Please submit your Statement of Interest as soon as possible, but no later than the deadline: extended to Monday, May 20, 2024.
Each quarter, the Division of Global Engagement (GE), in collaboration with the Teaching and Learning Center (TLC), invites Statements of Interest from UCSC instructional faculty (Senate and Unit 18) who wish to develop a Global Classroom.
Read the recent Global Classrooms article in TLC Spotlight on Teaching to learn more about the initiative and the faculty experience.
Selected participants will work with their partner faculty from universities outside of the U.S., to learn together how to develop a Global Classroom course. They will deliver these courses at UCSC no later than AY 2025-26.
Cohort participants will be supported with professional development training in Global Classroom course design, and funding for travel that supports the development and delivery of the Global Classroom course (see ‘Benefits’ below for details).
FAQs
What are “Global Classrooms”?
- They are existing UCSC courses that faculty enhance by incorporating a range of design and pedagogical approaches referred to as “Virtual Exchange (VE)”, “Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL)”, or simply “VE/COIL”.
- In a Global Classroom, the UCSC faculty, working together with a partner faculty who is teaching their own course and students at an institution abroad, leverage online technology and tools to integrate international class-to-class, student-to-student collaborations that open access to new and impactful opportunities for intercultural and interdisciplinary learning in the classroom.
What if I don’t have a faculty partner? Can I still submit a Statement of Interest?
- Absolutely! The Global Classroom model is collaborative, and by design, necessitates partnering with another faculty, course, and institution abroad. Whether or not you already have a partner in mind to work with, if you are interested in joining the next cohort, please submit your Statement of Interest as soon as possible!
- UCSC faculty without partners can receive assistance from the Division of Global Engagement to outreach to the existing network of UCSC partner universities (see a list here). Exploratory meetings can be arranged with prospective faculty partners at these institutions, with the intent for you to identify a suitable collaborator to work with in the 2024-25 cohort. To participate in the cohort, you must ultimately identify and secure a commitment from an international faculty partner.
What type of course should I consider adapting as a Global Classroom?
- Global Classrooms are best suited to smaller class sizes with an average enrollment under 30, and can be undergraduate or graduate level.
- Your partner abroad may be teaching in a similar or complementary discipline – interdisciplinary projects are welcome and encouraged.
- Collaborations between students in a Global Classroom can vary in scope and duration, but typically range from five to eight weeks within a quarter-length course, and almost always include:
- Activities jointly planned by you and your partner at a university abroad
- Project-based learning, requiring students from both institutions to work together through synchronous and asynchronous online engagement
- Use of online, collaborative tools to carry out teaching and learning activities
Theme for 2024-25
“Just Connect” Across Cultures, Across Disciplines
“Just connect” is an incitement to engage in two foundational elements of successful VE/COIL design — connecting across cultures and collaborating across disciplines. We challenge applicants to answer the call to “just connect” what seem like disparate and distinct perspectives, specializations, approaches, and agendas into generative conversations that have the potential to elevate and illuminate the experiences of all participants.
“Just connect” extends to the connections we make with our students, communities, and environments, and challenges us to explore and articulate the possibilities that lie in unexpected partnerships and diverse, dynamic, multidisciplinary explorations of the questions that move us. Can we connect different content specializations and expertise, and different cultural knowledges and ways of being? Can we bridge disciplinary skill sets to surface new solutions and attain shared, greater goals in our classrooms, research, and teaching?
In the productive spirit of play – and embracing the skillful experimentation and open communication that fuel the best collaborations – we challenge applicants to propose Global Classrooms that create just connections that motivate us to knowledge and shared action, and to voice the power of contact and collaboration to achieve the highest aims and ideals of global learning at UC Santa Cruz.
Benefits
- A 3-week online workshop in VE/COIL design, developed in collaboration with the UCSC Teaching and Learning Center.
- The UCSC faculty member and their partner abroad participate in this workshop together.
