Preparing students for success in a globalized world invites new approaches. Online collaboration between students from different countries via globally networked learning environments (GNLEs) is one such approach. This article presents the results of a six-semester study beginning in 2006 of international online project collaborations between undergraduate students at a university in the United States and in Poland. The two universities and student populations involved have very different learning environments, backgrounds, and programs, raising interesting questions about the impact of such international collaborations on student intercultural awareness. Focusing on one aspect of such awareness -ethnocentrism -this article reports on a quasi-experimental study using James Neuliep's 22-item Generalized Ethnocentrism (GENE) scale, designed to measure ethnocentrism. The findings suggest that the international online collaborations reported in this study did not have any statistically significant impact on ethnocentrism. With the high level of interest in GNLE approaches, these findings point to the need for more study to better understand the attitudinal effects of international online collaboration.

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This chapter presents seven principles of good practice for conducting virtual international collaborations with students. The authors have conducted such collaborations with several different groups of American and Polish university students using different models. The collaborations were the basis for distilling these seven principles: develop cross-cultural awareness and mutual understanding of the culture of each group; create a multifaceted virtual environment; coordinate calendars; require intermediate level of English language proficiency; create relevant, engaging collaborative assignments with rubrics and shared understandings for evaluation of student work; establish methods forsuccessful group interactions, including information-sharing and relationship-building; evaluate project outcomes. These seven principles of good practice can assist instructors to develop successful virtual intercultural collaborations that prepare students for the workplace of the 21st century.

This chapter presents seven principles of good practice for conducting virtual international collaborations with students. The authors have conducted such collaborations with several different groups of American and Polish university students using different models. The collaborations were the basis for distilling these seven principles: develop cross-cultural awareness and mutual understanding of the culture of each group; create a multifaceted virtual environment; coordinate calendars; require intermediate level of English language proficiency; create relevant, engaging collaborative assignments with rubrics and shared understandings for evaluation of student work; establish methods forsuccessful group interactions, including information-sharing and relationship-building; evaluate project outcomes. These seven principles of good practice can assist instructors to develop successful virtual intercultural collaborations that prepare students for the workplace of the 21st century.

One effective strategy to prepare students to be successful participants in a globalized world is the use of online collaborative projects with students from other countries. New technologies and new opportunities for such collaboration may reshape teaching practices in unexpected ways. Three challenges need to be addressed for such projects to be successful: the specific circumstances of the classes, the structure and patterns of team interactions, and the technologies for collaboration. These challenges can be addressed through careful student preparation, well-designed assignments, monitoring of student progress, and a vision of the workplace of the future.