Session encourages faculty to globalize classrooms

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Giving students a global experience — a key goal for the university’s third century — is not just about travel abroad, the leader of U-M’s global and engaged education office told faculty who gathered recently to hear how some of their colleagues are bringing the world into their classrooms.

“Half of undergraduate students should have a meaningful experience abroad — on the ground. We also have to take advantage of what we can do here in our classrooms with technology,” said James Holloway, vice provost for global and engaged education, told the group.

He also said more must be done to learn from the many international students and faculty on campus.

The Engaging the World from Your Classroom seminar on Thursday featured a panel of faculty who are using videoconferencing, blogs and other means to connect students with others across the world.

Videoconferencing is not new. Faculty members have used it to deliver content for a number of years. But instead of just using it to share a lecture across a city or state, several faculty featured on the panel have developed teaching partnerships with faculty and institutions abroad.

Faculty interested in adding international topics or examples to a current course, creating a new course, or preparing students for a learning experience outside the United States can apply for Internationalizing the Curriculum Grant through CRLT. Proposals are due Feb. 10, 2015.

Together, they have created joint course content, and found ways to bridge language gaps and overcome time differences to create face-to-face interactions that encourage dialogue and problem solving.  

Carlos Xavier Rodriguez offers a global experience in the History and Philosophy of Music Education, joining with a professor at the University of Bremen in Germany. He and Andreas Lehmann co-teach the course. They spend one Skype call every week in planning for the next session. They now are talking about a joint research project on what makes a good teacher.

Norma Sarkar, clinical instructor, and Rosemary Ziemba, retired clinical assistant professor, both in the School of Nursing, highlighted programs the school is doing in several countries, including upcoming winter semester work in India and Botswana.

Some nursing faculty have been using videoconferencing to learn more about public health concerns impacting world populations, and to expose students to how health care is delivered in other countries. The school has a community health focus that leaders say requires an understanding of issues that impact communities throughout the world.  They also engage with vulnerable populations from ethnic communities in the area.

Luis Sfeir-Younis, lecturer II in sociology, said his approach involves video connections but also keeps the students engaged with one another even after the camera stops rolling. He asks both sides to work on joint papers and continue the interaction after class.

‘I want the class to be transformational … to transform the students to become agents of social change,” Sfeir-Younis said.

Following the panel discussion, participants could talk with faculty representing 15 other projects that had used videoconferencing, blogs and video skits as some of the means to connect students and faculty globally.

The seminar was sponsored by Holloway’s office and was organized by LSA Instructional Support Services, LSA Language Resource Center and the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching (CRLT). 

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