Best Practices for Incorporating an International Collaboration into Your Course

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Patrice Prusko & Lorette Pelletiere Calix

Open SUNY Fellow Role: Patrice:  Expert  Instruc=onal  Designer  Lore+e:  Innovator/Researcher   Topic: Best  Prac=ces  for  Incorpora=ng  an  Interna=onal  Collabora=on  into  Your  Course Theme: Global COTE NOTE: http://bit.ly/1uUo3C7

BEST PRACTICES FOR INCORPORATING AN ONLINE COLLABORATION INTO YOUR COURSE PATRICE TORCIVIA PRUSKO

LORETTE PELLETTIERE CALIX

POLL Is your institution discussing or implementing actions to “internationalize” the curriculum or create more global awareness? a. Yes b. No c. Not sure

THE IMPORTANCE OF INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCES The Erasmus impact study (2014) shows: •  Compared to 37% in 2006, in 2013 64% of employers

consider experience abroad important. •  Students increased their soft skills: knowledge of other

countries, ability to interact and work with individuals from other countries, foreign language proficiency and communication skills.

•  Staff report an increase in good practices and skills

(70%), beneficial effects on the quality of teaching (81%), international cooperation (92%) and research (69%)

DeWit, H. (2014)

THE REALITY

“Only a small percentage of students participate in study abroad programs and many groups are underrepresented. There is little diversity in race, gender and ethnicity nor access for non-traditional, lower socioeconomic groups, those with disabilities and first generation college students” (Fischer, 2012).

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK:

Promoting and assessing value

creation in communities and networks: a conceptual framework

(Etienne Wenger, et al 2011)

VALUE CREATION

(Wenger, Trayner, & de Laat as cited in Bozarth, 2012, para. 3)

INTERNATIONALIZING YOUR COURSE ●  Guided Reflection ●  Asynchronous Discussions ●  Synchronous Sessions ●  Guest Speakers ●  Cross Team Projects ●  Internationalization Learning

Objectives and Outcomes

POLL How many of you have participated in an international course collaboration? a. Yes b. No

SAMPLE COURSE COLLABORATION

Duration 2-3 weeks Initial asynchronous icebreaker 2-3 Virtual sessions Asynchronous discussion in between virtual sessions Team written assignment

SCREEN SHOT OF A BLOG http://commons.esc.edu/globalissues/introduce-yourself/

STEPS TO ORGANIZE A COLLABORATION ●  Find a partner ●  Start early ●  Communicate often ●  Doesn’t need to be an exact content match ●  Grading ●  Enrollment ●  Give students notice of collaboration ●  Advance notice of synchronous sessions ●  Consider timing-holidays, university schedule ●  Shared goals ●  Course pre-planning worksheet https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmykCyZKmbWNdHprTVVxZzNncGJmelgxb2MzUnRzRVE&usp=sharing

LESSONS LEARNED

•  Icebreaker

•  Close communication

•  Collaboration part of course grade

•  Interactive virtual sessions

•  Faculty training/student orientation

•  Advance notice of virtual meeting schedule

THE IMPORTANCE OF VIRTUAL MEETINGS

FACULTY VIEWS ON THE IMPORTANCE OF VIRTUAL MEETINGS

Contribute to the student learning experience 100%

Increase student engagement with coursework 83%

Help instructors feel substantially more connected to the students 71%

Greater instructor satisfaction with courses including virtual meetings 83%

STUDENT PERCEPTION OF THE GREATEST VALUE CREATED

TAKEAWAY #1

VISUAL MATTERS

Being able to see and hear one another promoted more interaction and kept students more focused

TAKEAWAY #2

USE MOBILE FRIENDLY TOOLS

60% of students who used mobile devices said they felt the ability to access collaboration activities via mobile devices increased the time they spent on the course (29% of all student participants).

TAKEAWAY #3

A TEXT BOX IS IMPORTANT

•  Backchanneling •  Technical problems •  No microphone

TAKEAWAY #4

ALWAYS HAVE A

“PLAN B”

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS ●  Cost and lead time for textbooks ●  Video may be blocked in some parts of the

world ●  Not all resources available for download

outside of North America ●  Slow internet/electricity issues ●  Mobile may work better than Internet ●  OER

FINAL STUDENT OBSERVATIONS Very engaging learning experience - expanded my knowledge of Panama. I like the fact that I was introduced to new tools of communication I personally enjoyed being a part of the program. I hope the school continues with it. It's an experience all students should be a part of.

In international business you can’t always be face-to-face with the person you are communicating with. Technology has really helped to

shorten the gap and make communication easier. I feel like in the classes we were constantly having problems with technology: a

microphone wouldn’t work, the video wouldn’t stream, or the internet connection was not stable. But that is the way it is. While doing my

internship I had to communicate with other countries everyday and I would have the same problems. I have learned that I need to be patient

and deal with the occasional flaw in technology because it is key to communicating with other countries.

Patrice Torcivia Prusko pat68@cornell.edu

patrice.torcivia@gmail.com @profpatrice

Lorette Pellettiere Calix Lorette.Calix@esc.edu

lpcalix@gmail.com

CONTACT INFORMATION

MORE INFORMATION SUNY COMMONS: http://commons.suny.edu/iitg/virtual-study-abroad-student-engagement-international-interaction-using-meeting-mobile-tools/

SUNY COIL: http://coil.suny.edu/

PROJECT WEB SITE: http://commons.esc.edu/virtualtermabroad/

THANK YOU!

COLLABORATIONS COMPLETED

Pilot: ESC Panama – SUNY/Cortland ESC Panama – College of Westchester ESC Panama – ESC CDL http://sunyescimmigrationexperiment.blogspot.com/2013/02/guidelines-for-the-international.html ESC Panama – University of Economics in Bratislava, Slovakia http://habitatsk.wordpress.com/ ESC Panama (Market Research) – College of Westchester http://commons.esc.edu/cowcollaboration2/ ESC Panama (International Finance) – College of Westchester http://commons.esc.edu/internationalcollaboration/

http://commons.esc.edu/cowcollaboration/

USEFUL TOOLS AND RESOURCES Zoom http://zoom.us Blue jeans http://bluejeans.com Blackboard Collaborate Skype Google Apps Wordpress (blogs) Facebook What’s App

Thank You! Join the SUNY Learning Commons http:///commons.suny.edu for access to the COTE Community group to continue the conversation! View a Recording of today’s Fellow Chat: http://bit.ly/COTEfellowchatRECORDING View the COTE NOTE: http://bit.ly/1uUo3C7 Become an Open SUNY Fellow: http://bit.ly/11l6Khe Submit a Proposal: http://bit.ly/COTEproposal

Next Fellow Chat Open SUNY Fellow: Lorette Pelletiere Calix, Instructor and Director of Empire State College Programs in Latin America Open SUNY Fellow Role: Innovator/Researcher Topic: Virtual Meetings and Recordings Using Zoom Date: Wednesday, December 17, 2014 12:00 PM Register: http://bit.ly/1xxEXYL