Building Cross-Cultural Academic Exchange with University Students During COVID-19 Through Online Deliberation: The Case of an Energy Studies Course in Hong Kong

Under the fifth wave of COVID-19 in Hong Kong in early 2022, teachers and students in the higher education sector were subject to severe adverse learning environments due to social distancing practices. Researchers identify the growing hardships in connecting students with each other. Through the Hong Kong x Daejeon x Kyoto x Taipei x Guangzhou Online Undergraduate Deliberation Workshop organised in April 2022, 65 students from Hong Kong, Daejeon, Kyoto, Taipei and Guangzhou gathered, and discussed the role of universities for sustainable energy transitions through a mixed online model of the Stanford Online Deliberation Platform, Zoom and Qualtrics. This project utilised the Stanford Online Deliberation Platform and university networks to conduct a cross-cultural exchange for our undergraduate students at Hong Kong Baptist University. This workshop was a collaboration between seven Asian universities across five cities. To compare participating students’ changes in knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours before and after the project, quantitative questionnaires (n = 50) alongside qualitative post-event in-depth semi-structured interviews (n = 8) were conducted. This study revealed the effectiveness of combining the online platforms and other online teaching software in facilitating students’ knowledge exchange across various cities. Through experimenting with the new virtual platform, this project opened up new ways for globalisation in teaching and learning.