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Global Partner’s Intellectual Disclosure 

Sadia Mukhtar 

Adeela Rehman 

Fatima Jinnah Women University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan 

Abstract 

Fatima Jinnah is a public university for women in Pakistan which is providing 
a quality education to its students. In 2014, the students of this university 
were given an opportunity to take the Global Understanding course with the 
students of two foreign universities: East Carolina University (ECU), USA 
and the University of Abou Bekar Belkaid Tlemcen (UABT), Algeria.  Our 
experiences in global education and interaction with global partners were 
very good. It was not only the opportunity to interact with international 
students through video-conferencing, but also provided us a forum to share 
each other’s culture. This was a unique course for our course of study which 
is not based on any lecture or handouts. It is based on personal interaction 
with our international partners during which we learned extensively about 
other cultures.  

Introduction 

According to the great philosopher and thinker Aristotle, “Education is the creation of a 
sound mind in a sound body”. This statement clearly stresses education which is the need 
of the hour. Today, education is no more restricted within a specific geographical area. 
This means that a person has not been bound within a specific region or part of the world 
in order to acquire knowledge or to learn about other cultures that exist around the world 
as it is spreading across the globe at a fast rate. So, that is why e-learning or the learning 
through the use of technology is also increasing nowadays. Now, technology is involved 
in the whole education system and as seen in the context of higher education, the use of 
technology is much higher at this level than previously. As Haythornthwaite and Andrews 
(2011) argue that within a short period of time, the use of technology in education has 
gained a great importance or value. So the increased uses of the internet and other 
technologies have amalgamated e-learning and education within an institution in a formal 
way at the higher education level. 

A study by Hartnett (2015) shows that the trend of online learning is increasing rapidly 
with the passage of time. However, this way of learning is not equally beneficial for all 
learners because of the following factors: the lack of interaction and communication with 
fellow students and partners in addition to unsatisfactory supervision and lack of feedback 
from the teacher. So these factors can reduce the motivation of the learners to work more 
competently. So, if it is to be viewed in the context of those countries that are using 
English as a second language, some of the students face difficulty in understanding 

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English and in communicating with their global partners because of having no fluency in 
English. They are unable to understand the discussions among the students and 
sometime they understand the question but they do not know how to explain the answer 
in English. This leads them towards losing their interest in the discussions made within 
the class and the motivation to learn is also reduced. 

Grinager (Education Issues, 2006) argues that today technology is becoming a valuable 
channel or way of addressing educational requirements. The educators have also shown 
a healthy relationship between the use of technology and higher achievements. It has 
been said by the experts that the use of technology has enhanced effectiveness of 
students in the everyday jobs of class administration and student performance within the 
classroom. If it is to be viewed in the context of the higher education system both in 
developed and developing countries, the teachers at universities use the internet and 
social media to share readings that they assigned and they also receive assignments 
from students though the internet. Similarly the students are also directed to prepare the 
assignments through using technology. As a result, assignments are also prepared on 
computers through using software. In addition, the role of faculty is also very important in 
making sure that the online courses are a success. The support of faculty involves the 
design of the course outline, training the students and providing technological support. 
For the success of an institution that is taking part in online courses, the role of faculty is 
fundamental and crucial (Miller et al., 2014). So we can say that both the technology 
within the classroom and the use of technology for distance learning have positive effects 
on high achievements. However it cannot be generalized that the use of technology is 
positively related to high achievements only. There are also some issues related to the 
use of technology that have been mentioned above.  

Organization of the Global Understanding Course 

Students from various universities within a country or from different countries collaborate 
with each other in order to enhance their education skills and institutional capabilities. 
They offer different online courses to students belonging to different cultures and 
countries. In this way, we were offered the Global Understanding course at Fatima Jinnah 
Women University, a public university in Pakistan which provides a quality education for 
women.  

During this course, we participated in videoconference sessions with two universities: 
East Carolina University (ECU), USA and the University of Abou Bekar Belkaid Tlemcen 
(UABT), Algeria. The interaction between the students or global partners was conducted 
through video conferencing discussions, e-mail and other Social Media. We the students 
of FJWU completed joint projects with our partners on cultural issues. With those projects, 
our global partner presented their own slides that were on their US perspective about a 
particular cultural practice and then we presented the Pakistani perspective on some 
cultural practice.  The interaction with our global partners and learning experience of 
global education was very good. 

