This year’s Virtual Global Learning Fellows (VGLF) hosted by IU Indianapolis come from a variety of backgrounds and previous types of global engagement, but all share the passion to connect their students with real-life skills. The ten Fellows of the fourth cohort represent a cross-section of faculty with specialties ranging from computer science to art, language acquisition to social work and nutrition. As a part of the fellowship, all ten Fellows will instruct classes during the 2024-25 academic year that engage with a partner course at an institution outside the U.S. through virtual exchange, supported by their cohort and professional development from the Office of International Affairs.
The ten Fellows spent a portion their summer participating in a professional development workshop hosted by Florida International University. Through this workshop, Fellows learned more about the Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) method of co-teaching with instructors from around the world. The workshop and support from the Director of Curriculum Internationalization, Leslie Bozeman, and Virtual Exchange Manager, Jayson Deese, guided fellows through the steps of designing a COIL collaboration with their international partners. Mike Polites, a Fellow who teaches Humor and Communications in the School of Liberal Arts will participate in an exchange with Uzhhorod National University in Ukraine, shared why being a Fellow was so valuable to him. “[Virtual exchange] is such a unique opportunity for our students to benefit from, to expand their world view in a way that they otherwise would not be able to,” he said.
Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering Teaching Professor, Lingma Lu, agreed with Polites. “Most Indiana students have never stepped outside of the country, so I wanted to bring culture into my classroom and enhance what I am already doing,” she shared. Lu has long been involved in helping other educators incorporate global dimensions to their teaching but found the process of including virtual exchange in her existing courses challenging. However, the structure and support of the VGLF made it possible for her to connect her Advanced Database Programming Oracle course with São Paulo State Technological College in Brazil. Polites agreed, saying that the framework of the Fellowship made a world of difference. “[The VGLF] made it possible and gave us the tools to be able to do something like this,” he said.
“In today’s economy, in today’s world, it’s ridiculous not to have students have global international connections,” 2024 Fellow and Senior Lecturer in the School of Liberal Arts, Mary Ann Cohen, shared. “The students need it. They need to have that global connection. They need to have the experience in writing for a global audience and with a global audience. They have to in order to be competitive.” Indeed, improving intercultural communications skills is one of the key benefits of the type of exchange Fellows are implementing. Her Business and Administrative Writing class for native and non-native English speakers will collaborate with Uzhhorod National University in Ukraine.
The ability to be competitive in a multinational job market is not the only benefit for students—and faculty. Judith Carlstrand, visiting lecturer in Spanish, noted that her partner at the University of Guadalajara was thrilled to collaborate on her Spanish for Healthcare Professionals course. “Intercultural communication is a big need in the medical field with the pressure the doctors and nurses and medical professionals are under to get things done quickly,” she said. “In the United States, 6% of our healthcare personnel speak Spanish, but 13% of the U.S. population is Spanish-speaking. It’s a huge need.”
Otrude Moyo, director of the masters of social work at IU South Bend School of Social Work, expects that the benefits of intercultural communication will be key to her Social Work Practice II: Organizations, Communities, and Societies collaboration with Lupane State University in Zimbabwe. “International exchanges have a space, but the inequities are still there. Not everybody is able to go, particularly in communities of people who have been historically disadvantaged,” Otrude noted. “These are the populations who are not able to have that cross-cultural experience. [Virtual exchange] enables me to provide those experiences for my students and our partners in a mutually beneficial way.”
Cohen agreed, and pointed out that the benefits of virtual exchange are not limited to the student participants. “Programs like the Virtual Global Learning Fellows helps you continue to adapt and update your own methodologies to stay relevant and successful.” Rosa Tezanos-Pinto, chair of the Department of World Languages and Cultures, intends to fully embrace the COIL model of virtual exchange. In addition to co-teaching her Writing Spanish and Writing Spanish for Heritage Speakers with Tec de Monterrey in Mexico, the summer COIL workshop inspired Tezanos-Pinto to present about her experience at an upcoming conference. This demonstrates yet another benefit of the VGLF for faculty: cultivating international partners often fuels globally-focused research, publications, and presentations.
With the fall semester well under way, the Virtual Global Learning Fellows have moved from theory to practice. Students across disciplines and the state of Indiana are connecting with Ukraine, Germany, Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Zimbabwe, and South Korea.
For more information and to learn how to get involved, contact the Curriculum Internationalization team at curriciz@iu.edu.
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