This activity asks participants to write about aspects of their cultural identity, such as family structure, nationality, rituals, environment, friends, institutions, mobility, and education. In an online learning environment, participants can share their autobiographies through a discussion board. 

This activity asks students to share a personal object of cultural significance and explain why that object is meaningful to them and the culture(s) they identify with. To adapt this activity to an online environment, participants could upload a picture of their cultural artifact to a discussion board along with an explanation of its significance. They could also share through video chat. 

This lesson is meant to stimulate participants’ attitudes of intercultural curiosity. Participants will create crossword puzzles based on prompts that highlight certain aspects of culture, such as religious beliefs, food preferences, and nonverbal communication gestures. Then, they will choose a partner and try to solve each other’s puzzles.

There are several online crossword building resources for facilitators/instructors to choose from in the Links and Downloads sections of this tool. Participants can also exchange and complete crossword puzzles virtually. 

This rubric can be used to assess any kind of intercultural reflective writing assignment, such as an essay or a blog post. 

This activity will challenge participants to use the concept of "critical mass" to understand stereotype threats. They will analyze photos on a website to determine how that site may be including/excluding and reinforcing or challenging stereotypes.

This activity is well suited for online learning because it asks participants to engage with web content and to then complete an essay or blog post, which can be uploaded to a discussion board or an online learning management system such as Blackboard or Brightspace. 

This activity asks participants to consider their own personal values and their cultural contexts. The value cards used in this activity can be downloaded through University of Michigan's Inclusive Teaching website (in the Links section of this tool), and participants can sort the cards individually on their own time. Then, they can engage in the discussion portion through an online discussion board or video chat. 

This activity was already designed to be completed online by study abroad participants. However, it can be adapted for other contexts.

During this activity, participants will first identify the five qualities that they view as most important in their career field. They will ultimately be able to recognize the role cultural values play in informing and defining professional norms and practices as well as practice perspective-taking in considering worldviews other than their own regarding professional cultural values and acting in a supportive manner that recognizes the feelings of another cultural group.

This rubric can be used to assess blogs using five categories of data: culture shock, communication challenge, cultural appreciation, cross-cultural comparison, and adaptive behavior.

This activity allows participants to discuss an experience when perceptions of something were dependent on point of view. 

The physical activity itself can be completed individually and then participants can engage in the debriefing portion through an online discussion board or video chat. 

This activity uses the YouTube video, What I Learned from President Obama - Smarter Everyday 151, to enable participants to identify elements of civil discourse and reflect on the meaning and importance of civil discourse. They will also reflect critically on their own ability to conduct civil discourse and imagine future scenarios engaging in civil discourse.

To adapt to an online learning environment, participants can watch the YouTube video on their own and then engage in discussion through an online discussion board or through video chat. 

This reflection challenges participants to make meaning of their study abroad experience. They will choose a song that they feel is representative of their study abroad and analyze the song in relation to their experiences based on the four levels of cultural awareness.

This activity is already designed to be completed in an online environment. It can also be adapted for other types of intercultural learning experiences besides study abroad. 

This activity uses the Giraffe and the Elephant parable to help participants identify feelings of inclusion/exclusion as dependent on context, recognize that structural exclusion can exist, and analyze the inclusive and exclusive ways that people and organizations typically respond to diversity.

The parable is available online (see the Links section of this tool). The discussion portion could be completed through an online discussion board or through video chat. Participants could also complete the individual portions on their own time before engaging in discussion. 

This activity helps participants to relax and focus on the process of breathing and the present moment. It can be done individually using the audio file in the Links section of this tool. 

Body Ritual Among the Nacriema is a well-known satirical anthropology paper. The entire paper is available online and facilitators/instructors can adapt debriefing/discussion to virtual environments by asking students to post in discussion boards, craft essays, or chat through online platforms like Zoom or Google Hangouts. 

This blogging activity is designed for study abroad but can be adapted for other types of intercultural learning experiences.

An online version of this assessment is available on the FiveThirtyEight website. It measures how participants compare to others on five personality traits: openness, agreeableness, extraversion, conscientiousness, and negative emotionality.

Beyond the Comfort Zone is an online course from True North Intercultural that allows participants to articulate what the "comfort zone" might look like for them during an intercultural experience, understand the benefits of this awareness and of intentionally pushing oneself outside their comfort zone, and think concretely about how to make the most of an intercultural experience.

This activity is inspired by an Instagram account called Barbie Savior. Barbie Savior calls attention to the issues with the well-intentioned—but often problematic—"voluntourism,” i.e. short-term volunteer trips. Barbie Savior parodies the voluntourism experience by placing Barbie in various scenes across Africa along with tone deaf captions that demonstrate Barbie’s lack of knowledge about her impact as a voluntourist.

In this activity, participants will analyze one of Barbie Savior’s posts in terms of the concept of empathy. Participants will then attempt to coach Barbie on intercultural empathy and how she might consider different perspectives.

Facilitators/instructors can adapt this activity to an online learning environment by asking participants to write an essay based on the discussion questions on the instruction sheet in the Downloads section of this tool. Participants could also engage in discussion through an online discussion board or through a video chat platform such as Zoom or Google Hangouts.

This activity challenges participants to reflect on their relationships and consider how they might improve their diversity. They will chart/map their personal and social networks and reflect on how they might fill in any gaps in those networks.

Students can complete the handout for this activity individually and then talk through the reflection portion with a partner through email or video chat. The facilitator may also consider asking participants to post reflections in an online discussion board. 

This assessment measures several aspects of intercultural competence: motivation; language proficiency; communication style; perceived efficacy (post-program); intercultural knowledge, skills, and attitudes.

The assessment is available in both the Source and Links sections of the tool. Participants can take the assessment online and then send the results to the facilitator/instructor. 

This entire certificate program is available online. This certificate enables participants to identify, reflect upon, and more effectively practice the following intercultural skills: Self-Awareness, Awareness About Others, Emotional Resilience (or Mindfulness), Bridging Across Difference.

Note that this certificate does have a cost associated with it.

This exercise can be completed through the University of the Pacific's What's Up With Culture? modules. This particular activity is module 1.4.1.

This activity helps participants to understand the difference in perspective between a universalist and a particularist. It also enables them to reflect on where their own cultural values fall on the continuum between universalist and particularist.

In this activity, participants pair up and develop deeper connections by sharing answers to questions that evoke life experiences and intellectual/emotional positions. If in an online learning environment, participants could exchange answers through email or video chat. 

One of the goals in Purdue's Peace Corps Prep program is to support students in developing agency. This activity fosters that outcome.

An activity particularly relevant for students in the health sector but useful for all.