My learning experience of Global education and interaction with global partners was 
successful. It has changed my thought patterns in many ways as it made me think about 
something “outside the box”. Because of working with diverse cultures, we learned much 
more about their society and socio-cultural practices. Here in Pakistan, we are using 

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English as a second language. So our partners were so surprised to see that we were 
speaking English with great fluency and we were appreciated by our global partners. The 
course Global Understanding was not only a unique learning experience for us but it was 
equally important for our global partners as they came to know about our culture and 
traditions that were new for them. They showed great interest while hearing about our 
culture and raised a number of questions about different socio-cultural traditions and 
values being practiced in Pakistan.  
 

Teaching Methodology 
 

From a teaching perspective, it was a new experience for us. The course outline was 
quite simple and well-structured. The sessions for this course took place through video 
conferencing and in chat rooms on a computer.  The participants on both sides were 
divided into two groups (i.e., Group A and Group B) so that they could easily communicate 
and interact with each other. In one class, Group “A” attended the session through video-
conferencing while Group “B” participants were communicating with their partners in chat 
rooms on individual computers for the duration of the class.  Similarly, during the next 
class, Group A and B switched places (i.e., Group A participants were in chat rooms and 
Group B was in video-conference with their partners).  We had five sessions or class 
meetings with the students at ECU (USA) and five sessions with the students of the UABT 
(Algeria).  During four sessions, we were given different topics about socio-cultural 
practices of both regions. While in the fifth and final session, the collaborative projects 
were presented by the participants of Global Understanding Course. 
 

Role of the Instructor 

For the success of an institution that is taking part in the online courses, the role of faculty 
is fundamental and crucial (Miller et al., 2014). The role of the instructor is the most 
important aspect for this course “Global Understanding” as it has been argued that the 
role of faculty is also very important in making sure the online courses is a success. The 
support of faculty involves the designing of the course outline, training the students and 
providing the technological support.  Dr. Rehman gave us guidance about how to interact 
and communicate with people from other cultures. She also gave us a brief description 
about the course outline. Other class related issues were also resolved by her. For 
example, some of the students complained that their global partners were not responding 
to the e-mails sent by them. So she resolved these issues in a timely manner.  
 

Technical Support 

The technical support is considered to be essential for any online course. As 
Haythornthwaite and Andrews (2011) argue that within a short period of time, the use of 
technology in education has gained a great importance or value. So the increased use of 
internet and other technologies has amalgamated the e-learning and education within an 
institution in a formal way at the higher education level. So without the technological 
support provided by the Information Technology & Communication (ITC) lab of Fatima 

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Jinnah Women University, this opportunity could not have been possible for us to 
complete the “Global Understanding” course. 
 

The Global Understanding Experience Between Students in Pakistan (FJWU), 
Algeria (UABT), and the United States (ECU) in 2014 

The Global Understanding course provided an opportunity for the students from FJWU 
(Pakistan), UABT (Algeria) and ECU (USA) to interact with each other in a friendly 
environment. This provided a platform for having productive and an educated learning 
exposure. Although the interaction was focused on specific topics, it was also based on 
informal discussions on different aspects of each other’s personal life.   

The following topics were discussed during the initial four sessions: 

• Family Systems 
• Education Systems 
• Religion and Religious Practices 
• Stereotypes and Prejudices 

Family Systems in Pakistan, Algeria, and the United States 

Our first topic focused on the family system or the structure of family with the students of 
both universities. Firstly when we were introduced to our Global Partners from East 
Carolina University, our partners were surprised to see that the majority of our class were 
wearing head coverings which is called “Sacarf or Stoll” in our local language. Our Global 
partners asked about our head coverings. We explained that it was because we are 
Muslim and we cover our heads because of some socio-cultural norms which make us 
feel comfortable and this does not disturb us.  Within the topic of family systems we 
discussed birth and marriage ceremonies and death rituals as well.  

