Students and faculty build relationships through virtual and in-person exchange

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Sachin Gore, director of undergraduate studies and assistant teaching professor of mechanical engineering, recently led an embedded Experiential Digital Global Engagement (EDGE) project with engineering students and faculty at both Penn State and Leibniz Universität Hannover in Germany.

Gore, who earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in mechanical engineering from Penn State, is now in his fourth year as a teaching professor at the university. His love of travel and experiencing new cultural perspectives influenced his decision to participate in a virtual and in-person global exchange program.

Experiential Digital Global Engagement is a project-based international virtual exchange program adapted from the State University of New York’s Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) program.

EDGE projects prioritize teamwork and student participation on a course-related cumulative assignment, helping students to build communication skills and a cultural understanding of their peers. These projects can be completely virtual via students collaborating through technology use, or embedded, which is a combination of in-person and virtual learning.

The program

This specific program consisted of both virtual and in-person student engagement and collaboration between Leibniz Universität Hannover students who traveled to visit Penn State in September for in-person collaboration projects, and Penn State students traveled to Germany in November.

“This was an embedded study abroad," Gore said. "What that means is it's a semester-long class, but we only travel for one week."

Over the course of the semester, both virtually and in-person, the students collaborated in groups and workshops to complete a sustainable product development project.

“I just really like the opportunity to see how we could incorporate global perspectives into engineering education ... the goal for the program was for [the students] to expand their understanding of the engineering design process to include sustainability considerations and experience the challenges of working on international teams,” said Gore.

Virtual communication between the students had taken place before in-person travel, which allowed them to become acquainted and begin discussing what they planned to accomplish in their group projects.

“This year's program was special in the sense that when we decided to develop the program for this year, the [Leibniz Universität Hannover students and faculty] applied for some grant funding, and they received it,” Gore said. “So, they were able to travel here first.”

“The international cooperation goal was for them to consider challenges to working on a team on different continents with different cultural norms, engineering standards, language and time zone. Another goal was for them to appreciate the opportunities that working with international partners can provide in the form of new perspectives and new market opportunities,” said Gore.

Outcomes

One of the products from the student’s teams was called an iBrush, a product in which a cell phone was utilized as the source of power for charging an electric toothbrush.

“By eliminating yet another battery and the charging system for the toothbrush, the students rethought what is needed and reused the power source already in people’s pockets in the form of a smartphone. While just a concept, they did produce a prototype that actually connected to a phone and vibrated,” said Gore.

This EDGE project allowed students to engage with each other and curate ideas, which then resulted in an effective product and an innovative concept, enabling them to think outside the box and form a functional prototype.

“The outcome of the student’s work demonstrated creativity to rethink the product outside the current solutions offered in the market,” said Gore.

At the end of their time spent in-person at the University, the students completed a poster presentation in four groups, and Leibniz Universität brought in their faculty to watch as audience members.

“I think the highlight for me was when some of the heads of the Institute and the faculty talked to me later," Gore said. "They're really impressed with how much the students were able to accomplish in the relatively short amount of time given all the extra variables of working internationally and globally."

After watching the presentations and observing the quality of the students’ work, Gore said, those working at the institute presented the idea that the students might be able to present their work at a conference. He added that the culmination of in-person and virtual teamwork amongst the students resulted in a successful overall project collaboration as well as compelling presentations at the close of the project.

Exploring EDGE

Exploring new cultures, cultivating new technological innovations, and building career-ready skills in both virtual and in-person settings fosters teamwork, leadership, and critical thinking amongst students, a goal of EDGE. EDGE provides opportunities for global and intercultural engagement without the expensive costs of traveling. Virtual exchange can provide a new element to nearly any academic course. For information on how to start an EDGE collaboration, visit the EDGE website or email Tracy Coleman, EDGE program associate, at Tracy.Coleman@psu.edu for more information.