Knowledge exchange within a visitor and buddy dyad: A study exploring the process through a cultural exchange program between Samtse College Bhutan and Edith Cowan University, Australia

Students participating in cultural exchange programs are provided with opportunities to exchange knowledge and share similar experiences with their counterparts that have or are going through similar challenges in their society. Through such a knowledge exchange, students can build capacity, confidence, and conviction in creating and solving meaningful life experiences. Participating in a cultural exchange program can provide opportunities for all students (host and visitor) to engage with new knowledge; experience diverse ways of doing things; develop new networks and partnership with fellow students; and create a shared understanding of collaboration. Knowledge exchange goes beyond the experience of the cultural exchange program and permeates into the way students may experience fieldwork placements within their program of study and their profession. Whilst anecdotal and research reports show that students benefit from participating in cultural exchange programs, little research has focussed on the experiences of both the ‘visitor’ and the ‘buddy’ dyad participating in this experience. In particular, on how they developed new networks and partnership with their fellow students, as a visitor or buddy; how they created a shared understanding of collaboration; and how they may use these experiences in their fieldwork placements in Australia and Bhutan, in their course of study. This study centres around a cultural exchange program between Edith Cowan University (ECU) and Samtse College of Education, Bhutan. The students are paired over the two-week period of the cultural exchange program. The ECU students will reside on campus in Bhutan, attend classes and participate in college activities to immerse themselves in the daily life of a Bhutanese student. As researchers, we sought to elicit some preliminary data, from both buddy and visitor students, to identify new knowledge students may have learnt; their experiences of different ways of doing things that may have challenged them; how they developed new networks and partnership with their fellow students; how they created a shared understanding of collaboration; and how they may use these experiences in their fieldwork placements in their program of study. To illicit this data, the buddy and the visitor students will participate in an anonymous Qualtrics survey, at three time points: commencement of exchange (on expectations of participating in the program), conclusion of period of the exchange (to explore expectations and whether these were met, unmet or surpassed), and one month post exchange (how they applied any new knowledge learned, in particular within their next field practicum). This study will provide the preliminary data on how any knowledge exchange is perceived by the two groups of students, visitor and buddy, participating in the program. This data will contribute to the exploration of further joint research in knowledge exchange, understanding that such knowledge exchange goes beyond the experience of the cultural exchange program and permeates into the way students may experience fieldwork placements within their study programs.