Students in select classes this coming academic year will benefit from a pilot program which helps instructors to globalize or internationalize their courses. The Going Global Course Design Pilot Program, which ran from February to May of 2024, is a joint endeavor between the Center for Integrated Professional Development (CIPD) and the Office of International Engagement (OIE).
“OIE is always happy to initiate and support collaborations that enhance our global skillset,” says OIE Executive Director Dr. Roopa Rawjee. “I am grateful to the CPID for their partnership, and we will continue to look for such opportunities.”
Fostering curiosity
The pilot cohort included faculty members from Information Technology, Communication, Psychology, Economics, Marketing, Art, Nursing, and Geography, Geology, and the Environment. Several members say curiosity attracted them to the pilot program.
“I had not heard about the idea in my discipline and outside the discipline,” notes Dr. Elahe Javadi, associate professor in the School of Information Technology. “I knew only about study abroad, so I was eager to know more about the realm of possibilities. I also had good experience with Mayuko’s previously offered workshop, so I decided to join and learn.”
Other members already had specific goals in mind, and saw Going Global as means to achieve them, like Dr. Felix Rodriguez Suero of the Wonsook Kim School of Art.
“For some time, I have been interested in exposing students to more diverse perspectives, including the wealth of international scholarship and lived experiences in other contexts,” Rodriguez Suero says. “I am currently planning a travel abroad experience to the Dominican Republic for students. I welcomed new insights that could help me design a meaningful travel abroad experience.”
A structured approach
The program, based on a similar summer workshop series offered in the years before the COVID-19 pandemic, featured a revised structure and curriculum. It was facilitated by Mayuko Nakamura, CIPD’s assistant director for Assessment and Equitable Pedagogy and Dr. Miranda Lin, a professor in the School of Teaching and Learning, with support from several OIE faculty and staff.
The course included four modules covering curriculum internationalization, intercultural competence, working with both domestic and international students, and critical aspects related to global leaning, such as colonialism, imperialism, and decolonization. Paired with these themes were lessons which explored course design topics such as creating learning objectives, learning activities, assessments, and instructional materials.
Participants also had opportunities to hear from campus colleagues with previous global course design experience and a panel of students. Optional sessions were offered to help instructors engage in the scholarship of teaching and learning, so they could design methods to measure the success of change and its impact on real student learning. All participants met with facilitators to develop specific action plans.
“Individual meeting with Mayuko and the assignments helped me come up with simple techniques, resources and assignments that are applicable and would be a significant upgrade for these classes,” explains Anmol Shrivastava from the Wonsook Kim School of Art.
Making changes
What does “going global” look like in a course? Cohort members were inspired in several different ways.
Dr. Jonathan Thayn from the Department of Geography, Geology, and the Environment notes that connecting global concepts to Illinois State students’ own lives isa pivotal first step.
“Several of the exercises that we discussed in the workshop help students understand their own culture and then, from that starting place, understand others’ culture,” says Thayn. “I used those exercises to create three modules in Canvas that students will complete before leaving for Mexico. These modules will prepare students to appreciate Baja culture when they interact with it. I’m leading a trip in 2025, and I’m really excited to see how this impacts students’ experience.”
Students don’t need to travel abroad to engage in global or international thinking.
“The simplest step I have planned for my course is to use, analyze, and discuss global data and perspectives on the technical topics,” Javadi says. “The ideas of technology being designed, used, and implemented differently across the world, and being subject to different restrictions and regulations for better (protecting citizens) or worse (constraining citizens) will appear regularly in all my courses.”
While some faculty members came to pilot project with a specific class in mind, many say what they learned can benefit all the students they teach.
“The deliverables from this program and the associated feedback will all be incorporated into the design of my graduate seminar being taught this fall,” plans Dr. Megan Hopper of the School of Communication. “It includes an updated syllabus, learning objectives, activities, assignments, resource list, and overall shift in mindset of how I will go about teaching the course. I can’t wait to incorporate all the incredible amount of knowledge I gained from this program into not only the graduate seminar, but all of my courses!”
For more information about future professional development opportunities related to global and international learning, please email ProDev@IllinoisState.edu.