- The workshop is mostly asynchronous, but is anchored by three weekly synchronous consultation meetings with the UCSC faculty member and their partner abroad. To be scheduled at a time of mutual convenience.
- The workshop may be started as soon as the teaching pair is ready.
- The time commitment is approximately 15-20 hours over 3 weeks.
- Instructional design support from the UCSC Teaching and Learning Center throughout the course development and implementation periods.
- Up to $4,000 USD*** in reimbursable travel funds for UCSC faculty to develop the Global Classroom and strengthen ties with the faculty partner and institution. Alternatively, funds can be used to bring the teaching partner to visit UCSC. Detailed guidelines for permitted use of these travel funds will be provided to successful applicants.
** Cohort meetings of 60-90 minutes will be scheduled approximately once per quarter, or as needed.
*** UC faculty from campuses other than UCSC are only eligible for $2,000 honorarium.
Expectations
- Global Classrooms developed in AY 2024-25 should be delivered no later than AY 2025-26.
Timeline
- January 2024 – April 2024: Partnering Support
- If needed, meetings with prospective faculty partners are scheduled to identify a suitable collaborator
- May 2024: Cohort for AY 2024-25 finalized and announced
- Launch meeting to welcome and onboard this new cohort (date TBD)
- June – August 2024: Suggested period for travel in support of Global Classroom development
- October 2024: Professional Development in VE/COIL design
- Workshops involve asynchronous, readings and online discussions and three required synchronous session(s) via Zoom
- January 2025 – June 2025:
- Monthly cohort check-in meetings, dates/times TBD
- The first implementation of Global Classroom courses begin
How to submit your statement of interest
If you have any questions prior to submitting your Statement of Interest, please contact George Sabo, Director of Global Initiatives, at gsabo@ucsc.edu, to arrange a consultation.
Statement of Interest:
In no more than two pages, provide responses to the following prompts and append your existing course syllabus:
- Details of the existing course proposed for adaptation as a Global Classroom: The quarter the course will be offered, frequency of offering, and average enrollment.
- Additional information: Particular experience or qualifications you or your partner (if already identified) may have that are relevant to developing, teaching, or supporting a Global Classroom collaboration.
- Faculty partner abroad:
- If you have already identified a faculty partner abroad, provide a brief profile of them and their institution. Please explain how you will leverage this connection and the virtual environment to engage and challenge students. Also provide a brief description of your partner’s course (or append a syllabus, if available). Explain how your course and your partner’s course are good candidates for adapting to a Global Classroom environment, and how the intersection of content and collaborative learning will provide students with an international experience.
- If you have not yet identified a faculty partner, please provide a description of your ideal collaboration – academic discipline, geographic location, institution – and how you would envision working with a faculty partner abroad to adapt your courses to a Global Classroom environment to provide students with an international experience.
Supporting Documents:
- If you have already identified a faculty partner abroad to collaborate with for your Global Classroom, Supporting Documents 1 and 2, linked below, are required as attachments.
- If you have not yet identified a faculty partner abroad, only Supporting Document 1 is required as an attachment. Once you identify a partner at a later date, they will be asked to complete and submit Supporting Document number 2 below.
- Department/College Endorsement Form – download fillable PDF here
Please discuss your plans with your department, college, or program chair and have them complete this form. All Statements of Interest must be accompanied by this form as an attachment.
- Faculty Partner Abroad Confirmation Form (if applicable) – download fillable PDF here
A clear commitment from your partner abroad as well as their institution is vital for a successful Global Classroom collaboration. It is recommended that you contact your prospective faculty partner as soon as possible to discuss project feasibility, provide an overview of the expected timeline and commitment, and have them complete and sign Section 2 of this form. If you already have a partner identified, please include this form as an attachment with your Statement of Interest.
Please submit your Statement of Interest and required Supporting Documents as soon as possible, and no later than by Monday, May 20, 2024 to global@ucsc.edu copying your unit head (department or program chair, college provost).
Questions? Contact Colin Cole, Partnership and Program Manager, globalclassrooms@ucsc.edu