Both countries have a patriarchal model of family structure in which the head of the family 
is a male. Although suggestions from other family members are also taken into account 
regarding family matters, the final decision is made by the male member of the family. 
One of our Global partners at ECU told us that “All the decisions of the family are done 
by my Mom” while the majority said that all the decisions are made by father. When I 
asked whether their farther takes the opinion of their mother into account, they said that 
the suggestions and opinions of their mothers are also considered while making decisions 
about family matters. While we told them that that the decisions about the domestic 
responsibilities and household chores are made by our mothers (e.g.  what will be cooked 
today and when to go to the market for  shopping), the major issues like decisions about 
education, marriages for children and the use of assets like land and property are made 
by the males in consultation with the females (mother and wife) of the family. Our Global 
Partners at UABT told us that all the decisions are made by males in consultation with the 
females. The opinion of their mothers are also taken into consideration while making any 
decision.  

We asked from our Global partners at East Carolina University about homes for the 
elderly. They told us that elderly relatives are sent to nursing homes and that they 
regularly go to meet with their grandparents. Some of them told us that “Our Grandparents 

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live in separate homes and we to meet them on every weekend.” While answering the 
same questions by our partners at ECU (East Carolina University), we explained that our 
grandparents live with us since they are respected by their children and grandchildren. 
One of our class fellows said that their grandparents live in a village and that they see 
them during holidays and on Eid.  Similarly, our Algerian Global Partners at UABT told us 
that “we respect and take care of our parents and grandparents because it is the order of 
Allah to respect our elders.” 

Education Systems in Pakistan, Algeria, and the United States 

The education system in the USA is very advanced and educational institutions are well-
equipped with advanced technologies. For example, they use Information Technology for 
teaching and learning. During the project presentations, they had laptops with them. 
Research is the main component of their educational system. The criteria for assessing 
a student (grade point average or GPA and Semester System) were almost the same as 
we have here in Pakistan. A student’s performance is assessed by taking exams, 
preparing assignments, and delivering presentations and they are given grades according 
to their performance.  Another noticeable thing is that the students at ECU and UABT 
were from different disciplines. Some of them were majoring in the natural sciences while 
others were majoring in the social sciences. In contrast, students in our class were all 
from the same discipline. They were majoring in Gender Studies. Overall, the education 
system in both countries were good and to some extent unbiased towards both genders 
as both genders have the freedom to choose any discipline related to a non-traditional 
field.   

The students from ECU also explained that they had jobs to help with their educational 
expenses and some of them told us that their parents pay their tuition and fees so they 
have a job to make extra money for having fun and participating in other activities.  When 
we told them that we have no need for a job because all of our educational expenses and 
needs are paid for by our parents, they were very surprised to learn about this. Similarly, 
they asked us to what extent there is the use of technology in our education system.  We 
told them that the use of technology is very common at the higher education level.  I also 
told them that the government has taken an initiative to distribute laptops among 
exceptional students. This has really promoted the use of technology at the higher 
education level. There are also a number of computer labs in each university for students 
which are available and widely accessible for every student. 

While during the discussion with the students from UABT they asked us why there were 
no male student in our class. They asked whether this is gender biasness. We explained 
to them that it is a women’s university where men cannot attend.  We told them that 
because of conservatives in our country and socio-cultural norms, some families do not 
allow their daughters to attend co-ed institutions. Therefore, there are a few women’s 
universities which have been established by our government to increase women’s literacy 
rate and to bring gender equality in order to empower women. They were so impressed 
to learn this.  

 

 

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Religion in Pakistan, Algeria, and the United States 

During the discussion about religion and religious rituals, the religions of both countries 
were discussed. There was great variation in the religious practices of both countries 
because of having a diverse religious background. In the United States of America, a 
number of religions are being practiced. For example, they practice Christianity, Judaism, 
Islam and many other religions. My partner, Olivia Costello, was a follower of Christianity 
and more specifically, she was Catholic. She also told me “I regularly visit Church on 
every Sunday and recite the Holy Bible”. She told me about the different rituals practiced 
in Christianity. For example, she told me about Baptism, one of the Christian’s religious 
rites of sprinkling water over a person’s forehead or of plunging them in water. This 
symbolizes purification or regeneration and admission to the Christian church. In many 
denominations, Baptism is performed on young children and accompanied by name-
giving. She told that Baptism takes place in church. Similarly, I also told her about the 
different religious beliefs of mine as a Muslim. For example, I told her that I offer my 
prayers regularly five time in a day and do recitation of the Holy Quran. When asked about 
the childbirth rituals of Islam, I told her that in Islam, the newborn baby is welcomed 
warmly. And on seventh day, the circumcision of the baby boy is performed and a name 
giving ceremony takes place. The circumcision of girls is not allowed in our religion. 

