ABSTRACT
The discipline of geography is well positioned to incorporate ideas of the internationalisation of the curriculum (IoC) into its teachings. IoC refers to an equitable learning curriculum and experience that values social inclusion, cultural pluralism and global citizenship ahead of partisan links with any smaller geographical, cultural or social unit. Development geography by its very nature engages with many of the underpinning ideas of IoC, particularly through interrogation of developmental discourses common to countries in the Global South. Questions do remain, however, over how lecturing staff can ‘bring to life’ the very situated nature of development within a UK classroom setting beyond conventional techniques of video and use of readings from scholars and practitioners based in developing countries. Are there ways, for example, to teach geographies of development that bring students into ‘virtual’ contact with people, communities and environments of the Global South? Can these interactions be beneficial for all parties involved in both the Global North and Global South? In view of these questions, this chapter reflects on a recently trialled learning experiment at Oxford Brookes University called ‘Connecting the Classrooms’ (CTC). The aim was to facilitate a two-way cross-cultural appreciation of a development geography topic between a group of UK and Indonesian students via a digital interactive space. The centrepiece of the CTC was an online platform that facilitated ‘virtual’ interaction between both groups of students around a series of structured learning tasks. The chapter reviews the strengths, weaknesses and opportunities for further development of this innovative approach within both the school and higher education contexts.
