The role of intercultural virtual exchanges in global citizenship development

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study examines the impact of Virtual Exchange (VE) on the development of global citizenship competences. One hundred and six participants from universities in Mexico, Poland, Spain, and the USA took part in a 6-week synchronous VE. Adapting Reysen, S., and Katzarska-Miller, I. (2013. A model of global citizenship: Antecedents and outcomes. International Journal of Psychology, 48(5), 858–870. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207594.2012.701749) survey, VE participants were asked to rate global citizenship and their approval for prosocial values and behaviours such as: intergroup empathy and valuing diversity. These results, along with qualitative analyses of open-ended questions, provided evidence of global citizenship development. This development illustrates how instructors could implement VE that could include tasks aiming at fostering global citizenship development.