While in the country of Algeria, the main religion is Islam. So because of having the same 
religion, there were greater similarities in the religious practices of both of our cultures. 
Most of the students at UABT were Muslim. So the discussions focused on Islamic 
perspectives on the different cultural issues like divorce and marriage, etc.  Both countries 
have the same practice of celebrating marriage starting from performing “Nikkah” (a legal 
agreement between men and women to be husband and wife) followed by “Rukhsati” 
(departure of the girl form her parent’s home to her new husband’s home) and then 
“Walima” (reception). As far as other issues are concerned, such as divorce and other 
family related matters, these are also performed following  Islamic Principles.  

Stereotypes and Prejudices in Pakistan, Algeria, and the United States 

Stereotypes and prejudices are a part of every society and are often linked with culture. 
So this was the last and final topic that was discussed by the students of all three 
Universities. The students of East Carolina University (USA) exposed some of the 
stereotypes and prejudices that exist in US society about the different racial and ethnic 
groups and minorities living in the USA. The most common stereotype in US society was 
about Islam which viewed Islam as an extremist religion which promotes extremism. We 
made it clear before them that this is an incorrect generalization. On the whole, extremists 
exist in every society and in every religion but this not due to the influence of religion. It 
is all about one’s own thinking and depends upon the socio-cultural environment in which 
he/she has been brought up and socialized. Another prejudice persisting in US society 
was the discrimination on the basis of skin color. The whites were considered superior to 
blacks. 

While we discussed this topic with our partners in Algeria, there was a perception that in 
Pakistan, women face violence because of being females. So we made it clear to them 
that unfortunately, this is happening in our society but it cannot be generalized for all the 
Pakistani women. We also told them that here in Pakistan, we are working on proper 

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legislation to protect women rights (e.g. Sexual Harassment Bill 2010 was passed by the 
national assembly of Pakistan with the efforts of Dr. Fozia Saeed who is an activist and 
working for women’s rights in Pakistan). There are also many governmental organizations 
working towards the same goals, for example, there is The Population Council 
(http://www.popcouncil.org) which has worked in Pakistan since 1957 and established an 
office in Islamabad in 1991 initially to serve as headquarters for the USAID-funded Asia 
and Near East operations research and technical assistance project. Today, the Council 
contributes high-quality research to inform policy dialogue. It is regarded as a premier 
social science and public health research organization and an influential development 
partner, working closely with the Ministries of Population Welfare and Health, as well as 
with non-governmental organizations. 

The non-governmental organization Aurat Foundation (AF) (http://www.af.org.pk) was 
established in 1986 and since then has been working to promote women’s empowerment, 
steps to prevent violence against women, and citizens’ participation in governance in 
order to create a socially just, democratic and humane society. Its Head Office is in 
Islamabad and four regional offices in the provincial capitals (Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar 
and Quetta). Furthermore, AF has a countrywide network of voluntary citizens’ groups 
and individual activists.  Similarly Bedari (www.bedari.org.pk) is another example of a 
non-governmental organization which is voluntarily working in Pakistan. It works with 
women and girls for the promotion and protection of their rights as human beings. It 
started its activities around awareness raising and self-growth in 1991 with a community 
conference on violence against women and eventually set up Pakistan’s first crisis center. 
It has developed expertise on issues of gender empowerment, addressing violence and 
abuse against Pakistani women and girls. It is also working to bring attitudinal change in 
the society. All these organizations are working to eradicate violence from Pakistani 
society. 

On the part of Pakistani students, when they were asked what type of stereotypes and 
prejudices exist in Pakistan, we explained that there are some prejudices on the basis of 
ethnicity based on religion. For example, the disputes on the basis of sectarianism are 
very common. Similarly, the Caste System in Pakistani society creates and promotes 
prejudices among people. People consider themselves superior to others on the basis of 
their caste. The most common stereotypes are about women (e.g. women are very 
talkative, they lack wisdom and reasoning, etc.). These are all social and cultural practices 
which vary in different areas of Pakistan based on different tribunal characteristics. 
However, these all are myths and there is no sound scientific basis for these stereotypes 
and prejudices. 

