Shared Language Courses Fall 2017

With student course enrollments for Fall 2017 on the way, we would like to invite our GLCA colleagues and students in Arabic and German to consider an expansion of course selection options via the GLCA Crossroads Shared Languages Program.

Shared Language Program courses (SLP) courses are especially attractive to students who

want to continue with their studies of Arabic beyond first or second year courses offered at their home campus
need to double up to complete their German major or minor
have run out of options of courses to take for their major
need to take a directed studies because of under-enrollment in a German upper level course
have a time conflict with the course offering at their own college
have run out of options of courses to take at their home institution
need to take a directed studies because of lack of course course offerings
have a particular subject interest that no one program could accommodate
would like to benefit from a global course connections course component
are interested in exploring new pedagogies with digital technologies in a virtually interactive environment
are not able to go study abroad but would like to meet new people with similar interests
eventually with the success of the SLP may minor or major in Arabic
and more..

This program also has great benefits for faculty who

are one-man or one-woman programs and miss having a like-minded colleague for the exchange of ideas and concerns
are concerned about under-enrolled classes and fear of cancellation
with the advantages the SLP affords may be able to expand their Arabic program to a minor or major even with one home institution factually member
wish to expand their facility with digital pedagogies
seek professional development that no one campus can offer
want to join the discussion on ways to address the future of our discipline
wish to teach a course outside of their language program but “cannot get away”
have numerous directed studies students due to some of the reasons mentioned above (usually without any compensation)
and much more

Screen Shot 2017-03-31 at 3.42.25 PM This semester, we are able to offer two SLP courses in Arabic and two in German. Our Arab colleagues from Denison University and Earlham College, Dr. Hanada Al-Masri, respectively Dr. Kelly Tuttle are offering a language course on the intermediate level and an Arabic writing course.

Screen Shot 2017-03-30 at 4.05.21 PM

For German, Dr. Lee Forester is offering a course in German Linguistics and I will teach a course on Germany’s Young Generation. All pertinent information can be found here.

The course enrollment process is simple with the respective registrars having contributed significantly to design a smooth experience for both students and faculty. All the information you and your interested students will need, can be found on this website page, please scroll all the way down.

First pilot semester student feedback results are very encouraging. (Full results are available, please ask.) All students found all aspects of the courses very “doable”, “engaging”, many also “exciting”. They all enjoy meeting other students with similar interests and especially appreciate the added diversity of both students and instructors. They are learning important inter-cultural lessons and can better apply technological skills in the academic environment and beyond.

There are no specific technology requirements. All students will need is a computer with a built-in camera (or plug in a webcam), a quiet, well-lit place to sit, and a stable internet connection. The SLP instructors will provide your students with a course orientation that addresses all technology aspects.

Colleagues who serve as on-campus advisors for students participating in a SLP course will receive a stipend. Likewise, if you chose to offer a SLP course yourself, there will be compensation from the GLCA SLP Mellon grant.

Please also look out for an announcement for a SLP workshop for anybody who is interested on any level of engagement that will take place at Denison University from May 21 (evening dinner) to May 25th (midday).

And finally, the most important feature of this program is that we are offering our students a wider range of possibilities to stay engaged in the language and culture they chose to study.

Please let me know how our SLP team can assist you with any further questions you may have. We look forward to hearing from you.

The GLCA expresses its appreciation and gratitude to Dr. Lee Forester (Hope), Dr. Hanada Al-Masri (Denison), Dr. Kelly Tuttle (Earlham), and (almost Dr.) Basem Al-Rabaa (Oberlin) for their pioneering work and open-minded spirit!

Teaching and Integrating International Students

WASHINGTON – What would international students in American classrooms most want their professors to do differently?

A survey of 662 international students at 23 colleges and universities commissioned by ELS Educational Services found that many international students want their professors to:

Provide more feedback (35 percent identified this as a desired improvement from among a given list of choices).
Seek to understand international students’ perspectives (33 percent).
Make classroom materials available after class (32 percent).
Provide examples of completed assignments (32 percent).
Provide non-U.S. examples in course contents (28 percent).

One caveat for the above numbers is that nearly 12 percent of students in the sample were native English speakers, so their presence in the sample could have skewed some of the overall figures in various ways. For example, 22 percent of all respondents said they’d like their professor to speak more slowly or clearly, while 32 percent of Chinese respondents did.

The sample was nearly evenly split between undergraduates (52 percent) and graduate students (48 percent). The most common classroom challenges identified by the students who were surveyed were: too many writing assignments (65 percent said this was a challenge), too much reading (cited as a challenge by 63 percent of respondents), writing in English (56 percent), participating in class presentations (56 percent), the perceived preferential treatment of native speakers (56 percent), participating in class discussions (56 percent) and professors’ lack of understanding of their culture (50 percent).

