1. Introduction

​[1] A growing number of forces are shaping online education today. The backgrounds of students seeking learning opportunities are shifting as online instruction provides new options for pursuing formal education. Folded into this context is the rapidly expanding global dimension of cyberspace. Thus, who we teach is changing as much as how – or via what media – we provide instruction. Meeting these needs requires new approaches to offering online instruction and new examinations of the technologies we can use. This entry summarizes one instructor’s experiences using a particular synchronous communication technology (Skype) to teach an online class in an international context.

2. The Growing Global Context

[2] The global growth of Internet access is rapidly changing the nature of online education. Now, a growing number of students from around the world can participate in the same online class (St. Amant, 2017). Moreover, to meet the educational needs of citizens, a number of national governments have begun pursuing international partnerships to augment curricular limitations in certain regions (India Brand Equity Foundation, 2016; Sawahel, 2013; ICF Monitor, 2012). As a result, online education is becoming increasingly global in nature. For instructors of online classes, understanding and addressing such global dynamics could be essential to offering effective online instruction over time.

[3] These converging elements could be particularly pronounced in writing-related fields, as a range of factors have resulted in limited access to writing-related instruction in different regions (see, for example Zemliansky & St.Amant, 2013). Such situations have prompted a growing number of scholars and educators to examine understand how such effect educational expectations and student needs in globalized online education (see, for example, Rice & St. Amant, 2018). Of particular interest is how to merge technologies of instruction with cultural expectations and geographic – and geopolitical – factors affecting international teaching and learning practices facilitated by online media (St. Amant & Rice, 2015). This entry examines how instructors might use one technology – the voice over internet protocol Skype – to offer online instruction in international contexts associated with a technical communication class.

3. Technical Communication and the China Connection

[4] Technical communication has long been an area of interest in the People’s Republic of China (China). For over almost 20 years, technical communication educators from other nations have collaborated with programs there to train students in different facets of the field (see, for example, Ding & Jablonski, 2001 and Wiles, 2003). At the same time, growing online access in China has led to increased interest in online options for providing education to citizens (Chinese Online Learners, 2018). Based on these factors, it was only a matter of time before Chinese institutions sought to examine online approaches to collaborating with educators in other nations.

[5] Southeast University in Nanjing, China is a comprehensive public research university located in Jiangsu province of coastal China (About SEU, 2018). While the university does not have a formal technical communication curriculum, faculty in the University’s Department of English have begun teaching different foundational courses in technical writing. A lack of formal training in the discipline have limited the technical communication classes educators at Southeast could offer. To address this situation, the university initiated a process where technical communication educators from other nations – primarily the United States – visit the campus and offer various classes to students and professional development workshops to faculty. This approach allows Southeast to address immediate gaps in its technical communication curriculum while also training faculty to fill those gaps over time.

[6] The on-site nature of this approach meant the courses the university could offer were restricted to which international individuals they could bring to campus when in order to provide instruction and training. This factor made curriculum development difficult, for any change in an international visitor’s plans could derail on-site courses that took months to plan and coordinate. Such was the case that led to the situation reported in this entry.

4. Teaching Usability in China

[7] At the start of the fall 2017 term, English faculty at Southeast University identified usability as an area in which they wished to offer instruction to students. Unfortunately, none of the faculty there had experience in usability or in the teaching of it. Usability thus became a focus when inviting international scholars to guest lecture at University. To this end, the faculty surveyed their overseas technical communication connection to identifying an individual who could visit the campus and offer a lecture or lectures on usability. This process identified the author of this entry as a potential speaker, and a representative of the Southeast faculty invited him to visit the campus in the fall of 2018 in order to deliver a lection on fundamentals of usability and design.

[8] The visit and related lecture took place in early September of 2018, and the author delivered a formal talk on cognitive aspects of usability and design to a gathering of 50+ undergraduate students, English Department faculty, and university administrators. Based on that presentation, the faculty of Southeast University invited the author to return to Nanjing in the spring of 2018 to deliver a, 4-week onsite course on usability and design. All parties then began laying the groundwork for this visit.

[9] By the early spring of 2018, the situation had shifted, and the author could no longer visit Nanjing to deliver the class in person on site. Yet Southeast faculty, administrator, and student interest in a class remained high. For this reason, the author proposed offering the usability class online, so factors of geography would not be an impediment. Through number of subsequent email exchanges, the participants agreed the course could not be offered asynchronously. Rather, to meet University requirements and expectations, it had to be conducted in real time. Moreover, the University needed to offer the class in a way that allowed Southeast University students to take it on-site in an assigned classroom at a specified meeting time in order to interact with the instructor in real-time.

