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Integrating New Online Tools to Enhance Cross-Cultural Communication in an International 

Educational Telecommunication Project “Global Understanding” 

Victoria A. Fadeeva 

Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Author Note 

Victoria Aleksandrovna Fadeeva, Candidate Degree in Teaching, Senior Teacher at 

Linguistics & IT Department, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Area Studies, Lomonosov 

Moscow State University. 

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Victoria A. Fadeeva, 

119192, Russia, Moscow, Lomonosovskii prospect, 31, Bldg. a. Foreign Languages and Area 

Studies, Lomonosov Moscow State University. 

Contact: vickyfadeeva@gmail.com 



 

 

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Abstract 

This paper explores the technical features and didactic characteristics of two online tools 

(VoiceThread and TodaysMeet) which have been found to be effective for developing the 

communication and collaboration skills of students as well as promoting their engagement 

outside of the language classroom. To meet these goals, the developers have created both of 

these tools as cloud applications. In other words, there is no software to install as they work 

within any modern updated web browser and on almost any Internet connection. The main 

focus of this article is on the experience of implementing these online tools in a blended 

language course: “Information Technologies in Cross-Cultural Communication” which is 

based on a cross-cultural program named “Global Understanding”. A number of VoiceThread 

practical activities with the objective of developing the abovementioned skills were used in the 

classroom and are discussed in this article as well. Conclusions drawn from this research 

indicate that VoiceThread activities encourage language learners to develop listening 

comprehension, speaking skills, and to enrich their knowledge of the subject with the help of 

their peers' previous experience. TodaysMeet chatrooms provide a place to discuss 

conversation questions during online meetings and to negotiate collaborative projects (topics 

and content) asynchronously.  

Keywords: VoiceThread, TodaysMeet, innovative online tools, distant learning, 

blended learning, Information and Communication Technologies, ICTs in foreign language 

teaching, listening and speaking skills, communication and collaboration skills 

 

 

 

 



 

 

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Integrating New Online Tools to Enhance Cross-Cultural Communication in an International 

Educational Telecommunication Project “Global Understanding” 

Introduction 

Rapidly developing technologies have transformed all spheres of our lives with 

education not being an exception. Current educational systems tend to include more distant, 

blended and collaborative models. Integrating innovative online tools into the learning process 

creates opportunities for learners to develop their autonomy, flexibility, creativity, critical 

thinking and problem-solving skills as well as their communication and collaboration skills. 

As for educators, there are obvious advantages for implementing new online tools in the course 

delivery process including: time-saving (all materials are online), the growing number of 

students who can enroll in the course, flexibility in management, overcoming limitations of 

classroom time and space, easier management of a variety of learning styles, tracking feedback, 

creating backchannels, etc. 

When we consider the role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in 

foreign language teaching, it is evident that modern ICTs help to connect people living in 

different cultures and speaking different languages. They contribute to the development of 

communicative and cross-cultural skills, providing types of practice required to enhance each 

of these skills.  This paper describes the experience of implementing media-based discussion 

via VoiceThread and text-based discussion via TodaysMeet in a blended learning course, 

“Information Technologies in Cross-Cultural Communication”, in order to enhance student 

cross-cultural interaction inside and outside of the classroom.  

Description of the Course “Information Technologies in Cross-Cultural 

Communication” 

The course “Information Technologies in Cross-Cultural Communication” is designed 

to improve students' cross-cultural, informational and communicative competences through 



 

 

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communicating with the representatives of other cultures by means of ICTs. It is based on the 

international project “Global Understanding”, initiated by East Carolina University (USA) 

(http://www.ecu.edu/cs-acad/globalinitiatives/course.cfm), in which Lomonosov Moscow 

State University has been participating for over 11 years. Today, “Global Understanding” 

(GU) is a freshman-level course offered through both International Studies and Anthropology 

courses. The program provides a unique format for students where they can communicate with 

their peers through live video conferencing and chat technologies without leaving a classroom. 

Partner countries swap in a round-robin fashion during a semester so that each culture is 

partnered with two or three cultures, one at a time, for approximately 4 weeks. Students discuss 

a number of set topics e.g., College Life, Cultural Traditions and Family, Meaning of Life and 

Religion, Stereotypes and Prejudices and carry out collaborative projects with their individual 

foreign partner. In addition to live video links where students speak with each other onscreen, 

there are local introductory and summary classes before and after classes with each partner 

university, where students discuss what they have actually learnt about the culture and 

traditions of their partner country. As a result of mutual dialogue and interaction, students 

become more culturally aware and develop important skills for their future intercultural 

communication opportunities. Due to serving as learning sources for each other since there is 

no textbook to rely on, students exchange adequate, relevant and reliable information by means 

of a target language. 

