Employing an assessment-to-development practice in Virtual Exchange: Turning challenges into opportunities

The impact of an international exchange program is often measured in part by Pre and Post course assessments, which are heavily reliant on students’ self-reporting. This presentation highlights the tendency for some learners to overestimate their intercultural competency in the pre-course assessment, known as the Dunning-Krueger effect. This type of data can cloud our ability to discern improvement or a decline in the post-course report. The authors discuss case studies from both the US and in China where this type of result occurred and the role of mixed-method assessment practices to ascertain the meaning behind the data. This presentation demonstrates that the IES can be used to facilitate personalized intercultural competence development based on individual learner’s aptitudes and needs. It further explains that relying solely on any one assessment practice is limiting for both the learners and the faculty engaged in the international exchange. We will highlight the importance of providing both interpersonal and transactional communication opportunities to help participants develop rapport, which provides a strong foundation for mutual support and collaboration. Once a supportive, one-team culture is successfully established in the multicultural collaboration, cultural and linguistic challenges can be re-framed as learning opportunities and learners can improve their intercultural competence by finding creative solutions in coping with cultural and language barriers.