This study discusses a design-thinking approach for a virtual exchange intended to introduce pre-service teachers to global collaboration and empowered learning through the use of educational technology. Principles of design-thinking (i.e., empathy, ideation, and testing) were aligned with broader educational goals of culturally responsive practices and metacognition. Findings suggested that participants in the study (n = 36), pre-service teachers in the US, drew on individual strengths, cosmopolitan interests in global partnership, and problem-solving strategies to leverage educational technology to achieve learning goals. This paper contributes valuable insights, and recommendations for practice, about "how" to conduct virtual exchanges in higher education and K-12 learning settings.