However, the experience has shown that Russian students have difficulties expressing 

their ideas about their native culture and country in a foreign language due to various reasons 

(i.e., age, different backgrounds, level of school education, psychological barriers in speaking 

English as a second language, etc.) and are therefore not actively engaged in live video 

discussions. Consequently, it was decided to create a supporting online course 

(http://moodle.ffl.msu.ru/course/view.php?id=6) using Moodle LMS to prepare our students 

http://moodle.ffl.msu.ru/course/view.php?id=6


 

 

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for more efficient and fruitful participation in the project. The combination of a supporting 

course in Moodle and local classes (i.e., both live videoconferences and chats when all Russian 

students and the teacher are physically present in one classroom in addition to traditional face-

to-face introductory and summary classes) illustrates the blended nature of the course 

“Information Technologies in Cross-Cultural Communication”. Moodle LMS, being a unifier 

of cutting-edge asynchronous and synchronous communicative tools as well as a means for 

creating learning content, provides a lot of advantages for both learners and teachers which 

were already discussed in previous articles (Nazarenko, Sizykh, & Fandei, 2013). Nonetheless, 

it lacks a tool for developing speaking and listening skills simultaneously while using visual 

support at the same time. Thus, it was decided to use VoiceThread (http://voicethread.com) 

which provides a visual-centric and participatory learning environment to supplement the 

course designed primarily in Moodle.  

VoiceThread (VT) is a cloud application which allows for the creation of no more than 

5 VT projects in a free account and the uploading of over 50 different types of media where a 

student can add voice, text and video (web-camera) comments as well as upload files as 

comments. Moreover, comments can be moderated by the creator of the project who can make 

them viewable to all the participants of the discussion or make them hidden when they are left 

as direct replies. Participants of VT can doodle on the slides when recording their comments, 

use multiple online Identities (e.g., a teacher, a friend, an imaginary hero) and share the 

discussion with others. In addition, projects can be accessible via a link or be embedded in a 

LMS. 

VoiceThread Practical Activity Used in the Course  

The aim of this activity was to develop students' speaking and listening skills, especially 

in expressing their opinions as well as increasing students’ engagement and breaking 

psychological barriers in speaking English as a second language.  The group consisted of 10 

http://voicethread.com/


 

 

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students.  The equipment necessary to implement this activity included an internet-connected 

computer with a microphone and a free VoiceThread account for the instructor. Each student 

is required to create a free VoiceThread account which requires an email address and a name. 

In our case students already have accounts because they learn  VoiceThread as a part of 

university IT course.  A VoiceThread project with 4 slides 

(https://voicethread.com/share/7919579/) was required with each slide containing a thought-

provoking image with a question from the teacher which was uploaded using text and voice 

commenting. 

The rationale behind this activity was that students have different abilities in speaking 

and listening skills. It may well be that those who hesitate in speaking because of natural 

shyness or lack confidence in English fluency may express themselves more confidently. For 

instance, they may adopt a new online Identity (VoiceThread feature available for all license 

types). In addition, students can practice speaking as many times as they like before sharing it 

with their teachers and groupmates, allowing them to improve their pronunciation, language 

use, etc., using a VoiceThread function by making multiple recordings before saving one. They 

also have an opportunity to work asynchronously at whatever pace and time is convenient for 

them. Moreover, by listening to each other speaking English on the topics that are relevant to 

them, they develop listening comprehension skills and enrich their learning experience from 

the previous students' along with the instructor's guided responses. As far as student 

engagement is concerned, due to a highly interactive discussion, learners collaborate more 

actively, expressing their ideas on the topic and constructing common knowledge of the 

subject. Thus, they become more involved in the learning process. Furthermore, they receive 

peer voice feedback as well as the teacher's guided questions which keeps them motivated and 

encourages them to continue media-based discussion. 

https://voicethread.com/share/7919579/


 

 

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Prior to attending class, it is required that students already have some experience in 

working with VoiceThread from an IT university course (i.e., by studying Web 2.0, 

VoiceThread is included and is a part of the curriculum). However, if needed, it is still 

recommended to provide them with tutorials and handouts describing basic options of the cloud 

application. Before taking part in VoiceThread discussion, students should have studied 

informative texts on the relevant subjects, created sample questions to be discussed during live 

communication, viewed topic-based mind maps and completed tasks aimed at mastering 

thematic vocabulary (i.e., studying the glossary and doing a quiz on matching terms and their 

definitions), all of which are Moodle based tasks. 

Next, students carefully study the task explanation in Moodle (VoiceThread Task). The 

VoiceThread tool is integrated in Moodle, so there is no need to open the cloud app in a separate 

tab and it is enough to be signed into your VoiceThread account (Figures 1 and 2). 

 

 

Figure 1. Voice Thread tool as viewed within Moodle.  

 

 



 

 

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“Dear students, please, study the first slide and give an answer to the question "How do you 

think your culture is perceived by the rest of the world”? 

