Cultural Exchange
Narrowing Cultural Gaps in Virtual Exchange: Building Cross-cultural Understandings
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Maria Marino,
Nurhayat Bilge,
Jessica Delgado
In Virtual Exchange programs, such as Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL), socio-cultural differences can negatively or positively influence students’ experiences and efficacy of global collaborations. This study aims to understand student’s participatory behaviors in COIL activities by exploring cultural differences in communication. Understanding cultural aspects in communication while video conferencing in Virtual Exchange programs help to develop more effective culturally sensitive strategies that will enhance student experience when immersed in culturally sensitive environments. We specifically explore differences in cultural value orientations such as perceptions about time management, task/relationship focus, and decision-making process during team work in virtual exchange programs.
Language Learning and Artificial Intelligence: Practice, Skill Development, and Reflection
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Joseph Fees
Without a doubt, advances in technology have aided language learning over the past decades. While some reservations may exist with any new language technology, artificial intelligence (AI) has changed the landscape of education and the future implications for language acquisition. Rather than banishing this technology, language teachers should acknowledge its capacities and incorporate it into language classroom with approaches that continue to focus on critical thinking skills, language proficiency, and meaningful reflection. There are numerous techniques with AI programs such as ChatGPT to enhance language study and writing in an L2. When class activities and assessments are designed with student access to AI in mind, learners can benefit from a technology that will support the learning process while still gaining the necessary skills of a language course. This study demonstrates the strategies for integrating AI into writing and grammar in the language classroom with sample activities and assessments. Some sample activities include back-and-forth conversations in Spanish and grammar guides and practice in Spanish. AI provides several advantages as a useful tool for the writing process in a second language. First, AI gives instant feedback on organization, grammar, and syntax errors, which can help learners to identify their mistakes and correct them more quickly. Students can use AI to suggest alternative words or phrases, which can facilitate improvement in written expression and make writing more native-like. Grammar tutorials and practice can be tailored to students’ needs through AI with explanations, copious samples, and sample quizzes.
Reimagining the Creative Process with a Generative AI Search Methodology : A Pilot with Visual Communication Students View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Jeffrey Koh
Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming education, but its current application in the classroom tends to be at the substitution or augmentation level, where creativity or productivity is enhanced without redefining or modifying existing processes. Design education, being more subjective, has fewer constraints in adopting AI, making it ideal for deeper experimentation with AI tools. In this paper, we propose a search methodology using generative-AI at the modification level of the SAMR model. The approach integrates ChatGPT and Midjourney into the creative process and fundamentally redesigns how design students research and ideate. It aims to enable students to generate precise keywords, explore unfamiliar art styles, and produce visual mock-ups more efficiently. The generative-AI search methodology was piloted with 45 year 2 students in a visual communication diploma. Students worked in pairs on five design briefs through the semester. For baseline comparison, Brief 1 was completed without instruction or guidance on AI tools. Subsequently, students were trained in the AI-search methodology and applied it to Briefs 2–5. Content analysis of their works showed an expansion in students’ design vocabulary and a slight improvement in their ability to explain and justify their choices of visual references, but only for students with a higher readiness towards AI. Post-module interviews with lecturers and students highlighted additional opportunities to leverage on AI to further enhance traditional creative workflows and to foster innovation in an AI-driven design landscape. These findings suggest that integrating generative-AI at the modification level can enhance design education by promoting creative exploration.
