ABSTRACT
This article discusses the international collaboration between a community college in the United States (Piedmont Virginia Community College) and a technological school in Buenos Aires, Argentina (Escuela Técnologia Otto Krause), both of which were founded to provide educational and career opportunities to the people in the regions they serve. Through a faculty exchange between the schools, beginning in 2013, Otto Krause established a writing center, El Laboratorio de las Lenguas, modeled after PVCC’s Writing Center. While both centers were developed to increase successful completion of students’ programs of studies, their approaches differ in response to local contexts. The strategies each school has employed to bolster completion are discussed, as well as challenges to improving completion. The collaboration raises questions about how the ideal of democratizing education can be achieved in low-cost or tuition-free settings while also demonstrating how such partnerships can lead to innovative practices and promote international understanding.