5. Designing the Course

[10] For the agreed-upon solution, the instructor – who was located in the US – would use an online technology to “meet with” Southeast University students assembled in a specified classroom space in China during a designated class meeting time. The US-based instructor would then use a combination of short lectures and in-class activities to introduce Nanjing-based students to different concepts and practices in usability and design. These meetings would take place two days a week (Thursday and Friday) for 3 hours and 15 minutes (from 8:45am-12:00 noon Nanjing time) per class over a period of four weeks in the spring of 2018. During these meetings, a partner instructor from Southeast University would be present to help guide in-class discussions and activities as well as facilitates interaction (e.g., via translation) and provide the US-based instructor with real-time feedback on how students perceived or responded to a given lecture or activity.

[11] In addition to these in-class meetings, the instructor also assigned students different homework activities (reviewed and commented on as part of a participation grade) to complete outside of class and a final class paper. Students could also email the instructor with questions or to schedule synchronous online meetings to discuss ideas and review drafts of work.

[12] The participants named this approach “distributed localized instruction.” This nomenclature reflected that the involved parties were distributed – i.e., located in different parts of the globe. At the same time, all of the students were living and working in the same culture vs. represented many different cultures meeting in a common online space. For this reason, the content of the class had to be localized – or tailored to meet – the cultural expectations of a specific cultural group as well as the requirements of a particular educational system. As such, all educational materials were designed for the Chinese context in terms of examples used to illustrate points and visuals used to represent designs.

[13] Once all parties agreed to this approach, they next needed to select a technology for delivering this kind of instruction. Doing so involved addressing a number of variables that allowed for effective interaction across a considerable separation of time (13 hours) and space (7,500+ miles).

6. Selecting a Medium of Instruction

[14] After a number of email exchanges, the participants agreed to use Skype as the primary medium/technology for offering synchronous instruction via distance. The participants based this decision on a number of factors, including

• Richness: The objective of the class was to provide students with as close to a face-to-face experience as possible in terms ability to interact with the instructor. This meant the technology used would need to allow for rich, multimodal interactions vs. a pre-recorded video lecture or a voice-based conference call approach. With the ability to interact via video and audio, it was a platform that could allow a relatively rich range of verbal and non-verbal interaction among multiple participants (10 students and one instructor in China and one instructor in the US).
• Allowances: Skype’s screen sharing feature allowed participants to share materials in a way akin to passing a sheet of paper back and forth between interactors. This same feature also allowed the instructor to use presentation slides in real time during lectures.
• Parity: To allow for a relatively free and equal exchange of ideas among participants – akin to an on-site conversation – it was important that the selected technology allow all individuals equal access to interact and share materials. This situation meant all participants needed access to not only the same technology, but the same version of that technology and one that allowed equal access to the same features (e.g., screen sharing capabilities).
• Access: While there are a number of technologies that allow for the rich, synchronous interaction, cost factors meant certain system (e.g., Adobe Connect) were unavailable to one or more of the participants; in other cases, government restrictions meant certain platforms (e.g., Google Hangouts) were not available to all. Skype, however, was a technology everyone could access easily as well as access the same version of the platform.
• Familiarity: The truncated academic year combined with the limited nature of and short timeline for the class meant using a technology new to participants could affect interactions or detract from instructional time should participants struggle with using the technologies; that all participants were familiar with Skype and had Skype accounts mitigated such issues.
• Support: As these online interactions took place in real time, technology issues could affect the quality of instruction -- including reduce valuable but limited instruction time. The participants, thus, needed to select a technology for which their institution could readily offer technical support should issues arise; Skype proved to be the technology that best address such concerns.

[15] Once the participants selected Skype as the medium of instruction, they conducted initial test sessions to confirm the technology would be stable during the full, assigned instruction time and to test the number of connections assigned to the class (one per attendee, or 12 total). Participants also tested uses of screen-sharing related to instruction (e.g., using PowerPoint slides) and integration (e.g., sharing a Doc file to look at text).

[16] Based on these initial interactions, the collaborators agreed on a system where the US-based instructor would provide his Chinese based counterpart and students with lecture slides 48 hours before the related class meeting. The collaborating instructors also agreed to do a pre-class meeting 15 minutes before each class session (8:30 Nanjing time) to review what the US-based instructor would cover in the lecture and activities for a given class.

[17] Additionally, during each class session, the Chinese-based counterpart would send the US-based instructor regular emails noting how the class seemed to be gong and to provide suggestions on how to modify instruction to address certain factors (e.g., times when students seemed to need clarification on a point or further explanation of how an example illustrated an idea). At the end of each class meeting, the Chinese-based partner instructor also sent the US-based instructor a summary of how the class went as well as aspects to consider for the next class meeting. These mechanisms helped the US-based instructor address student expectations and localize the course to meet these expectations.