During our discussions with the students from UABT, we discovered that there were great 
similarities between both of our cultures because we have the same religious background. 
For example, we are similar in our way of worshiping God (e.g., offering prayer, reciting 
the Holy Quran and donating charity to the needy people). The respect for elderly people 
was also similar along with the concept of marriage (e.g., opinion of both girl and boy is 
taken into consideration at the time of marriage and money which is called “Haq-e-Mehr” 
is also given to the girl by her spouse at the time of marriage which is an Islamic concept 
understood in both cultures). However, it was observed that gender roles were different 

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in Algeria in comparison with Pakistan. The women’s literacy rate was higher in Algeria. 
A UNICEF 2013 report indicated that the literacy rate for females was 89.1% in the time 
period from 2008-12, (http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/algeria_statistics.html) as 
compared to the World Bank which reported a 40.08% female literacy in Pakistan 
(http://www.tradingeconomics.com/pakistan/literacy-rate-adult-female-percent-of-
females-ages-15-and-above-wb-data.html). In addition, a large number of women worked 
in managerial positions in Algeria and it was told by our Global Partners from UABT that 
discrimination on the basis of gender was lower in Algeria.  

Collaborative Projects Between Students at FJWU, UABT, and ECU 

At the end of these sessions, we the students of FJWU completed joint projects with the 
students of ECU and UABT concerning cultural issues and different cultural practices in 
each country. During the project presentations, our global partner presented their own 
Power Point slides that were based on their perspectives (i.e., US or Algerian) about a 
particular cultural practice. Next, we presented the Pakistani perspective on some cultural 
practice or issue. For these projects, a topic was suggested by the instructor and we also 
had the option to select a topic of our own choice. There were two group members in 
each project: one from our class and one from the global partner class.  For example, my 
Global Understanding partners Olivia Costello and Sahim Bensaad and I completed our 
project on “Attitudes of Pakistani, Algerian and US Society Towards the Old and Retired 
People in Pakistan, Algeria and USA”. My partner, Olivia Costello from ECU, presented 
her work on the same topic from a US perspective and my other partner, Sahim Bensaad 
from UABT presented the Algerian perspective. The projects of my other classmates were 
on cultural festivals, traditional foods, famous national personalities, and ways of 
celebrating child births and marriages, etc. All the projects were very interesting and 
informative. 

Discussion and Conclusions 

In the end, I would like to say that this Global Understanding course was a source of our 
global partner’s intellectual disclosure because it was a different way of gaining 
knowledge and education. The students from three different cultures came together to 
learn about their cultures through video conferencing. To interact or communicate with 
foreign students resulted in a confidence in us for communicating with the people from 
both cultures. Communicational skills were increased through this course. Similarly, it 
gave us an opportunity to build friendly relationships with foreign students from the United 
States and Algeria. 

Being part of these sessions was a unique and interesting experience for me. So I can 
say that the course of Global Understanding was truly a means of “intellectual disclosure” 
for me, my global partners, and other fellow students who were part of this course at 
FJWU. We disseminated our knowledge before our global partners and they also learned 
about their cultures, cultural beliefs and practices as well. The students from different 
cultures came together to know about each other’s cultures through video conferencing. 
To interact or communicate with the foreign students developed a confidence in us to 
communicate with the people from these cultures. Therefore, communicational skills were 
increased. 

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At the end, I would like to thank to our course instructor Dr. Adeela Rehman who guided 
us at every moment and treated us with kindness. Without her humble guidance it would 
not have been possible for us to complete this course. She did her best in order to create 
cohesion between us and our global partners. May Allah succeed her in every walk of life. 

 

References 

Education Issues. (2006). How education technology leads to improved student 
achievement. Washington, DC: Grinager, H. 

Haythornthwaite, C. & Andrews, R. (2011). E-learning theory and practice. Reference and 
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Hartnett, M. (2015). Influences that undermine learner’s perceptions of autonomy, 
competence and relatedness in an online context. Australasian Journal of 
Educational Technology, 31(1). 

Miller, G., Benke, M., Chaloux, B., Ragan, L.C., Schroeder, R., Smutz, W., & Swan, K. 
(2014). Leading the e-learning transformation of higher education: Meeting the 
challenges of technology and distance education. American Journal of Distance 
Education, 28(3), 215-216.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

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