Face to face a world away

Emma Devine, an undergraduate teaching assistant in an anthropology course focusing on Malaysia, notes that the students in the class last semester talked easily to one another and discussed a variety of topics.
What makes that situation unusual, she says, is that “half the students in the course live on the other side of the world.”

But, thanks to technology, “It’s as if we are in the same classroom,” Devine says.

The course, “Young, Privileged and Global: American and Malaysian Dimensions of University Life,” was taught by Patricia Sloane-White, assistant professor of anthropology. It was designed to be a virtual international cultural experience, involving 21 UD students and 21 Malaysian students at the Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahaman (UTAR) in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur.

Meeting via videoconferencing and the Web, the students discussed being “young, privileged and global” in terms of each country’s cultural customs and their shared reading materials on such topics as globalization, modernization, culture, religion, economy and social life in both societies. In addition, they watched films, music videos and TV commercials, read magazines, looked at fashions and generally examined trends among young people, Sloane-White says.

They also wrote essays, which were posted for others to read.

Once a week on Monday nights (Tuesday mornings at UTAR) the two groups of students connected to explore subjects such as family values, race, gender, media and global youth cultures. In between weekly sessions, they met online through a class blog where they could discuss and debate these and other topics.

“Today’s students are comfortable and accustomed to using technology through popular blogs, such as Facebook and YouTube, and I thought a class involving an exchange and dialogue between UD students and Malaysian students would be a valuable experience for students in both countries,” Sloane-White says. “We also videotaped the exchange classes as a teaching and research tool.”