A Window to the World: Using Technology to Internationalise Entrepreneurship Education

Abstract

The discourse about internationalising higher education has often been dominated by discussions about the needs of international students in a UK classroom. These students have already taken the first step towards improving their international awareness and are still a minority in our classrooms. What about the vast majority of our home students who are often local and have not had the opportunity to study abroad? Given that the uptake of physical mobility schemes is still low in the UK using technology to connect students with their peers in other countries offers a cost effective way of enhancing their cultural awareness. This paper presents the results of a pilot study in entrepreneurship education which used the COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning) approach to internationalisation at home. Students at Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) worked in teams with their peers at a Japanese institution using a Wiki, Skype and Facebook. During their six-week collaboration the Scottish students were monitored for their perceptions of their own intercultural sensitivity and their understanding of innovation and entrepreneurship in Japan and Scotland. Drawing on the results from an online evaluation survey this study makes a contribution to the pedagogical debate in entrepreneurship education which has not always paid sufficient attention to the relevance of intercultural skills in entrepreneurial activity. The data shows that students increased their awareness of the demands of cross-cultural team-working and improved their knowledge of entrepreneurship, innovation and trade across nations. On a more general note, this paper also reflects on the benefits and challenges for academic staff who collaborate with colleagues across national borders using internet based tools.

Developing intercultural and entrepreneurship competences among students – the case of business, IT, and services disciplines

“…The parallels can be highlighted using Matsekh-Ukrayinskyy et al [2], who point out that special attention should be paid to structural questions regarding the educational design of courses in order to promote entrepreneurship education in the internationalisation context. The need to provide an equally authentic international learning experience, which brings students' cultural sensitivity to the fore, is crucial, this is why the latter should be explicitly addressed in taught programmes [7]. An important issue is devoted to the development of communicative competence of future graduates, which is highlighted by various authors [15,16].…”

“…As highlighted by Smith and Paton [6], in order to internationalise the entrepreneurship education toolkit, learning environments need to include real-life cross-cultural experiences and activities. Authentic international student group work in line with experiential learning approaches and supported by modern technologies can offer more cost-effective routes to internationalising students' entrepreneurship experience [7]. Entrepreneurship education drives the development of innovative teaching formats, where greater international emphasis is needed to increase its attractiveness among domestic and international students (in domestic learning environment).…”

“…Strengthening intercultural competence and attitudes through authentic cultural interactions and (online) collaborative activities with peers from other countries adds a new dimension to the entrepreneurship education model [7]. In this context, basic connections between entrepreneurship and intercultural competence should be highlighted.…”

The European Conference on Education 2020: Official Conference Proceedings

“…The co-development and teaching of an International Virtual Exchange is not without its challenges and opportunities for educators too. These include development of their own intercultural competencies through navigating: different institutional contexts or pedagogic approaches to teaching and assessment; different levels of familiarity with online tools and media; different levels of student commitment and/or experience of for student led team working; as well as logistical factors such as time-zones and language (McKinnon et al 2015).…”

Exploring research cultures through internationalization at home for doctoral students in Hong Kong and Sweden

“…Still, the opportunities ICT presents appear to outweigh the risks (Gemmel, Harrison, Clegg, & Reed, ; McKinnon, Smith, & Thomson, ). Free of geographic and physical restraints, ICT crosses borders without maneuvering through immigration policies, and allows collaboration and competition between students for greater diversity and enhanced quality of education (Hénard et al, ).…”