Virtually Connecting Peers and Intercultural Competency Action Research with Data Collection Methods

Students do not need to interact with their international peers to be more competent in intercultural issues, or do they? How do students feel about the experience or the lack of experience? Some instructors see the value in having their students interact with their peers abroad, while others find that students can achieve the same understanding without the interaction. My passion is other cultures and learning about other cultures. While in college, I longed for interaction with my international peers, yet I never received any interaction until I went on my first study abroad to Germany. The experience was amazing, yet I wondered if there was any way that students could achieve that fulfillment of interaction without leaving their home country. If so, then I would be saving the students lots of money.