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Improve learning in your courses, boost your teaching evaluations and research productivity. *X-Culture* <http://www.X-Culture.org>* is accepting applications for the 2014-1 season. * We are a group of IB professors from around the world. We put our students in Global Virtual Teams and they work on a business project for a semester. We also collect all kinds of data for research. Studies show <http://amle.aom.org/content/early/2013/06/14/amle.2012.0195.abstract>, when X-Culture is part of the course, students learn better, improve their cultural intelligence, and give much higher course evaluations compared to the control group. Plus, those interested in research will have a great opportunity to publish with us. More below. ------------------------------------- *Concept*: X-Culture <http://www.X-Culture.org> is an experiential learning project designed to enhance learning in International Business/Management/Marketing and related courses. We team up students from different cultures (5-7 students, often each from a different country) and they work on an international business-related project for a 2-month period. In so doing, X-Culture provides students with the valuable opportunity to gain first-hand experience in cross-cultural communication and collaboration. X-Culture provides all materials, training, individual/team performance monitoring and administrative support. Instructors interested in research <http://www.x-culture.org/research_side.html> will also have ample opportunities to co-author papers based on the longitudinal multi-level multi-source data that are collected as part of the X-Culture project. *Participants*: nearly 3,000 from 100 universities in 40 countries on 6 continents participate in X-Culture every semester (roughly 50:50 MBA/Undergraduate). *Task*: Real-life companies partner up with X-Culture and present their real-life challenges. Typically, the task is to develop a new market expansion plan, including selection of the most suitable new market for the product, development of the market entry strategy, marketing campaign, HR policies, and the like. Often companies also solicit new product design ideas. Twelve partner companies representing different industries are selected each semester, so the teams have a choice of business challenges they would like to work on. *Communication*: Our philosophy is that the tools students use in X-Culture must be usable in the workplace upon graduation. Therefore, we rely on free online collaboration tools and do not use proprietary platforms. At the beginning of the project, all students receive basic training on the use of Email, Skype, Dropbox, Google Docs, Doodle, Facebook, etc. Teams are free to choose their preferred collaboration method. English is the working language and sufficient fluency in English is required. Students who do not speak English may be able to participate under special arrangements – contact us for details. *Schedule*: The tentative dates for the 2014-2 season (may be adjusted +/-5 days for best fit to all participants’ academic calendars): Track 1: August 20- October 15 Track 2: October 1 – November 25 Track 3: November 20- January 15 (depends on availability of participants) Instructors may also add time before or after the project for training, discussions and presentations. *X-Culture Certificates: *Upon successful completion of the project, students receive X-Culture Global Collaboration Experience certificates. Instructors also receive Global Educator certificates. Additional appreciation/reference letters can be sent to instructors’ department chairs or deans upon request. *X-Culture Symposium: *Once a year, we bring X-Culture participants together at a meeting organized as part of the Academy Of International Business Southeast conference. The X-Culture consortium is hosted by a multi-national company and involves a case completion, meetings with the company top management team, company tour, as well as access to all other conference events. The most recent events have been hosted by Daimler AG at their Mercedes-Benz Truck and Bus factory in Istanbul, Turkey and the Home Depot at their headquarters in Atlanta. The next meeting will take place October 23-25 in Miami, FL, hosted by Louis Vuitton. *Does it work? *Yes, it does. For empirical evidence on how X-Culture affects course evaluations, course grades/marks, cultural intelligence, attitudes, behaviors and performance, please visit the X-Culture Publications <http://www.x-culture.org/publications.html> page. *More information*: For additional information on X-Culture and research on its learning outcomes, please visit http://www.x-culture.org Also read about X-Culture in AIB Insights <http://www.vtaras.com/AIB-Insights-Q4-12-X-Culture.pdf> and Academy of Management Learning and Education <http://www.vtaras.com/AMLE_X-Culture_Effectiveness.pdf> *APPLY HERE* <https://uncg.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_a4CxtDdoWK5DvaQ> https://uncg.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_a4CxtDdoWK5DvaQ Application deadline: August 5, 2014. Enrollment is competitive. Please apply early to ensure your application is given full consideration. Due to a large volume of inquiries, it may take us several days to process your application. If you do not receive a response within five days, please contact us directly at [log in to unmask] Sincerely, Vas Taras, PhD X-Culture Project Coordinator 336-256-8611 [log in to unmask] www.vtaras.com ____ AIB-L is brought to you by the Academy of International Business. For information: http://aib.msu.edu/community/aib-l.asp To post message: [log in to unmask] For assistance: [log in to unmask] AIB-L is a moderated list.