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Design Thinking Approach to Global Collaboration and Empowered Learning: Virtual Exchange as Innovation in a Teacher Education Course

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Abstract

This study discusses a design-thinking approach for a virtual exchange intended to introduce pre-service teachers to global collaboration and empowered learning through the use of educational technology. Principles of design-thinking (i.e., empathy, ideation, and testing) were aligned with broader educational goals of culturally responsive practices and metacognition. Findings suggested that participants in the study (n = 36), pre-service teachers in the US, drew on individual strengths, cosmopolitan interests in global partnership, and problem-solving strategies to leverage educational technology to achieve learning goals. This paper contributes valuable insights, and recommendations for practice, about how to conduct virtual exchanges in higher education and K-12 learning settings.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA

    Benjamin Gleason

  2. Oregon State University, Oregon, Corvallis, USA

    Nadia Jaramillo Cherrez

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  1. Benjamin Gleason
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  2. Nadia Jaramillo Cherrez
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Correspondence to Benjamin Gleason.

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Gleason, B., Jaramillo Cherrez, N. Design Thinking Approach to Global Collaboration and Empowered Learning: Virtual Exchange as Innovation in a Teacher Education Course. TechTrends 65, 348–358 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-020-00573-6

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