More than a third of students — 35 percent — said they felt uncomfortable questioning the opinions of their professors, 30 percent said they felt uncomfortable questioning the opinion of their peers, and 29 percent said they felt uncomfortable speaking in class discussions (the latter proportion was higher among Chinese students, 38 percent of whom said they felt uncomfortable). Nearly a quarter of respondents — 24 percent — said they felt uncomfortable interacting with American students.

Mark W. Harris, the president emeritus of ELS, presented on the findings of the survey during a session Tuesday at the Association of International Education Administrators annual conference focused on how faculty can “bridge divides” and integrate international students in the classroom. The number of international students in the U.S. has nearly doubled in the past 10 years and now exceeds 1 million, representing about 5 percent of the total student population, according to data from the Institute of International Education.

Recruiting international students was the number one priority for university internationalization identified by institutions who responded to the American Council on Education’s 2016 survey on mapping campuswide internationalization, which the association conducts every five years. In presenting a preview of some of the 2016 data – a full report on the survey is scheduled to be released this spring — Robin Matross Helms, the director of ACE’s Center for Internationalization and Global Engagement, said that one key finding is that there’s been a “backtracking” in terms of support for internationalization-focused faculty development opportunities from the 2011 to 2016 surveys. The percentage of responding colleges and universities that reported offering these kinds of opportunities was lower in 2016 than in 2011.

About a quarter of institutions report offering workshops for faculty on teaching and integrating international students — “my response was, wow, only a quarter?” Helms said.

“If we’re not providing faculty with that professional development support, that’s definitely a worrisome trend,” Helms said.

Darla K. Deardorff, AIEA’s executive director and an adjunct research scholar at Duke University’s education program, described the different forms faculty development can take – retreats, discussion working groups, invited speakers, faculty panel presentations – with common topics being things like: “classroom challenges for international students,” “moving beyond stereotypes and assumptions,” “integrating non-Western perspectives into what is taught,” “communicating with international students,” “creating a supportive classroom environment,” “learning styles in different cultures,” “understanding classroom behavior,” and “interculturally competent teaching.”

Deardorff also shared recommendations to faculty international students have made in various focus groups she’s conducted with them. Recommendations include:

to focus on the professor-student relationship
to understand what students are used to (and not to assume)
to be very clear on expectations and to provide examples
to pay attention to underperforming students
to be intentional about connecting domestic and international students in the classroom
to not single out international students (by asking, say, “you’re from Australia, what do Australians think of this?”)
to connect students with various campus resources available, such as the writing center
to use examples from students’ home countries.

“A lot of this we know, but it’s nice to hear it reaffirmed by the students,” Deardorff said.

Invitation to the CLAC 2015 Conference at Denison University

New Proposal Submission Deadline!! January 15th, 2015

The next CLAC conference will be on the beautiful Denison University Campus in Granville, OH (40 minutes east of Columbus). The conference will take place during Denison’s spring semester, on April 16 and 17, 2015, on a Thursday and Friday. (Visit the CLAC Conference Site here.)

The theme of our conference is “Engaging a Wider Community through CLAC.” It focuses on building relationships to serve an expanded population. At this, our 9th conference, CLAC is reflecting on past achievements and planning future directions. Currently there is increased national attention on and support for developing international and cross-cultural perspectives in the curriculum. Programs like 100K Strong in the Americas and Generation Study Abroad create even more opportunities to spotlight the role of CLAC principles/practices in shaping the next “generation of leaders who can reach across borders” whether physical, linguistic, cultural, or curricular. Please visit the CLAC conference website to learn more.

We have already been able to attract two excellent keynote speakers for the conference: Rosemary Feal, Executive Director of the MLA, and Adam Weinberg, Denison’s new president (since 2013).

Call for Proposals: You can find the CfP here with a link to the online submission form. The deadline for the calls is December 1st, 2014. Or scroll down to see the entire CfP.

For more information on past CLAC conferences and the CLAC Consortium in general, please visit the consortium website.

Cultures and Languages Across the Curriculum (CLAC)

Engaging a Wider Community through CLAC

April 16-17, 2015

In collaboration with: Auburn University, Baldwin Wallace University, Binghamton University, Drake University, Gettysburg College, Oberlin College, The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, Skidmore College, The University of Iowa, The University of Minnesota, University of North Carolina/Chapel Hill, University of Richmond, and Wittenberg College

Engaging a Wider Community through CLAC

Our conference is of interest to both seasoned CLAC practitioners and those in the process of implementing or developing CLAC programs at their institutions. We seek a dialogue for sharing ideas and best practices in our evolving and unique field of education for global citizens. We welcome participation from the broad array of stakeholders promoting international education as a transformational model for learning, teaching and global engagement. Past participants at our conference have included academic teaching faculty and scholars, student affairs professionals, international educators, community representatives, government officials, and teachers. CLAC 2015 will provide an opportunity for more extended discussions of ways in which we can expand and advance the CLAC movement.

