Defeating isolation in the pandemic and post pandemic new dispensation: The case study of Russia and Japan in higher education

The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic since early 2020 has dramatically impacted higher education development in various aspects, including the shift of face-to-face teaching to online teaching and learning, the cancellation of physical events and activities, and the formation of a “new normality” in higher education [Tesar, 2020]. At the same time, COVID-19 has increased virtual mobility and collaborative online learning as alternatives to physical student mobility.

For developing promotion of intercultural dialogue through the online communication based on learning foreign languages and motivating students, faculty members from Kansai University (Japan, Osaka) and F.M. Dostoevsky Omsk State University (Russia, Omsk) started to use the platform Flipgrid for intercultural online exchange between the students of the above-mentioned universities.

Based on an online survey of students' participation in the exchange project, this research examines how the Russo-Japanese intercultural online project affected students' motivation and ultimately their participation in the project, as well as their evaluation of the achieved results. The feedback from this project has been positive - participants commented favorably on both the relevance of the model of effective language practice and the significance of international communication for better cultural understanding and furthering human relationships with Japan, a close neighbor of Russia in the Asia-Pacific region. It may be surmised that an appreciation for cultural diversity and other cultures provides the first step in developing the competences necessary for operating in multicultural environments. Therefore, this was, for the students of both universities, the start of intercultural dialogue between them.

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