7. Class Structure and Technology Use

​[18] For class meetings, all students and the on-site partner instructor met in a classroom on the Southeast University campus while the US based instructor lectured from his home office. Each of the Southeast students and the on-site partner instructor connected via a separate computer and a separate Skype account to mirror (as closely as possible) one-on-one interaction. In the few cases when one or more student Skype connection encountered problems (e.g., the connection dropped) or another technical issue arose (e.g., a computer crashed), students would partner with/move their seat next to a peer and use that person’s connection/computer to continue participating in the class session. (This back up approach had been established and shared with all participants prior to the start of the course.)

[19] The class meetings were structured into four 15-minute increments designed to fill an hour’s instruction time and focus on one specific topic. The overall organization was

• First 15 minutes: Instructor lectures on a particular topic in usability (e.g., wireframing)
• Second 15 minutes: Students engage in an individual activity to apply ideas from the lecture (e.g., “Create a wireframe for X.”)
• Third 15 minutes: Students organize into pairs or groups of 3 and compare the results of the individual activity and then engage in a related collaborative activity (e.g., “Collaboratively, create a wireframe for Y.”)
• Final 15 minutes: Students present, compare, and discuss their group activity with the entire class and discuss ideas or address questions that arose during individual or group activities

The objective of this format was to not tax student attention by focusing too long on a Skype-based lecture and provide them with the opportunity to apply and discuss what they learned.

[20] During these sessions, participants could interact with or ask questions of the instructor. The on-site partner also circulated among individuals and groups to provide clarification when needed or help when discussing ideas. During the initial lecture sessions, students were asked to mute their microphones, but they could unmute them and raise questions, make comments, or offer examples during the lecture. To ask questions during a lecture, students would type the word “Question” or “Comment” into the text box area of Skype and wait for the instructor to call on them by name – e.g., “Anthony, you have a question/comment.” – before stating the related item.

[21] During individual and group activity sessions, the US-based instructor would ask all participants to mute their microphones to avoid distracting each other as well as mute the speakers (audio output) from their computers. When students did have a question or wished to interact with the instructor during individual or group sessions, they would re-enable their speakers and unmute their microphones. For all final student presentation and discussions sessions, students again muted their microphones when others were talking, but could unmute them and ask questions or make comments after an individual had finished speaking.

8. Lessons Learned

​[22] The author has previously taught a number of technical communication classes – including usability – online via a range of learning management systems and other technologies (e.g. WebEx and Adobe Connect). He has also used Skype as a technology for guest lecturing in individual class sessions for courses taught by colleagues in the US. The class reported on here, however, represents his first attempt to engage in a synchronous class session via rich media/VOIP in an international context. It also represents his first attempt to use Skype as the primary technology of instruction for all class meetings vs. as a technology that occasionally supplemented other systems (e.g., in addition to a text-based class chat or discussion board). Thus, the class described here represents the author’s attempt to pilot distributed localized instruction.

8.1 Benefits of Using Skype in International Online Contexts

[23] Overall, the distributed localized instruction process worked quite well. The benefits of using the technology included the following:

• Students and instructor were able to interact with a level of directness and immediacy that closely paralleled an on-site class meeting in real time.
• The audio and video based allowances of Skype permitted more natural interactions involving multiple channels of communication (i.e., verbal and non-verbal cues and elements) than might have been possible in exclusively text-based synchronous exchanges.
• Skype allowed participants to effectively interact in relation to turn taking and sharing ideas. (This is as opposed to multiple parties typing and posting at once and in a way that could lead to confusion over what topic the group was discussing at one time.).
• The ability to engage in group discussions, facilitate in-class activities, and address student questions in a way that allowed all participants to hear both the question and the answer at one time closely mirrored on-site instruction. For the author, this particular benefit seemed to contribute to effective class-related interactions, discussions, and activities.

Based on these factors, the author/instructor plans to use Skype in the future to engage in other kinds of distributed localized instruction for internationally distributed online classes.

[24] The author would also recommend others consider using Skype in similar ways when teaching online. This endorsement is particularly the case for international contexts. In such situations, the ability to more closely mirror synchronous on-site instruction can help with the identification and addressing various cultural expectations during class interact – vs. learning about them and attempting to address them in time-delayed interactions associated with asynchronous approaches. (These delays can allow prospective problems to grow, cause other problems, and contribute to confusion if not addressed relatively quickly in the educational process.)

