VM for Global Citizenship by Herco Fonteijn, Maastricht University

1. VM for GCEd
Herco Fonteijn
Maastricht University, The Netherlands
EADTU PLA-VM, 12 december 2018

2. Global citizenship
(Morais&Ogden,2011)

3. Collaboration in culturally diverse groups
(Stahl et al., 2010;
Cheng&Leung,2012)
• process losses
- task conflict
- decreased social integration
• process gains
- increased creativity
- Increased satisfaction
• moderators include team size, tenure,
dispersion, channel, task complexity, perceived
cultural distance

4. Infuse cultural
diversity
http://geert-hofstede.com

5. VM for employability

6. VM for humanitarians - Assignment
Prepare PBL
materials
and research/
intervention
proposal on
humanitarian
work
psychology in
Indonesia
Topics
• Poverty reduction
• Social entrepreneurship
• Capacity building
• Displacement/refugees
• Disaster management
• Fair pay
• Child labor
• Coping with stress in humanitarian work
• Corruption
• Gender mainstreaming
• …

7. Launch
https://usergeneratededucation.wordp
ress.com/tag/passion-based-
learning/page/2/
• 80-90 MSc students / year
• Maastricht University plus partner
(here: UNPAD - Universitas
Padjadjaran, Bandung)
• Joint online introduction
• Virtual ice breaker
• Virtual team meetings
• Teams discuss sketchy guidelines
(intentional uncertainty
infusion)
• Complete team charter
The thing I do best:
Driving a car
Best learning experience ever:
- Short internship in mental
health institution
- Training with poor children
Most fun thing I’ve ever done:
Holiday with my friends (Bali
and Singapore)
One thing I wonder about:
What Americans, Europeans,
and Asians think about
marriage?

8. Self-directed learning
No tools
pushed

10. Assessment 1: Monitor and reflect on progress

11. Assessment 2: Problem construction
PBL problem
description
Tutor guide
1 Diplomacy and negotiating conflicts in humanitarian work
2 Disaster management and response
3 Poverty reduction
4 Ethical decision making in humanitarian work
5 Developing leaders in humanitarian organizations
6 Coping with stress in humanitarian work
7 Microfinance and supporting people to start businesses
8 Capacity building and training implementation
9 Displacement/refugees/homelessness
10 Human trafficking and slavery
11 Child labour
12 Fair pay (inequity)
13 Gender mainstreaming
14 How to make aid more effective
15 Corruption
16 Social entrepreneurship

14. Assessment 3: Research/intervention proposal

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17. Assessment 4: Pitch

18. • 2016: Corruption
- Qualitative research on elementary school teacher’s
preparedness to teach anti-corruption programmes
• 2017: Child labor
- Intervention program: design and implement 2 day
workshop on child mental health of for social workers
• 2018: Social entrepreneurship
- BinHere
Follow-up: undergraduate research @ UNPAD

19. Evaluation

21. Virtual collaborative problem solving
Ambiguity
management
• “The ambiguous project description was a
challenge. Initially I was a little bit irritated,
because I did not know how to start. Then I
realized that this was part of the project and
we as a group were meant to interpret the
project ourselves by discussing about it and
brainstorming. I learned to be more self-
confident and to have trust in the group to
come up with a joint interpretation.” (M56)

22. Perspective
taking
• “It made me realize that I have to reflect on my own
behavior much more than I currently do (e.g. the
Western European (female) directness might irritate
people with a different cultural background).” (M46,
German).”
• “I heard a lot of other groups complain that their
Indonesian team had trouble understanding but I think
they were not patient enough and clear enough on
what they wanted from them (..) This was a very new
experience for me. (..) I got to know how Westerners
feel and think when it comes to Eastern context.” (M64,
from India)
Virtual collaborative problem solving

23. Communication
• “I think why we or I have not insisted that we need the
information earlier or from a different quality was the fear
to seem unfriendly or fulfill a certain stereotype by
pushing them” (M72)
Virtual collaborative problem solving

