Project Duration: 7 years of experience in teaching a 15 week college student discussion course on Global Understanding
Start/End Date :Fall 2004 – ongoing. Each course begins/ends August – December and January – May 

Global Understanding is an undergraduate cultural understanding course taught in a shared virtual classroom with students and faculty participating from 21 countries in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, South America, North America and Europe. During the 15 week course, students from many disciplines at each university partner meet with students from three other cultures, each culture for five weeks. Each class period student partners meet using real-time videoconferencing, chat, email and other internet based tools to provide a direct personal global experience. Students participate in guided discussions on topics including: family, college life, cultural traditions, the meaning of life, and stereotypes and prejudices. These dialogues promote common understanding, and ongoing assessment indicates that students from all partners are more ready to participate as citizens in a multi-cultural world. Global Understanding is a regular, credit bearing course which is taught in various disciplines by the university partners. The course is taught at each university using local resources so there is no tuition or credit exchange involved. Low cost internet based tools are used to allow all universities to participate. Since 2004 Global Understanding has been promoting cultural understanding through open dialog in 21 countries.
 
Partnering Organization(s):
East Carolina University
United States Department of State

East Carolina University
Country: United States of America
Email:   chiaro@ecu.edu;
Website: http://www.ecu.edu/cs-acad/globalinitiatives/
Telephone: 01-252-328-6277
Contact Person: Dr. Rosina Chia
Organization: East Carolina University, a constituent institution of the University of North Carolina, is a doctoral institution with an enrollment of more than 25,000 students and approximately 4,900 faculty and staff. Enrollment is expected to increase significantly within the coming decade. The institution has a wide range of academic programs and professional schools and colleges and offers 106 bachelor’s degree programs, 74 master’s degree programs, 4 specialist degree programs, 1 first-professional MD program, and 16 doctoral programs in our professional colleges and schools, the Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences, and the Brody School of Medicine, which is recognized as one of the top medical schools in rural and primary care medicine in the nation.
 
ECU originated the project and has provided funding for teaching and technical personnel.

United States Department of State
Country: United States of America;
Type of Contribution Within the Project: DOS has provided contact information with many universities and funding for travel to establish some partnerships.

Project Mission: Global Understanding provides opportunities for college students from diverse cultures to openly and honestly discuss issues related to their culture in an environment of mutual respect and understanding with the result of a more open and positive attitude towards diverse people and cultures. 
 
Project Objective(s) :
1. Teach Global Understanding each semester with partner institutions from diverse cultures
2. Provide a course environment in which students can develop more positive attitudes towards diverse cultures and peoples
3. Utilize affordable internet technologies so that any institution can participate
4. Build and maintain a group of partner institutions from diverse cultures to participate in the project
5. Ensure that the project is sustainable and self-supportable without major external funding
6. Expand opportunities for students beyond the Global Understanding Course
7. Learn the lessons and improve student experiences
 
Target group(s:) Universities from diverse cultures. College students from partner universities who enroll locally in the Global Understanding designated course

Geographical scope(s) of project :Global
Countries involved: Algeria, Malaysia, Morocco, Pakistan, Turkey, The Gambia, India, Brazil, China, Ecuador, Japan, Macedonia, Moldova, Mexico, Peru, Russia, Samoa, Taiwan, UK, USA, Venezuela

One page summary: Attached

US involvement/contribution within the project : East Carolina University, the developer and leader of the 29 university project is located in the United States.

Achievements/progress to date: The project has succeeded in providing a structured opportunity for students to engage in open dialog about cultural differences and similarities. Pre/post assessment of student attitudes has consistently shown that through these dialogs all students have more positive and open attitudes towards persons of other cultures. The program has grown to include 29 active university partners from 21 countries and includes great cultural diversity.

Contact person for the project: Dr. Rosina Chia (chiaro@ecu.edu) and Dr. Elmer Poe (poee@ecu.edu)