8.2 Limitations to Consider and Address

[25] While the author found Skype to be an effective technology for teaching in international online spaces, it was not perfect. Rather, certain aspects of the technology affected interactions and needed to be addressed to maintain effective instruction during the class – both individual class meetings and the overall duration of the course. These factors where those Skype users may have previously experienced. Their occurrence or presence in the context of distributed localized instruction, however, had implications for providing instruction in international online spaces.

[26] Through this pilot class with Southeast University, the author identified three particular areas online instructors need to be aware of and address should they use Skype to conduct distributed localized instruction in their classes. Those three areas are:

1. Awareness of international context
2. Backup process in place
3. Compression of visual displays

Each area is examined here in terms of what it entails, how it affects instruction, and prospective strategies – based on the author’s experiences – for addressing such items.

[27] 8.2.1 Awareness of International Context.

 One of the more surprising – and problematic – aspects of using Skype is forgetting instructor and audience are from and exist in two different cultural and national contexts. When one travels to another part of the world to interact with individuals there, the surrounding context provides constant – be it often subtle – reminder that one is interacting in a different culture with individuals from that culture. Ideally, the individual uses that knowledge to guide how he or she interact with persons there, and ideally, uses that information to guide behavior and communication patterns.

[28] In the case of teaching internationally, these behaviors can involve everything from speaking more slowly and clearly to avoiding idiomatic expressions when speaking to the examples one uses to illustrate points. Such approaches focus on mitigating cultural and linguistic issues that can lead to cross-cultural miscommunication.

[29] Skype based instruction can create issues relating to these ideas. In this case, the instructor teaches from the context of her or his native culture – and perhaps the more comfortable spaces in that culture (e.g., one’s home or office). This factor can make it easy for the instructor to forget s/he is communicating with individuals from another culture and in that other culture during the class meeting. Per this factor, a number of potentially problematic features can creep into the session, including

• Speaking more quickly than you might if more aware of being in a physical setting where the participants are ESL speakers with different levels of proficiency in English
• Using idiomatic language to convey ideas (e.g. “it is a home run idea”)
• Invoking cultural specific metaphors to make points or do comparisons (e.g., “Users might behave in a mousy sort of way as they are feeling uncomfortable in such contexts.”)
• Using culture specific examples to illustrate ideas (e.g., “It is like when you are parallel parking your car.”)

All of these factors affect comprehension in a cross-cultural exchange. For this reason, instructors using Skype to engage in distributed localized instruction need to be aware of them.

[30] For this class, the partner instructor in Nanjing made the US-based instructor aware of these factors during a break that took place on the first day of lecture. The two then devised the following approach to address these situations:

• The US-based instructor would stop at regular intervals (e.g., every 7-10 minutes) to
• • Ask students if clarification was needed or if there were questions on the materials he had covered
  • Ask students if he was speaking too quickly or if he needed to clarify or explain any of the terms or examples he had used
  • Create teachable moments by asking students to help address certain items (e.g., asking “Can you help me think of a Chinese example – something you experience in your daily lives – that illustrates this idea?”)
• The Chinese-based partner would use Skype’s messaging function to provide the US-based instructor with regular input on how the lecture was going (e.g., “Please slow down some; you are speaking a little two fast) as the US-based instructor was speaking

Through this combined input from students and from the partnering instructor in China, the US-based instructor was able to manage and mitigate such factors when delivering Skype-based lectures.

[31] 8.2.2 Backup Processes in Place.

 While all participants in the US and China could access Skype, the connection was not ideal at all points during a given class meeting. In some cases, the connection would drop and require all parties to re-connect during a given class meeting. In others, the connection would freeze partially (e.g., the video froze but the audio was fine) or completely (i.e., all methods of interaction froze and remained frozen for several minutes). These events often happened at certain points in time (e.g., every 45-60 minutes), but did not happen regularly enough or often enough to identify consistent patterns to address in later classes. However, when such events did happen, they disrupted the flow of the class. Moreover, they often required participants to re-start Skype (and sometimes also re-boot computers), which reduced the already limited class contact time. Additionally, when all participants were able to re-convene on Skype, the US-based instructor had to identify and review ideas covered prior to when the connection failed to make sure those items were covered effectively.

[32] To address these issues, the partnering instructors developed a strategy where, for each class lecture, the US-based instructor

• Created 1-3 “review activities” that asked students to compare the ideas covered in the current class to those covered in a previous class or classes
• Sent these activities to the China-based partner instructor prior to the start of class meeting time each day

If the connection failed or froze for more than 2 minutes on a given day, then all parties (students and instructor) were asked to re-load Skype or re-boot their machines as needed.

