Can Diversity Be Intersectional? Inclusive Business Planning and Accessible Web Design Internationally on Two Continents and Three Campuses

Abstract

This paper describes a three-way, international pedagogical collaboration among three instructors-one from Hungary and two from Michigan and Washington in the United States -aimed at cultivating curricular diversity and inclusion. During this one-semester project, Michigan students from a Business Communication class collaboratively created a website based on an entrepreneurial business plan developed by students in a Business English class in Hungary. Both Michigan and Hungary students received advice from graduate students from a disability and accessibility course in Washington on how to make businesses inclusive of disabled customers and design accessible websites. This workplace simulation project primarily employed emails to engage in this collaboration and interact among students due to the location of the classes in three time zones and in two countries with major linguistic variations. Early results show that the collaborative project was successful in teaching intercultural communication skills and in increasing awareness of disability and accessibility.