The Department of Workforce Education at the Ohio State University in the US and the Department of Vocational Education and Training and Human Resource Development at the University of Magdeburg in Germany collaborate in an interactive video-conferencing class. The context of the class is concerned with workforce education and global workforce development and draws on literature from the United States, Australia and Europe. A lot of research has been conducted on intercultural learning of foreign students (Brown, M. B., Aoshima, M., & Bolen, L. M., 2007), intercultural learning using virtual computer-mediated technology (Ziegahn, 2005) as well as the experiences of teachers in other cultural contexts (Garson, 2005). Not much has been published yet on this new form of teaching that combines two facilitators as well as two student groups who teach and learn together by using modern technology. The teaching strategy itself is innovative in the field of vocational education and no research has been found on the learning outcomes of such a teaching strategy in this academic discipline. Intercultural learning in this context can be understood as an interactive reflective dialog about different views and understandings of a particular subject matter. It is a process in which members of different cultures learn together, create mutual understanding and modify their own cultural values. Intercultural teaching aims at the development of citizens with a critical and sustainable awareness of social, political, and economic matters of vocational teaching and learning. Through this process students acquire the competence to understand how to access cultural knowledge, process it and communicate effectively with other cultures. Research questions: How did intercultural learning take place in this video-conferencing class? How did the format of the class assist the students in the process of making meaning of different cultural concepts? How did the students and the teachers evaluate their learning outcome in relation to conventional classes? The class has a variety of objectives that are intertwined. First, it should enhance the ability to communicate with each other effectively while developing mutual trust and understanding. The class further intends to add a new dimension to the idea of team teaching through the combination of teachers from two different cultures who can explain their concepts and ideas while interacting with two student groups. The German students not only have the opportunity to learn from a U.S. professor, but also to interact with the U.S. students who will participate in a similar class in the United States and vice versa. The learning process includes the following three dimensions: 1. Learning international concepts through a review of international literature. 2. Learning through listening to and questioning the presentation of a U.S./German professor as well as being challenged by him/her with questions. 3. Learning through the discussion with U.S./German students as well as collaborative work on common research projects.

The class will be evaluated in the summer 2008 by participating teachers and students. The participants will be observed in their interaction during class sessions. They will be interviewed before, during, and after the class about their expectations, learning processes, and learning outcomes. Particular attention is being paid to the development of students understanding of cultural concepts such as the occupational form of work, human resource development, vocational education and occupational identity. Individual interviews as well as focus groups will be conducted to assess the results of the class.

The results of the evaluation are intended to provide us with a better understanding of the impacts of the use of modern technology on intercultural learning. Which experiential, cognitive and affective factors influence the extent of critical reflection on academic course content? Above that, the study intents to inquire about the adaptability of students to this new form of learning and evaluate their learning outcomes. The results will serve as one of the foundations for the development of a theoretical framework concerned with interactive global learning in the field of vocational education and training as well as workforce development. The experiences with this class and the research results will enhance the process of developing international curricula intended for audiences in different cultures who are based in their home countries. It is expected that teaching through video-conferencing improves inter and cross-cultural understanding and assists in an international dialog. The results of this study can also pour into the development of teacher training curricula for global educators.