Technology and International Education

Abstract

Technology, particularly e-mail communication, listservers, newsgroups participation and uses of Web pages, has greatly increased the interaction between faculty and students of universities of different countries. These advances have also raised the interest in, the need for, and the possibilities about participating in international faculty and student exchanges and international course development and implementation. For example, for several years now this panelist has worked on a Student/Faculty exchange project between State University of New York (SUNY) and Mexican universities, using these technologies to substitute scant funds, yet obtaining significant results. This article describes Conference on Instructional Technology (CIT) Panel discussion that addressed some of the problems panelists found in developing their international exchange projects. It also discusses some problems encountered in developing the traditional and two new models of student exchanges and in the lack of a central SUNY structure capable of sustaining projects developed in one campus but benefitting all SUNY. We discuss how technology has helped to circumvent these problems and to provide working solutions that contribute positively. Benefits from as well as the costs of such exchanges are examined, traded off, and openly debated.