The Wiley Handbook of Collaborative Online Learning and Global Engagement

14 Nurturing Global Problem Solvers: An Action Research Approach to Instructional Design

Chong Xiao¹ and Wing Fung Chan²

¹ Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong

² Lingnan University, Hong Kong

Higher education historically bears the mission of cultivating citizens. Wherever universities are situated, and whatever students study, educators in contemporary higher education are compelled to think about how to best prepare their students for living and working in a complexly interdependent global environment. This chapter discusses a series of international course connections, between Lingnan University (Hong Kong) and other collaborative partners, that specifically addresses developing competencies in global problem-solving. Using the Association of American Colleges and Universities (henceforth AAC&U) Global Learning VALUE rubric as our guide, we outline our incremental process of instructional design and demonstrate how such collaborations can cultivate knowledge of global systems and help promote global problem-solving (AAC&U, 2015 ).

Problem-Solving as a Core Competency of Global Citizenship

Although globalization is now the new normal, and the concept of citizenship is now more routinely discussed in a transnational context, traditional discussions concerning citizenship have examined it solely using the framework of individual sovereign states and nations (Lagos, 2002; Law, 2011). However, this understanding of citizenship is limited as citizenship can also be viewed ...