Do international online collaborative learning projects impact ethnocentrism?

Abstract

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.