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AT FIRST GLANCE, Greenville, situated in eastern North Carolina, might seem to be an unlikely international education hub. The town of around 90,000 is home to East Carolina University (ECU), a public research institution serving students from surrounding rural areas. Since the 1950s, ECU has been a leader in distance education in North Carolina, and it was one of the first universities in the United States to offer an online degree. With a mission to maximize access through innovative learning strategies, ECU has capitalized on this leadership in online learning to bring global opportunities to its campus.
Technology Boosts Internationalization
With few international students on campus and low study abroad participation rates, ECU views technology as a crucial medium for boosting internationalization. The Global Academic Initiatives (GAI) program was started as a way to promote international collaborative learning through technology. "Our charge is to use innovative technology-based learning strategies to provide ECU students with international education experiences," says Jami Leibowitz, GAI interim director. GAI coordinates the Global Understanding (GU) program, which virtually connects ECU students and faculty with partners around the world. The program has been running for more than a decade, starting with a two-week pilot course in 2003. Elmer Poe, professor emeritus and technology specialist, cofounded the program with former ECU psychology professor Rosina Chia after discussing the lack of opportunities for cultural exchange available to ECU students.
"One day we were commiserating about how we could provide experiences to more students that would really give them an opportunity to interact with students from other cultures. We decided that we would try using some form of electronic communication," Poe says.
They used their assessments of the pilot program as the basis of what would later become the Global Understanding courses. "We took the lessons that we learned and began to work with our anthropology and political science departments to create a course that would introduce students to cultures," Poe adds.
The program has grown significantly since its inception. Today ECU boasts more than 60 partners in approximately 30 countries. Each year the program connects approximately 1,400 ECU students with 2,700 partner students-a total of 21,000 students since the program started.
The program was built on simple video technology that engages partners from all...