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Internationalizing curriculum through virtual exchange: critical perspectives on addressing barriers and advancing DEI in professional learning

Biswadeep Dhar,Riya Chakraborty

Published 2025 in Professional Development in Education

ABSTRACT

ABSTRACT Curriculum internationalization involves orienting a curriculum from an international perspective, building students’ and educators’ competence at professional and societal levels, engaging them in multicultural and multilingual experiences and shaping them into global professionals. Educators adopt leadership and professional development strategies to collaborate across borders through Virtual Exchanges (VE), infusing international collaborations into their curriculum. This fosters students’ professional learning, regardless of diversity, promoting equity and inclusion. However, barriers such as language competency, structural and systemic discrepancies through power dynamics occur in educational systems. Overcoming these challenges can enhance inclusion and equity in curriculum internationalization. The theoretical perspectives drawn by the authors’ personal and professional experiences are examined by ‘Intergroup Contact theory’ and ‘Community of Inquiry’ model further aiming to understand virtual exchange-based professional learning. This provides a conceptual model overcoming barriers while critically engaging Spivak’s ‘Subaltern’ theory addressing social mobility among dominant and subjugated groups of stakeholders as they co-create knowledge, promoting global learning. The conceptual framework intersecting theoretical lenses critically examines hierarchical power dynamics within communities of practice using Spivak’s Subaltern theory illuminating challenges faced by the stakeholders from subjugated communities. Additionally, this explores professional learning strategies through ‘study abroad,’ ‘teach abroad,’ and virtual exchange programs enhancing global learning.

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