[33] While this reloading and re-booting took place, the partner instructor in Nanjing would ask students to engage in the review activities the US-based instructor had previously provided. If students completed one activity before the re-booting process had completed – or if a second reboot was needed – the class could move on to a second (and, if needed, a third) review activity during this time. This process allowed for the maximization of class meeting time while also addressing technical issues. This approach meant that even if individuals needed to re-boot machines multiple times, educational activities could continue during the related “down time.”

[34] As students did these review activities, the partner instructor in Nanjing would email the US-based instructor to let him know

• At what point in the lecture the connection failed (i.e., what topic was being covered and how)
• What review activities the students were doing or had completed during the down time

This approach allowed the US-based instructor to pick up the lecture at the point where the connection had dropped and continue with the lecture – or class activity – by noting how the focus of the lecture connected to ideas students examined when doing review activities. This approach allowed the instructor to maximize instructional time during periods of technology issues.

[35] 8.2.3 Compression of Display Size.

 Visuals – particularly slides – can be important teaching aids in many educational contexts. In online environments, they can provide speaker with an additional channel for sharing information with students who otherwise might only have access to the instructor’s words. In terms of international interactions, visuals can help clarify verbal information and address linguistic factors such as what does a given term mean or what idea is a speaker trying to convey when s/he says or types certain things.

[36] Skype’s screen-sharing feature allows online presenters to share slides and integrate visual aids into verbal presentations in real time. In so doing, this feature allows online educators to replicate on-site lectures formats in which the instructor orates ideas while simultaneously showing slides that clarify concepts or illustrate processes. For these reasons, the collaborating instructors agreed that all Skype-based lectures would involve the use of PowerPoint slides – shared with students via Skype’s screen-sharing feature – when giving class lectures or providing information on in-class activities.

[37] This approach, however, had its limitations.

[38] While the US-based instructor could see each presentation slide as an entity that took up his entire computer screen, students saw a much smaller version of that same slide. Because Skype reduces the display of another’s shared screen to an internal window within the Skype interface, the resulting visual occupies, at most, 1/3 of the interface. This factor meant the size of the slides students could actually see was greatly reduced. This situation affected how easily students could read the text on certain slides or see visuals – particularly the finer details of visuals – on shared slides. Such factors thus affected how well students could use such slides to gain additional insights relating to the ideas discussed at a given point during a lecture.

[39] To address this factor, the US-based instructor adopted the following strategies when using slides:

• Using the Skype interface to review all slides in advance of a given lecture to determine what factors were difficult to see when reduced via the Skype. The instructor would then revise such factors and re-test related slides until one could clearly see textual or visual elements on a slide.
• Providing students with copies of lecture slides in advance and numbering these slides (e.g., “Slide 1 of 12,” “Slide 2 of 12,” etc.). The instructor asked students to have these slides ready for viewing at their classroom computers at the start of a given class, for students could then go through the slides – in full size on their desktop or laptop – to better view a slide at its actual size. When the instructor changed slides, he would say the number change in the slide – e.g., “Now, let’s go to Slide 4 of 8”. This approach also allowed all participants to more easily review slides accessed earlier (e.g., “Let’s go back to slide 3 of 9 and review the topic of personas.”).

This approach addressed screen size and readability during classes and provided students with a resource for reviewing lecture materials after a class meeting. Students could also take notes on these slides during the related course lecture to combine all information in one place.

9. Conclusion

[40] As more individuals around the world gain online access, the global market for distance education will only increase. This context brings with it new and evolving needs online educators need to understand and address to provide globally distributed students with effective online learning experiences. Distributed localized instruction can provide educators with a mechanism for working effectively with international students in such settings. Doing so involves understanding the technologies one can use to engage in such practices and developing approaches to maximize their uses.

[41] This entry reviewed a pilot class in which Skype served as the technology for facilitating distributed online instruction. By examining how the instructor constructed a class around the use of Skype, readers can gain insights into how they might plan international online classes for synchronous delivery in global settings. Also, the review of Skype here can help educators better plan for using it – or similar kinds of technologies – for teaching students in different nations via distributed localized instruction. To this end, the author invites others to try, modify, or propose alternate approaches to those noted here to further investigate approaches to globalizing online education. The author also welcomes discussion and questions about the ideas reported here, and encourages readers to contact him (kirk.stamant@gmail.com) with such items.

[42] Ideally, by collaborating to examine such issues and approaches, we can create pedagogies that best address the needs of globally distributed students seeking educational opportunities in the online age. By discussing, debating, sharing, and trying different approaches to teaching in these contexts, we can develop the pedagogy needed to meet these emerging areas in education.