Curricula

Objectives

The student will develop appropriate skills needed to address a range of challenges related to working in global virtual teams. Students are placed into global teams that choose a client, with the aim of completing a challenge issued by the company to support its internationalization goals. Students will gain experience across a variety of functions while working together on the client goals.

IBCOM Communication Skills: You have developed intercultural communication awareness and competences needed for working in international contexts.

IBCOL Intercultural Collaboration Skills: You are able to develop and demonstrate teamwork, leadership, and conflict resolution skills in international contexts.

IBETH Ethical Conduct: You embrace ethical principles in decision-making and practice, as exampled by the Principles for Responsible Management Education (UNPRME) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations.

IBPER Skills for Personal Career Development. You are able to reflect upon your experiences to deepen personal and professional learning, and to embrace those learnings to support your career development.

IBCRI Critical Thinking: You are able to critically review and analyse information available from academic and professional business sources. You are able to observe, interpret and describe social phenomena associated with human interactions, conflict management and business management in international contexts.

Content

Much of the content pertains to developing internationalization plans for international clients, much of which typically involves marketing activities. The content is divided between marketing aspects and human aspect, e.g., working in diverse groups, managing workload, managing conflicts, communicating across cultures, managing and scheduling, writing, designing and publishing.

Time and location

The project has a fixed start date and ending, and usually runs for a period of two complete months.

Learning materials and recommended literature

The participating students join a team of international students who are then engaged with a business client. Each team is requested by the client to address a significant challenge faced in their internationalisation activities and goals. Because the range of possible challenges is so wide, the students must draw upon their existing knowledge and skills across a range of international business topics. The students must also be prepared to conduct desk research or collect primary data on the assigned client topic. Materials related to participating in the project will be provided by the project organisers at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro.

Teaching methods

The X-Culture project is a Global Virtual Teams (GVT) project organised by the University of North Carolina Greensboro, USA and its participating partner schools around the world. The project is entirely virtual, but it is possible to meet the local JAMK teachers involved in the project.

Practical training and working life connections

The organisers have reported that exceptional participating students are occasionally hired by their assigned clients or engaged in internships.

Exam dates and retake possibilities

All assignments and assessments are organised by the project organisers. Students are expected to follow along with the prepared schedule and timeline of assignments and deadlines.

International connections

Each student team is comprised of students from around the world. There will be no more than one JAMK student in any team. The assigned client could be located anywhere in the world.

Student workload

All schedule and workload information will come directly from the organisers to the students. The local JAMK teachers involved can provide some advice and guidance, but the students are expected to participate as independently as possible in the project activities. The project also has international business coaches who may provide some support.

Content scheduling

Please refer to your project materials.

Further information for students

Students who are seeking project study credits should enrol in this Peppi implementation.

This project may also be embedded in an academic track or in a course. In this case, the Peppi implementation for that track or course is the right place to enrol, and there is no need to enrol in this particular Peppi implementation.

Evaluation scale

0-5

Evaluation criteria, satisfactory (1-2)

The student has not completed all self-reported reporting and has consistently received low feedback from his or her teammates, but his or her team has submitted a client report with low marks (1). Or, the student has inconsistent but average feedback from his or her teammates and the client report is assessed at 1 or 2, realizing an overall grade of 2.

Evaluation criteria, good (3-4)

The student has completed all regular reporting requirements and has positive feedback from his or her teammates. The client challenge report is assessed as good (3) or very good (4) by the lecturer as well as other teachers involved in the project at other schools.

Evaluation criteria, excellent (5)

The student has completed all regular reporting requirements and has positive feedback from his or her teammates. The client challenge report is assessed a excellent (5) the lecturer as well as other teachers involved in the project at other schools.

Further information

Please contact the lecturer directly with any questions.