Research on cross-cultural collaboration supported by the Internet and reflection

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We have designed many online tools and workshops to foster creativity in multicultural settings. They were designed based on a set of design principles assuming that a creative process emerges when people express themselves openly across cultural boundaries so that individual experiences can be connected and their meanings are discovered at deeper levels.In "English Playshops" which we designed and conducted five times in 2003 and 2004, over one hundred elementary school children in the local community were able to communicate openly with exchange students from several different countries and developed interests in foreign countries and people.In "Music Playshops" which we designed and conducted three times in 2003 and 2004, many participants without special training in music or musical instruments, learned that they could create interesting music using various objects that are familiar in their daily lives.We analyzed collaborative process through offline/online communication between university and high school students in an international project. We found a shift in the students from what we call a "disembodied" view, focusing on individual abilities, to an "embodied" view, focusing on relations they can create with others, associated with more positive actions toward creating new relationships. Analyses indicated that a disembodied view can suppress motivation for new relationships, which can be activated by an embodied view. Based on these observations, we have developed a three-phase model of trans-cultural collaboration, outlining how such learning process can be facilitated and sustained.