What is CLAC:

The CLAC movement intends to make global competence a reality for students and to create alliances among educators to share practices and methods for incorporating an international dimension in curricula, and, more generally, to achieve internationalization goals. General principles of CLAC include:

A focus on communication and content;

An emphasis on developing meaningful content-focused language use outside traditional language classes;
An approach to language use and cross-cultural skills as a means for the achievement of global intellectual synthesis, in which students learn to combine and interpret knowledge produced in other languages and in other cultures.

Within this large framework, CLAC can take many forms, depending on specific content and curricular goals within a discipline or institution. For more information on CLAC, visit the CLAC Consortium website: http://clacconsortium.org/

Call for Proposals CLAC 2015

We invite proposals for papers (30 min presentation, including 10 min Q&A) or panels (presentation for 90 min total, including 30 min Q&A) or poster presentations on any issue relating to CLAC, although the following topics are of particular interest:

Inter-institutional CLAC collaborations
Global Course Connections and CLAC
Experiential learning and CLAC
The role of CLAC in the Community College
CLAC and Critical Thinking
CLAC and Pathway Programs
Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) and CLAC
Promoting CLAC to stakeholders
Cross-disciplinary teaching styles and pedagogical approaches
Interconnections with Study Abroad, Service Learning, International Students
Community Connections
Experiential and Community Engagement
Professional development opportunities for CLAC practitioners (mentor relationships)
Assessment

Proposal Information

Deadline for Proposal Submissions: January 15th, 2015

Proposals should be submitted online. All proposals must include:

Type: Presentation (30 minutes, including 10 minutes for open discussion), Panel (90 minutes, including at least two separate papers and at least 30 minutes for questions and comments from the audience), or Poster
Title (of your paper, panel, or poster)
Brief Description (up to 75 words for paper, up to 200 words for panel, up to 100 words for poster)
Relationship to Conference Themes (how your proposal relates to the conference themes, up to 50 words per paper or poster)
Target Audience(s) (including what the audience(s) can expect to “take away” from your presentation, up to 50 words per paper or poster)
An abstract of your paper (up to 200 words), panel (up to 850 words) or poster (up to 250 words), clearly indicating what each presenter, if more than one, will contribute
A list of technical needs. Note: Conference organizers will provide a data projector and screen for all presentations. Presenters are asked to bring their own laptop computers.
Name(s) of Presenter(s) (including, as appropriate, specification of their roles, contact information for each; titles and affiliations, email addresses, telephone and fax numbers)
Brief biographical sketch (50-75 words) for each participant

Note: The conference organizers welcome and encourage proposals for posters and for creative presentations that do not take the form of a traditional paper or panel. This might include videos, examples of CLAC assignments and exercises, or testimonials from student and faculty CLAC participants. Prospective presenters are particularly encouraged to consider a poster format because of the opportunity they provide for extended discussion and networking. For proposals of this variety, please submit the same information listed above.

To submit your proposal online: CLAC 2015 Call for Proposals Submission Form

For questions please contact Dr. Gabriele Dillmann at Denison University: Dillmann@denison.edu

Collaboration American University in Bulgaria (AUBG) and Denison U

Intercultural Learning through a Globally Connected German Language Classroom: An International Project between Denison University and the American University in Bulgaria

Presented by Dr. Diana STANTCHEVA (AUBG, Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria)

Dr. Gabriele DILLMANN (Denison University, Granville, OH, USA)

The language classroom is a most fruitful place for intercultural, global learning. Digital technologies allow us to make intercultural connections like never before and in the process language learning benefits from real communication about real issues. Connecting two language courses globally requires overcoming many obstacles and challenges (time difference, collaboration, technology, funding, resources, etc.) but a strong belief that the benefits outweigh the costs serves as a constant source for pushing on.

The goal of our project (started in Fall semester 2013) was – and continues to be – to enrich our connected courses with an intercultural perspective through the direct exchange between students and faculty members as we discuss shared small group assignments via Google Hangout and Google doc shared writing assignments (of course, “traditional” technologies such as email and skype compliment the exchanges) all the while expanding and enhancing student’s language skills in German.

Our paper will provide a research summary, describe in detail how we pursued the described goals with a special focus on the digital technologies we used and their pedagogical value, and will give a candid assessment of what worked well and what needs further exploration. We will also discuss the next step of the project, namely aligning the courses synchronously via video-conferencing technologies in addition to the Hangouts.

Find out more here.

For the conference overview go here.