Virtual exchange has great potential to create access to international opportunities for various student populations, particularly those who are marginalized and less often included in more traditional international education experiences, such as study abroad. Community college students, who accounted for 40% of undergraduate enrollment in the United States in the 2020-21 academic year (Community College Research Center, 2023), stand to benefit greatly from the availability of international opportunities that do not require international travel, which can be both time-consuming and costly. This student population historically does not access opportunities like study abroad to the same extent as students enrolled at four-year institutions, although notably participation in study abroad is low across all institution types. For example, in the 2018–19 academic year, around 2% of U.S. students who studied abroad were classified as associate’s degree students (IIE, 2023). Lower access to study abroad among community college students is likely due to several factors, both institutional and societal, that complicate participation for this student population. For example, recent statistics indicate that 44% of community college students were older than 22 and 65% were enrolled part time (AACC, 2023). Students who are older and who enroll part time are more likely to have responsibilities related to parenting and other caregiving, and they also are more likely to hold full-time jobs. In the United States, these responsibilities often preclude long periods away from home, even if for educational purposes. As of 2015–16, around 72% of part-time community college students held full-time jobs, as did 62% of full-time students (AACC, 2023). Both family and work responsibilities can prevent students who are otherwise interested in international education from participating in study abroad due to the time commitment and cost of programs that are not designed with these students’ needs in mind. The opportunity to participate in virtual exchange can provide valuable international experience for many community college students. This article summarizes recent research on the extent to which virtual exchange programs are accessible to various demographic groups in the community college context.
Although virtual exchange has great potential to create access to international opportunities for marginalized student populations, such as those who often attend community colleges, improved access does not happen by default when these programs are established (e.g., Alami et al., 2022; Bali, 2014; Custer & Tuominen, 2017; Hinshaw et al., 2022; O’Dowd, 2013; Oviedo & Krimphove, 2021). Indeed, “the design and implementation of virtual exchange projects requires time, resources, experiences and support, and outcomes are not always predictable or always successful” (Helm, 2019, p. 140). Recent research indicates that equitable access to virtual exchange may be impeded by limited access to technology for both students and instructors, time zone differences between students in different geographic locations, linguistic power dynamics at play in virtual exchanges, particularly when English is the native language of some students and not others, and resistance to program implementation among key stakeholders such as faculty and college administrators (Bali, 2014; Custer & Tuominen, 2017; O’Dowd, 2013; Oviedo & Krimphove, 2021). Recent scholarly work highlights a gap in knowledge regarding whether and the extent to which virtual international exchange improves access to international opportunities (Bali et al., 2021; Barbosa & Ferreira-Lopes, 2021; Satar, 2021).
In response to this gap, one recent study explored questions around access to virtual exchange for specific demographic groups (Whatley et al., 2022). Two community colleges located in the U.S. Southeast, one smaller and more rural and another larger and more urban. The study included data from a total of 41,655 students representing entering cohorts between Fall 2016 and Spring 2021. In total, the dataset contained 1,039 virtual exchange participants. Regression results documented patterns that suggest inequitable access to virtual exchange among students, particularly along racial/ethnic and disciplinary lines. More specifically, students identifying as Black were less likely to participate in virtual exchange compared to the average student, while students identifying as white were more likely to participate. Students enrolled in transfer-focused degree programs, such as associate in arts and associate in science programs, were also more likely to participate in virtual exchange, as compared to students enrolled in career-focused associate degree programs.
Identification of these patterns is a first step in addressing these inequities so that virtual exchange program design and implementation can more intentionally address international education’s historic inequitable patterns of access and exclusion. These findings regarding racial/ethnic identity are especially troublesome, as they suggest that white dominance in international education is not confined to study abroad. Instead, these results speak to how deeply entrenched issues around race and racism are in international education. Messaging that indicates (whether real or perceived) that international education is only for white students (Brux & Fry, 2010; Thomas, 2013), a lack of programs that include interaction with students in Africa (Penn & Tanner, 2009), and a lack of administrative support for their participation (Williams, 2007) are issues that Black students encounter when considering study abroad. These issues may also apply to virtual exchange. An additional structural explanation for this finding regarding racial/ethnic identity relates to the degree program findings. Although sparse, prior research indicates that Black students often do not enroll in degree programs where study abroad is prominent (Hembroff & Rusz, 1993), a potential explanation for uneven participation in international mobility programs among racial/ethnic groups. A similar explanation possibly accounts for this study’s findings. That is, virtual exchange opportunities are often embedded in students’ coursework. If students are not distributed evenly along racial/ethnic lines among the degree programs where this coursework happens, then these patterns will also be reflected in virtual exchange participation.
Although these findings derive from data representing only two institutions, they have implications for international education practitioners and educators interested in implementing virtual exchange programs at both community colleges and other institutional types. First, these results indicate that the democratizing function that virtual exchange can potentially play in international education cannot be taken for granted. International education practitioners and other stakeholders need to interrogate their data to explore the extent to which virtual international opportunities are distributed among students with different demographic characteristics. Second, these findings highlight how patterns of inequality can be hidden in plain sight along disciplinary lines. That is, while students and educators alike may perceive that virtual exchange is available to anyone who wants to participate, the uneven distribution of these programs across classes, degree programs, and academic fields can hide patterns of inequitable access. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, these findings highlight the extent to which historic inequities along racial lines are entrenched in international education. Unlike education abroad, students' finances and ability to pay for participation are less a barrier to virtual exchange participation. As a field international education must confront the reality that many programs are simply not designed for students who do not come from the same backgrounds as those who historically participate in international education programming.
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