24. Experiential
e-learning
“Being in the project made the articles for this course come
to life. A lot of times I could relate to what a text would say,
because a similar situation happened in our team.” (M40)
Virtual collaborative problem solving

25. Identity
building/
employability
• “Being part of a project like this makes me more aware of
all the possibilities to work as a psychologist, especially in
my case who changed from a marketing background
because I was missing the purpose and the positive social
impact that my job could have in other people’s
lives.”(M17)
Virtual collaborative problem solving

26. % UM students reporting that assignment impacted evaluation of..
0 50 100
I enjoy interacting with persons from cultures different from my own
I am willing to defend my own views when they differ from others
I see myself as a global citizen
I consider different cultural perspectives when evaluating global
problems
I welcome working with people whose cultural values differ from mine
I am accepting of people with different religious and spiritual traditions
It is OK if some people in the world have more opportunities than
others
(selected items from CPI, GCI; light blue: 2017 N=30; blue 2016, N=38;
dark blue 2015, N=40); response rates 0.5-0.65

27. Recruitment
Preparation:
Role-Playing
First Plenary
meeting
(Skype)
Follow up
meetings
Final
Presentation
VM Processes at UNPAD

28. Indonesian perspectives 1
Radical
reciprocity
• New network: academic and social
• Knowledge and understanding about other cultures 
• Exchange knowledge on psychology curriculum and
prospective career
• Exchange information about the current issues on
psychology field
• English proficiency 
• ICT ability 
• Self-confidence 
• Self-management 
• Leadership 

29. • “I learned about humanitarian work which is one of most important topics to
discuss, while in Indonesia we seldom talk about it” (P14)
• “I learned about the work style of students from Maastricht as a team and tried to
adjust to it with our own style.”(P25)
• “It really helped me to see problems from another (cultural) perspective. The project
also helped me to improve my English conversation, something that I rarely practice.
It also nice to have a friend from another country.” (P9)
• “I learned how to communicate, negotiate and also persuade other people who have
different culture from me. What a priceless experience for me!” (P5)
Indonesian student comments

30. Other lessons learned
• Embrace differences
- Culture, digital literacy, language, academic climate
• Student-centered learning
• Interdependence
• Reflection on digital footprint
• Complex authentic problem finding
• Adapt

31. Scaling up: Cognition & Culture (450 students/yr)
• 450 bachelor students /yr
• 1ECTS assignment embedded in cognitive
psychology modules at UNPAD and UM

32. Buchteletal.,JPSP,2015

33. Improvements suggested by bachelor students (%)
0 20 40 60
smaller groups
provide more specific guidelines
give more ICT support
move assignment to period with lighter workload
spend more time on assignment (longer duration)
(bachelor students 2017, N=199; response rate 0.6)

34. % UM students reporting that assignment impacted evaluation of..
0 50 100
I enjoy interacting with persons from cultures different from my own
I am willing to defend my own views when they differ from others
I see myself as a global citizen
I consider different cultural perspectives when evaluating global
problems
I welcome working with people whose cultural values differ from mine
I am accepting of people with different religious and spiritual traditions
(selected items from CPI, GCI; light blue: 2017 N=30; blue 2016, N=38; dark
blue 2015, N=40; red: bachelors 2017, N=199); response rates 0.5-0.65

35. Groups vary

36. • Great enthousiasm for connecting with international students
• German and Dutch students were friendly
• Time difference (5 hrs) is difficult to handle
• Majority of groups in both (!) countries complain about long response times
• Indonesian students assumed radio silence occurred because they had not been
clear enough or did not understand what was required, blaming themselves
• German/Dutch students put blame on a lack of clear instructions for students in
Bandung
• More structure and deadlines would help (very young students in different
academic climate)
• Next: crossing disciplinary boundaries (Business, PoliSci students), online
undergraduate research
Lessons learned: Indonesian perspectives 2

37. Thanks for your attention!
Questions?
h.fonteijn@maastrichtuniversity.nl