A decade of globally distributed collaborative learning: Lessons learned from cross-national virtual teams

Derrick L. Cogburn, Nanette Levinson, Angela Usha Ramnarine-Rieks, Fatima K.Espinoza Vasquez

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

10 Scopus citations

Abstract

A plethora of challenges confronts the modern university system, many of which may be addressed with the increased adoption of virtual organization models. From 1999-2008 several universities around the world, initially from South Africa and the United States and later expanding to include participants from India, Mexico, Canada, and the West Indies, participated in an historic exploration of geographically distributed collaborative learning in a graduate seminar on globalization and the information society. The underlying goal of the project was to better understand the sociotechnical infrastructure required to support cross-national teaching and learning models and to build human capacity for a knowledge-intensive global economy. This paper asks one overarching research question: To what degree can a suite of commercially available web-based technologies be used to create a globally distributed, synchronous and asynchronous, collaborative learning environment for advanced graduate studies between South Africa and the United States? In answering the question, we review good practices and lessons learned from ten years of delivering the Globalization Seminar. Data for the study include participant observation, narrative student evaluations, and limited post hoc surveys of student participants. Our findings focus on three areas: 1) technical infrastructure; 2) social processes and pedagogy; and 3) administrative infrastructure. The study suggests that with the right technology, training, administrative support, and pedagogical approach, globally distributed virtual learning teams can become valuable learning communities.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 43rd Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, HICSS-43
DOIs
StatePublished - 2010
Event43rd Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, HICSS-43 - Koloa, Kauai, HI, United States
Duration: Jan 5 2010Jan 8 2010

Publication series

NameProceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences
ISSN (Print)1530-1605

Conference

Conference43rd Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, HICSS-43
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityKoloa, Kauai, HI
Period1/5/101/8/10

Keywords

  • Collaborative learning
  • Collaboratories
  • Cyberinfrastructure
  • Distance learning
  • Virtual teams

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Engineering

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'A decade of globally distributed collaborative learning: Lessons learned from cross-national virtual teams'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this