Leveraging mobile devices to develop intercultural competency for digital students

Abstract

Mobile devices can help digital students reach out across cultures to develop intercultural competence, improve learning, and provide course support for a variety of course topics. Intercultural competence is expressed through openness, cognitive adaptability, and behavioral flexibility toward unfamiliar cultures. Digital students demonstrate a behavioral flexibility toward technology use that can be leveraged to encourage students to embrace cultures different from their own. This paper explores the feasibility of using mobile devices as viable options for course support by utilizing traditional learning styles and cultural learning styles. From the conducted survey preferred networks are identified for creating a community to support mobile learning. © 2009 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.