Although educational border crossings are not new, the creation of innovative theoretical constructs, such as transnational social fields, to examine the flow of students and social networks across national borders is a profound development. Within transnational social fields, a constant flow of ideas and practices is embedded within relationships, offering a framework for addressing evolving associations across borders to better understand how university students construct identities and negotiate social spaces, physical locales, and the geography of the mind. Employing the concept of transnational social fields in an analysis of student mobility illuminates student negotiations by recognizing simultaneity in localities and multiplicity in identities and refuting the generalization or homogenization of student experiences. This article aims to provide a working understanding of transnational social fields and justify adopting concepts that currently reside outside of the existing cross-border education discourse to frame international student negotiations that are not thoroughly explored or understood.

The Internet is cited for bringing about the most rapid and significant social change within societies worldwide. Higher education does not lie at the fringe of this discussion, but is rather at the center of it. Online learning is no longer considered a mere supplement to education but digital tools now routinely embed themselves in higher education spaces. The evolving modalities of online learning are expanding the terrain of academic possibilities farther than previously imagined and new educational technologies are introduced daily. Against a backdrop of the potential for online learning in higher education, this article will paint a portrait of the ways one graduate program at a United States institution of higher education is addressing demands of academic nomads.

This article explores how to successfully adapt simulations developed for traditional classrooms for synchronous platforms. Acknowledging the importance of the co-construction of knowledge and the impact of active learning in classrooms, this article explores instructional design approaches, logistical issues, and pedagogical considerations for translating successful in-person simulations to online synchronous learning environments. An example from a graduate level intercultural communication course is described as a platform for addressing lessons learned and sharing best practices. By reimagining five areas of adaptation, including materials, technology, grouping students, communication, and the role of the facilitator, faculty can examine critical junctures at the intersection of content knowledge, technology know-how, training pedagogy, and instructional design to conduct successful synchronous simulations.

This paper is an exploration of the identity negotiations of two international undergraduate students at a public research university in the United States. Studying abroad constitutes a culturally contested space for educational sojourners, with ruptures that require constant sense-making and negotiations of identities as students attempt to combine the foreign and the familiar. Situational contexts, interpersonal interactions, and the imagination all determine what students learn and how that learning occurs. However, the influence of cosmopolitan learning on the identity negotiations of students is little understood. The experiences of foreign students in many ways challenge the traditional understanding of an international education and the categorization of a traditional international student. Focusing almost exclusively on nationality as an organizing agent and bereft of significant and robust concepts that bring into view the content of international student sense-making, international education discourses neglect to explore the complexity and meanings students ascribe to educational sojourns.

As institutions harness the growing mobility in the lives of students and recognize the expanding terrain of possibilities by incorporating innovative active blended learning approaches, it is imperative to reimagine education itself. Connectivity and active blended learning can open doors for focused interactions, fostering deeper understanding through synchronous and asynchronous learning. The level of attention given by programs to active blended learning can sometimes portend success – programs with strong strategies and methods find ways to flip classrooms, deploy practical skill-based experiences, and design rigorous engagement initiatives. How can more programs take advantage of active blended learning methodologies and approaches to engage communities of inquiry for collaborative learning across borders?