Autoethnographic Research to Explore Instructional Design Practices for Distance Teaching and Learning in a Cross-Cultural Context

The purpose of this autoethnography is to share my perspective of course design and delivery considerations based on my professional experience as an instructional designer for a virtual international exchange program during the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the impact of the global pandemic, the partner institutions decided to take advantage of distance education to continue their exchange program. I was the instructional designer to support faculty’s transition to online instruction. Little research has been conducted to explore instructional design practices for distance teaching and learning in an intercultural context. Therefore, I applied an individual autoethnography to collect and analyze data from my narratives and artifacts to understand my perspective of instructional design and delivery practices within a cross-cultural distance learning environment. The findings showed course design in transnational distance contexts was more complicated than in distance education in a single cultural context. My role as an instructional designer was influenced by factors at both micro and macro levels.