USING GLOBAL VIRTUAL TEAMS TO SUPPORT A SUSTAINABILITY MINDSET IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION

Abstract

In an increasingly interconnected economy, future engineers require a sustainability mindset, which necessitates a global perspective, to enable them to work together with diverse partners to tackle the world’s problems in a sustainable manner. This study explores engineering students’ development of intercultural competencies within the context of culturally diverse global virtual team projects. We report on two consecutive iterations of an Intercultural Competency Module (ICM) delivered within a global virtual team project setting, in which engineering students are engaged in collaborative technical projects. Each study iteration comprised of a presurveyto gain insights into student’s prior knowledge and cultural background and a post-survey to determine students’ perceptions of their intercultural learning and experiences. Employing a mixed-methods approach, we found that blending ICM with global virtual team projects was a successful approach for helping engineering students acquire international experience and develop intercultural competencies in addition to technical engineering knowledge.