 

Your answer should last for no less than 2 minutes. Please, listen carefully to the answers of 

your peers, by tapping the play button at the bottom of the screen or Identity images in the 

conversation channel on the left side of the VoiceThread, discuss your ideas, leaving a voice 

comment to their audio posts. To do it, tap the plus button at the bottom of the first slide, then 

choose a microphone button and agree to use microphone to record your message. Start 

speaking, when you see a red signal and a button Stop recording. To stop recording press the 

button Stop recording. You can Save it if you're satisfied with your answer or Cancel, if you 

want to try again”. 

 

 

Figure 2. VoiceThread Task description on the topic “Stereotypes & Prejudices”. 

 

 



 

 

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Afterwards, the teacher may wish to give feedback on anything she/he noticed in terms of the 

use of language. The students might receive individualized text or voice feedback about their 

responses via direct replies in VT.  The effectiveness of VoiceThread pre-class media-based 

discussion is measured during live communication with foreign partners by the content and 

structure of students’ answers to the discussed questions. 

Since tracking the progress of students in live communication during the fall semester, 

it should be noted that their speaking skills improved on a number of ways: fluency and 

coherence, linguistic range, accuracy and pronunciation. Surely, our attempt of integrating VT 

in the course to enhance a student's communication skills is not the only option of using this 

web-tool in the GU project and there might other ways to implement it such as: 

• A video/audio welcome greeting recorded by students/teachers. 

• Introductory materials/presentations accompanied by text/audio/video comments. 

• Video/audio/text student or teacher feedback on the GU course. 

• A place to work on collaborative projects. 

• Plan B for topic discussions (when synchronous communication is not available 

due to various reasons such as technical problems or the time difference). We 

already tested this option with ECU in the Spring Semester 2017 when the time 

difference and daylight savings time change didn’t allow us to have scheduled 

classes. (https://voicethread.com/share/6282780/). 

Taking into account the abovementioned features, VoiceThread provides certain 

benefits for education. It promotes highly interactive and engaging discussions as well as 

creates a sense of being a member of a virtual classroom.  It also facilitates collaborative 

learning by allowing for multiple commenting options for people with different learning styles. 

 

 TodaysMeet Practical Activity Used in the Course  



 

 

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 According to the Core requirements of the GU project, synchronous chat in class should be 

provided by IRC client programs such as MIRC.  However, MIRC in fact turned out to be 

inconvenient because it requires software to be installed on certain PCs and seems to be rather 

outdated for students who are used to chatting via mobile applications (e.g., WhatsApp, Viber 

etc.) or social networks (e.g., Facebook Messenger). The latter doesn’t allow teachers to 

monitor discussions which is a disadvantage for this particular project. Misunderstanding 

might become a reason for a cultural conflict between students and their counterparts therefore 

it should be tracked and prevented.  

  In order to meet the demands of both sides, it was decided to integrate TodaysMeet 

(https://todaysmeet.com) in the course as a substitute for the IRC client program with our first 

partner (UTAlca) in a fall semester of 2016. TodaysMeet provides space where group 

conversations are collected and shared in one place from anywhere in the world with no 

software to install. Open chatrooms can be accessed via public/private links or embedded in a 

LMS (Moodle, Haiku etc.).  

There were 10 chatrooms (Figure 3) created under a teacher account where each pair of 

students was provided with a private link to enter the rooms for synchronous online 

communication during the link time. They could also use it asynchronously for regular 

communication outside of class or as a place to discuss collaborative projects because all of 

the messages in chatrooms were stored until the room is closed. The teacher could monitor the 

discussion by joining the room or reading a script available for downloading while the room is 

open. The time limit for a room to function varies from 2 hours to one year.  

 



 

 

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Figure 3. Example of chatrooms in TodaysMeet. 

 

The analysis of students' feedback has shown that most students like this tool for several 

reasons: all the messages are collected in one place, there is an opportunity both for 

synchronous and asynchronous online communication, and the transcript can be downloaded.  

Taking into consideration the abovementioned features, TodaysMeet provides certain benefits 

for education such as expanding language classroom, embracing the backchannel, making 

access to transcripts more readily available, monitoring discussions, providing a common space 

for discussion, and facilitating synchronous/asynchronous online communication. 

Conclusion 

To sum up, it should be noted that the VoiceThread practical activity helped students 

to purposefully acquire knowledge of relevant semantic fields and plan their speech strategies 

to fulfill communicative tasks. Moreover, students develop listening comprehension skills and 

enrich their knowledge of the subject with the help of their peers’ previous experience and 

teachers' guidance. TodaysMeet chatrooms create space for synchronous or asynchronous 

online communication where students can discuss all topic related questions or their 



 

 

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collaborative projects. With all things considered, it should be concluded that the innovative 

online tools VoiceThread and TodaysMeet made it possible to intensify and to enhance 

students’ communicative and collaborative skills necessary for effective cross-cultural 

communication. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References 



 

 

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Nazarenko A.L., Sizykh L.G., & Fandei V.A. (2013) Teaching through technologies: 

Communicative and information competences. Global Partnership in Education 

Journal, 1(3), 8-12.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


