The Future of Education

Many educators intuitively recognise that meaningful international learning does not simply increase students’ confidence; rather, it often leads learners to become more aware of the limits of their own abilities and understanding. Despite this shared intuition, how such moments of awareness emerge, and how they appear in empirical data, has remained largely a black box in international and digital learning research. As technology-mediated global learning environments become more prevalent, learning outcomes are often measured by gains in confidence or self-assessed competence. In contexts characterised by complexity, uncertainty, and authentic participation, however, such interpretations may overlook important dimensions of learning. This study adopts a design-based research (DBR) perspective to examine how participation in a semester-long, synchronous Virtual Student Mobility (VSM) course reshaped Japanese university students’ self-perceptions of intercultural competence (McKenney & Reeves, 2018). In this course, Japanese students participated remotely and in real time in an undergraduate course offered at a U.S. university, engaging alongside local students in lectures, discussions, and collaborative activities within a technology- and generative AI–supported learning environment designed to scaffold participation and comprehension. A pre–post survey informed by the OECD PISA Global Competence Framework (2018) and an integrated intercultural competence scale developed by Fantini was administered, with 41 students enrolled in the 2025 courses voluntarily completing both surveys. Contrary to expectations, post-course self-assessment scores declined across most survey items. Rather than interpreting this decline as a negative outcome, the study situates the findings within the design of the learning environment itself. Quantitative results are examined alongside qualitative end-of-course reflections, which consistently indicated deeper awareness, heightened recognition of communicative complexity, and increased reflective engagement. This apparent tension highlights a critical but often underexplored phase of learning: the recalibration of learners’ self-perceptions following authentic participation in complex learning settings. By foregrounding learning design as the unit of analysis, this study reframes decreased confidence not as failure, but as a meaningful indicator of learning in future-oriented, technology-enhanced environments. The findings suggest a need to rethink assessment practices in global digital learning and offer design implications for supporting learners as they navigate uncertainty and emerging awareness.

Keywords: Virtual Student Mobility (VSM), Learning Design, Future-Oriented Learning Environments, Student Engagement, Self-Assessment and RecalibrationDesign-Based Research (DBR)