Cross-cultural learning experiments through the Internet

This paper discusses how the use of a high-quality video-conferencing system, a chat system, and a Web-based voting system promotes the establishment of an effective leaning environment, particularly for cross-cultural learning. A cross-cultural learning experiment was conducted in January, 2005. Classrooms in the IT education hall at Hokkaido University, Japan and the discovery laboratory of the arctic region supercomputing center at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks were connected through the Internet and an experimental network. The effect the experiment had was evaluated by analyzing a questionnaire that was given to students after the experimental class was held at both universities. Our results suggest that the integration of information and communication technology developed in this study provides an effective cross-cultural learning environment and students found this type of language leaning both enjoyable and valuable.