{"title":"International Education’s Academic Benefit: Potential for Community College Virtual International Exchange","authors":"Melissa Whatley","doi":"10.1007/s11162-024-09808-4","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>This study focuses on the potential academic benefit of virtual international exchange for community colleges and the students they enroll through a comparison of virtual exchange and study abroad. Using data from two community colleges in the US Southeast, this study draws upon the notion of socioacademic integration. Specifically, this study theorizes that both virtual exchange and study abroad have a positive relationship with students’ academic outcomes given their potential to foster socioacademic integrative moments. However, given the scalability of virtual international exchange, it was expected that these programs are associated with a greater relationship to students’ academic outcomes in the aggregate. This study’s results generally confirm these expectations, although findings for virtual exchange are less positive compared to study abroad. Results have implications for the establishment and success of both approaches to international education programming at community colleges. The potential for virtual international exchange to reach a larger group of students compared to study abroad, thus having a greater aggregate impact on students’ success and outcomes, has key policy implications particularly for community colleges, for which service to the community is an integral component of institutional mission.</p>","PeriodicalId":48200,"journal":{"name":"Research in Higher Education","volume":"22 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9000,"publicationDate":"2024-06-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Research in Higher Education","FirstCategoryId":"95","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-024-09808-4","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This study focuses on the potential academic benefit of virtual international exchange for community colleges and the students they enroll through a comparison of virtual exchange and study abroad. Using data from two community colleges in the US Southeast, this study draws upon the notion of socioacademic integration. Specifically, this study theorizes that both virtual exchange and study abroad have a positive relationship with students’ academic outcomes given their potential to foster socioacademic integrative moments. However, given the scalability of virtual international exchange, it was expected that these programs are associated with a greater relationship to students’ academic outcomes in the aggregate. This study’s results generally confirm these expectations, although findings for virtual exchange are less positive compared to study abroad. Results have implications for the establishment and success of both approaches to international education programming at community colleges. The potential for virtual international exchange to reach a larger group of students compared to study abroad, thus having a greater aggregate impact on students’ success and outcomes, has key policy implications particularly for community colleges, for which service to the community is an integral component of institutional mission.
期刊介绍:
Research in Higher Education publishes studies that examine issues pertaining to postsecondary education. The journal is open to studies using a wide range of methods, but has particular interest in studies that apply advanced quantitative research methods to issues in postsecondary education or address postsecondary education policy issues. Among the topics of interest to the journal are: access and retention; student success; equity; faculty issues; institutional productivity and assessment; postsecondary education governance; curriculum and instruction; state and federal higher education policy; and financing of postsecondary education. The journal encourages submissions from scholars in disciplines outside of higher education, and studies from outside the United States that address issues that are of interest to the readership. The journal will on occasion publish short notes of a methodological nature, literature reviews of topics pertaining to postsecondary research, and “research and practice” studies illustrating how postsecondary research can inform decision making.