Pedagogical Views
University of Malta (Valletta Campus)
A Distinct Digital Framework for Underrepresent Populations in Virtual Exchange View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Maria Marino, Nurhayat Bilge, Stephanie Delgado
Virtual Exchange programs can be designed and implemented to help strengthen participants’ cultural background identification and performance to increase representation and decrease marginalization of their underrepresented cultural groups (Cronin et al., 2012; Levin et al., 2006; O’Dowd et al., 2018; Tropp et al., 2004, 2012) . Our study explored how students enrolled in a Collaborative Online International (COIL) course, a specific Virtual Exchange framework. We found important empirical data for understanding the impact of cultural identity on participation behaviors among underrepresented populations in virtual exchange programs, such as COIL. We offer a distinct framework to think, plan, and implement virtual exchange programs to advance digital equity and social justice in VE. Our model focuses on increasing cultural or ethnic matching within the existing virtual exchange models in order to bring integration.
Maximizing the Capstone Course in Psychology: Integrating the Past with the Future in One Course View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Elisabeth Sherwin, Robert Corwyn
Two movements in higher education were recently merged into our revised Capstone course: That institutions of higher education provide students with skills and prepare them for life after graduation and programs be assessed. Another challenge facing higher education in psychology is ensuring that both the graduate school-bound student and the peer who is not doing so, experience a meaningful capstone experience. With the growing demands for online education (even pre-COVID) creating a capstone experience that is equal in the face2face environment and the online one is challenging. In the new course, we wanted to keep the assessment of the program measures, integrate the assessment of our student profile and introduce three new elements: a literature review on a research topic, professional career development as a learning objective and the use of technology as a goal and an acquired skill. As a scaffold, we employed all five of the learning outcomes identified by the American Psychological Association (APA) (2013) for an undergraduate major in Psychology The course is divided into three parts: 1. Assessment and review, 2. Research project and 3. ePortfolio. The purpose of this paper is to describe the course and how it instantiates its learning objectives and meets programmatic assessment needs. The master course is shared. Special focus is devoted to the integration of skills and the assignments in which they were embedded.
