International Collaboration and Cultural Exchange in a Three-Nation Marketing Course

Many online courses reach students around the world. One innovative pedagogical model involves full collaboration by universities in different countries whose students explore cross-cultural differences in business practices through a project-centered course. Designers at the UMass Boston have developed a course rich in student engagement. Operating in cooperative instructional modes, faculty members at universities separated by geographic boundaries scaffold real world experiences in the global business environment. Students collaborate in virtual, cross-cultural teams comprised of learners from the United States, Hungary, and Germany. The model scales well and can adapt to other international, intercultural studies.