simon, J., & Ainsworth, J.W. (2012). Race and socioeconomic status differences in study abroad participation: The role of habitus, social networks, and cultural capital. ISRN Education, 2012.
Skinner, B. T. (2019). Making the connection: Broadband access and online course enrollment at public open admissions institutions. Research in Higher Education, 60(7), 960-999.
Soria, K.M., & Troisi, J. (2013). Internationalization at home alternatives to study abroad: Implications for students’ development of global, international, and intercultural competencies. Journal of Studies in International Education, 18(3), 261-280.
Stevens Initiative. (2021). Virtual Exchange Typology. https://www.stevensinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Stevens-Initiative-Virtual-Exchange-Typology_090121_singlepages.pdf
Vande Berg, M., Paige, R.M., & Lou, K.H. (2014). Student learning abroad: What our students are learning, what they’re not, and what we can do about it. Stylus.
Whalen, B. (2020, April). Education abroad in a post-COVID-19 world. Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2020/04/14/how-covid-19-will-change-education-abroad-american-students-opinion
Whatley, M. (2021). Community college study abroad: An event history analysis. Community College Review, 49(2), 107-130.
Whatley, M., & González Canché, M.S. (2022). A robust estimation of the relationship between study abroad and academic outcomes among community college students. Research in Higher Education, 63(2), 271-308.
Whatley, M., & Stich, A.E. (2021). From exclusive to inclusive: A mixed-methods investigation of study abroad participation and practices. The Journal of Higher Education, 92(1), 140-167.
Willis, T.Y. (2015). " And Still We Rise…": Microaggressions and Intersectionality in the Study Abroad Experiences of Black Women. Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad, 26, 209-230.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
Categories
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Journal of International Students
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
All published articles are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 Unported License.
