Intercultural Peer Feedback

The student’s experience will be enhanced through:

• Group collaboration among students from two locations using online technology while identifying and developing key skills required to build and manage their time and online communication.
• The opportunity to exchange feedback and personal experience with students from different backgrounds.
• Exposure to complex issues when working within an international team, across two locations using different online technologies.

The teaching staff will have the opportunity to:

• Work closely with key stakeholders, including international teaching staff in both locations
• Participate in professional development that focuses on using technology to assist online communication and student learning
• Engage with students in various locations.     

Project preparation (One month prior to the beginning of semester)

1. Create the key topic/theme for the Photostory and Wiki.
2. Create a list of possible industries and send it to the teaching team with instructions to select 10-15 industries that support the topic or theme, e.g. mining industry in Mongolia.
3. Academic teams from both locations choose key industries from emerging markets and capture this list in the students Photostory and Wiki Handout (see Resources/Technology section).
4. Liaise with partner institution representative to ensure the idea of the activity is proposed to all teaching and professional staff involved. Conduct a local workshop to prepare staff and familiarise them with the idea of the activity and technology to be used. Documents and training materials may include: 
   • Project details
   • The student feedback process 
   • Photostory and Wiki demonstrations
   • Marking process.
5. Collaborate with partner institution representative to organise a date and time to conduct face-to-face professional development at both locations. 
6. Conduct staff professional development for both locations. Topics of discussion could include:
   • The overall concept of this activity 
   • Photostory and Wiki demonstrations
   • Strategies to pair student groups from each location
   • Active participation to produce a Photostory and create a Wiki page 
   • Marking for creative work since (it can be uncommon for teaching teams to evaluate non-traditional academic assessments). 
7. Prepare a set of handouts for students and make them available in Blackboard prior to Week 1 (see examples in the Resources/Technology section). The handouts should include information on the following:
   • Project rationale
   • Explanations for Photostory/Wiki
   • Steps in creating Photostory
   • Marking criteria
   • Links to youtube clips on how to create effective Photostory and Wiki.

Student engagement

1. Teaching staff from both locations help students to form teams with their local peers.  (Week 1)
2. Teaching staff provide access to student handouts via Blackboard and promote them via a Blackboard announcement. 
3. Have teams choose a topic from their Photostory and Wiki Student Handout (see example handout in Resources/Technology section). (Week 1)
4. Team information from each country must be shared among all academic staff in the two locations. (Week 1 & 2)
5. Establish a student contact person from each team in both locations and request the following details (Week 2): 
   • Name
   • Email 
   • Skype/Google Hangouts account
   • Time to contact. 
     IMPORTANT: You cannot use a Google Spreadsheet or Google Doc to collect and distribute this personal information, e.g. private contact numbers. Use an Excel spreadsheet and email the attachment if collecting these details.
6. Teacher to send an email to all teams in each location to invite the teams to pair up and get to know each other.
   NOTE: Ideally, the teams are paired up based on the topic they choose or if there are similar topics. However, if there is a substantially large class size in one location, consider randomly pairing up the teams.  
7. Teacher to discuss and demonstrate all essential technologies required with the students in class (Photostory, Skype, Google Community, Google Docs).
   NOTE: It is recommended that students use a technology that is supported by RMIT. Ensure students are made aware of the limited technical support if they choose a technology outside of the recommended list. 
8. Remind students in all locations to read topics for discussion, practice minute taking, and test their communication technology prior to their first formal meeting with each other (see Resources/Technology section for resources on minute taking).
9. Teacher to share the marking criteria with students in Week 1 and advise the students that they will need to use the marking criteria to assess the Photostory of their international partner. (Week 1) 

Implementation

1. Students organise the first Skype meeting and discuss their ideas for the project. Each team takes meeting minutes and completes the first team contract (see Contract One  example in Resources/Technology section). (Week 3 & 4) ‘Contract One’ enables students to reflect on the collaboration process and key concepts.
2. Team Contract One and minutes of meetings are submitted for assessment. (Week 5)
3. Students create Photostory (video) from their first few weeks. (Week 5)
4. In tutorial, ask students to discuss their experiences and identify key learning points. (Week 6)
5. Reiterate feedback exchange requirements: Inform students that as part of team discussions they are required to view the Photostorys of their team members (international partners) and provide feedback on content, quality, and ways to improve the Photostory (as per the marking criteria shared in Week 1). This must be discussed among team members and feedback shared with partners overseas. (Week 6-7)

Development and post-production

1. Send an email to remind students to organise a final meeting with their international partners. (Week 7)
2. Students send their final products (Wiki and Photostory) to their international partners prior the meeting. (Week 7)
3. Students conduct their final meeting and watch the Photostory and read Wiki from their international group.
4. Students provide feedback to each other based on the work shared and marking criteria. (Week 8 & 9)
5. Based on peer feedback received, students continue to work on their Photostory/Wiki. (Week 8 & 9)
6. All groups are to start completing ‘Contract Two’ with their local partners (see Resources/Technology section for an example of Contract Two). (Week 8 & 9) Contract Two is a post-activity reflection where students reflect on the challenges of working in a transnational location with cross-cultural teams.
7. Students present their project to the class. Feedback is provided by academic staff and results given to students following their presentations. (Weeks 10-12)
8. Students submit Contract Two to Blackboard for assessment. (Week 12)

Challenges - it is recommended that the following be considered:

1. Student engagement and expectations throughout the activity:
   • Work very closely with RMIT’s international partners to make sure that they fully understand the process.
   • Clearly communicate the process to students in the transnational campus.
   • Conduct professional development at the beginning of the semester in all locations and ensure that technical support and resources are provided.
2. Time management: Sufficient preparation time must be given to students from each location. It is likely that the semester may not start at the same time in each location and teaching staff need to clarify roles of students from the beginning of semester.
3. Clear communication: Students and academics from all locations will need to be clearly informed on:  
   • Project objectives
   • Assessment
   • Technology
   • Expectations.
4. Flexibility: University policies on enrolment and deferment can affect how and when students form their team. Staff need to be able to provide alternative solutions to those students affected.