Intercultural Competence Through Virtual Exchange: Achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals(Sustainable Development Goals Series)

This book addresses the importance of sustainability and environmental worldviews and the role of intercultural competencies  in achieving SDGs acceptance and their effective implementation. Particularly since the pandemic, there is a growth in online education, and this offers opportunities for educators and students that can be exploited with a focus on sustainability. The book provides examples of virtual exchange including Global South and Global North with tools ranging from Project-Based and Community-Based Service Learning, Debates, Environmental Games and Simulations, Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality, and Accessibility and DEI issues. Additionally, issues of social justice and digital colonialism are a thread through several of the chapters. By providing a broad range of global learning experiences from scholars across several continents from various disciplines that include various post-secondary education based on tools and best practices, the book is a great resource to academics, researchers, and students on approaches to education that prepare the learner for praxis and effective implementation of sustainable solutions for their professional and social future perspectives.  Chapter "How can we raise global citizens at home: Evidence from an intercultural virtual collaboration between the Netherlands and Japan"  is available open access under a via link.springer.com.>

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1. Introduction (Douvlou and Tzoumis).- Chapter 2 The Need for Intercultural Competence in Achieving Sustainability and the SDGs (Dr. Claudia Cassatella and Dr. Marco Santangelo-Politecnico di Torino).- Chapter  3 What does a Global Learning Approach focused on Sustainability using Virtual Exchanges look like?  The Collaborative Online International Learning Model (Tzoumis and Douvlou).- Chapter 4 Achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals through Intercultural and Global Learning  (Dr. Kathryn Ibata-Arens, DePaul University and Dr. Sulakshana Sen, Symbiosis School for Liberal Arts, India).- Chapter 5 The Importance of Intercultural Learning about Environmental Worldviews (Dr. Henry Fowler, Navajo Technical University and Tzoumis).- Chapter 6 Teacher Education: Overcoming Accessibility, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Issues in South Sudan using Collaborative Online International Learning (Dr. Candace Bloomquist, Creighton University and Dr. James Ayaga, SJ, Mazzolari Teachers College, South Sudan).- Chapter 7 Encapsulating the Behavioral Aspect of Perceived Inclusion in achieving Sustainability Goals on Inequality (Dr. Nor Mokhtar, International Islamic University Malaysia and Dr. Kelley Crowley, Shenandoah University).- Chapter 8 Using Global Learning with People who are Displaced (Dr. Reem  Adnan ALKharouf, Yarmouk University, Jordan).- Chapter 9 Enhancing Educational Inclusion in Conflict and Disaster Stricken Countries with COIL (Dr. Jose Luis Jimenez, Andrés Bello Catholic University, Venezuela).- Chapter 10 Promoting Sustainable Development through Service-Learning in an International Virtual Exchange Program (Dr. Margaret Workman, and Dr. Isidore Udoh, University of Calabar,Nigeria).- Chapter  11 Understanding Energy and Waste Disposal using Global Debates (Dr. Cynthia Boyer, Institut National UniversitaireChampollion, France  and Tzoumis).- Chapter 12 Brownfield and Sustainable Land Revitalization--Transporting to the Field using Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality (360-3d)  and the Metaverse (Douvlou).- Chapter 12 Game simulations: an engaging tool for global learning on Sustainability that includes Accessibility (Dr. Eduardo Liberado, Sao Paulo State University, Brazil, Dr. Karima  Khalil, Cadi Ayyad University, School of Technology in Essaouira, Morocco, and Tzoumis with Katie Holloway, DePaul University).- Chapter 13 Fostering Intercultural Skills and Environmental Democracy through Virtual Exchange: A Case Study of the Leiden-W&M Coastal and Delta Communities Program (Dr. Dario Fazzi and Dr. Gaetano di Tommaso, Leiden University, The Netherlands).- Chapter 14 Global Learning Experiences to Global Sustainable Development from Engineering Schools (Dr. Eric Gielen and Jose Luis Mirallees, Politecnico di Valencia, and Dr, Eduardo  Liberado, Sao Paulo State University, Brazil).- Chapter 15 The Role of Corporate Social Responsibility in Sustainability (Dr. Mona Pearl, TBD).- Chapter 16 Empowering the Voices of the Global South to Combat Digital Colonization (Christelle Daceus, Johns HopkinsUniversity).- Chapter  17 Conclusions and Looking towards the Future (Douvlou and Tzoumis).

About the Author :
Dr. Kelly Tzoumis, Emerita Professor with via sapientae distinction, is a scholar in the field of environmental policy since 1989 with approximately 35 years of experience. She has served as a Fulbright Distinguished Chair and a Congressional Fellow.  She built a global team of collaborators consisting of partners at universities from 10 countries located across five continents to provide global learning experiences for her learners across a variety of courses. Dr. Elena Douvlou is an architect and currently the Associate Dean at the School of Architecture at Metropolitan College, Greece. She holds a PhD and a MAArch from the University of Sheffield, UK. She has taught for more than two decades and has published articles, contributed to book chapters and presented her research at various international institutions. She is a member of ARB and the HEA (UK).