As the year winds down so does the Virtual International Exchange “Cultural Capsule” Program. This was the first year that Dr. Janis Petronis, a Business Professor at Tarleton State University, over saw the Virtual Exchange, a program that enables students from around the world to interact with each other in their same career field and learn about each other’s culture while doing so.

Business and Accounting professor Christi Foster volunteered as the instructor for running this new program.  24 female volunteers ages 18 to 25 interacted with other female students in Dubai. The class successfully underwent a series of sessions with the Women’s College in Dubai after taking quizzes, learning lessons, and having class discussions about the women’s culture.

“It is studying abroad, but in a virtual way,” Foster said.

Foster also said that many of her students were “loving learning about the other culture.”

Lisa Deluca, a student who partook in the program, said, “It was astonishing to experience how technology can instantly connect people on opposite side of the world.”

The students were able to learn about how the United Arab Emirates live, and the Dubai women helped break down stereotypes surrounding people of different heritage.

“I hope that in the future this is something that Tarleton will continue to take part in,” Deluca said. Foster added, “I would like to see Tarleton host and call the shots on a program like this one.”

For more information about the Virtual International Exchange Program contact Christi Foster at [email protected].