- CEE Home
- About CEE
-
Events
- Overview
- Events for TAs, TMs and ITAs
- Inclusion in the Classroom Week
- Remote Teaching Forum 2021
- Instructional Skills Workshop
- CEE Anti-Racist Pedagogies Program: HRJ
- Certificate Program in University Teaching and Learning
- Symposium on Teaching and Learning
- Special Events
- Rethinking Course Design
- TA Day
- Decolonization and Indigenization
- Teaching Matters Seminar Series
- Tea and Teachings
-
News
- Overview
- SFU's TA Hub is proving to be a valuable resource for teaching assistants
- CEE instructor needs survey
- Linguistically Responsive Classrooms Instructors Series (LRCIS) returns for a second year
- Blended learning: spotlight on SFU’s newest course designation
- A one-stop teaching resource for TAs now launched: introducing the TA Hub
- Healing from Racism Journey's first year comes to a close
- Inviting TAs to share their teaching strategies
- 32nd National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women
- Teaching and learning with chat tools
- Learning from remote instruction
- Lecture recording and AV support for in-person instruction
- 813,000 Zoom meetings: How IT Services handled the move to remote instruction
- National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women
- Reflections on Inclusion in the Classroom Week
- Welcome to your new Zoom classroom
- Kevin Lam: “Students appreciate every little thing we do that shows that we care”
- Sheri Fabian: “I embraced a flexible approach”
- Sarah Johnson: “The biggest change I made was to switch to asynchronous delivery”
- Nicky Didicher: “I’m finding my job less exhilarating”
- Mark Lechner: “You have to be OK with things going sideways”
- Nienke van Houten: “They really valued my clear and upfront approach”
- How can we support remote instruction at SFU?
- Crowdmark: A more efficient way to grade student assessments
- The unexpected benefits of a shorter syllabus
- Photo gallery: Talking shop at Teaching Matters
- Watch the video: Faculty members discuss SFU's new instructor-led online course model
- Bridges and booster rockets: CEE's new senior director talks about teaching support
- Meet the Centre for Educational Excellence leadership team
- A biology instructor rethought her students’ role—and her own
- Photo gallery: SFU’s 24th Annual Spring TA/TM Day
- Photo gallery: SFU's 9th Annual Winter Warm-up
- If you build it, will they come?
- “My students didn’t look like they were having fun”: Three additions to the TA/TM Stories podcast series
- An upgraded Canvas Gradebook is coming in January
- Share your thoughts on the furniture in SFU classrooms
- DEMOfest presenter slides
- Photo gallery: 5th Annual DEMOfest
- Teamwork needs to be taught
- TA/TM Stories: Three new podcasts explore the teaching experiences of grad students
- Can it be done? A math instructor attempts to indigenize her course
- Answers to your questions about SFU's new approach to online education
- Photo gallery: The CEE Open House
- Do you know your faculty teaching fellow?
- Instructor-led online courses: How one faculty member prepared for the new model
- Photo gallery: SFU's 34th Annual Fall TA/TM Day draws a crowd
- Connecting people and crossing artificial divides: An interview with Elizabeth Elle
- Don't say this to your class—a student shares his experience
- How one lecturer is using podcasts to make course concepts more real in her online course
- Photo gallery: Rain, burgers and smiles at the 2019 President's Employee BBQ
- Five questions and answers about the creation of CEE
- A redesign made this course more engaging for students—and the instructor
- CPUTL: A graduate student describes her experience
- Services
- Resources
- CEE Staff Login
Virtual global learning
Background
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on international learning programs (study abroad, research abroad, international co-op, etc.). Here at SFU, the shift to online learning and the suspension of travel led to the suspension of international learning programs. However, it has pushed us to innovate and consider new ways to deliver international learning online.
In May of 2020, a small working group consisting of representatives from SFU International, International Services for Students, the Centre for Educational Excellence, the Beedie School of Business, the Faculty of Education and Work Integrated Learning came together to explore opportunities for virtual global learning (VGL) at SFU. This work was carried out with the help of two co-op students. The main goal of the Virtual Global Learning working group was to create resources to guide SFU faculty members in conducting their own VGL activities.
See also: Types of VGL programs
What is virtual global learning?
Virtual global learning combines intercultural and global learning with online delivery. This an emergent field within international education, and there is as yet no standardized terminology. At other institutions, you might find the terms “virtual exchange” or “collaborative online international learning” used to express the same idea.
At SFU, virtual global learning is being used as an umbrella term to include a range of global learning programs such as collaborative online international learning (COIL), virtual student exchanges, virtual international research and co-op, embedded joint projects, international guest lectures.
See also: Glossary
Why pursue a VGL activity?
What distinguishes VGL activities from other online deliveries is that they are intentionally designed and delivered to foster global competencies in students, including intercultural competencies. VGL offers a number of benefits:
- Students have the opportunity to gain global perspectives within their field of study without needing to spend time abroad (Jones & Reiffenrath, 2018).
- Culturally diverse classrooms allow students and instructors to practice inclusive learning, teaching and assessment (Jones & Reiffenrath, 2018).
- Collaborating with a variety of people from around the world provides amazing opportunities to network and build both formal and informal connections.
- Working in an online environment with a diverse group of people offers opportunities to enhance creativity in addressing challenges that may arise.
- Virtual exchange programs such as VGL are an effective way to incorporate global, intercultural and digital fluency/online collaboration competencies into the curriculum without the need for physical mobility. Studies have shown that these competencies are becoming increasingly sought after in the job market (ACE, 2016).
See also: Virtual global learning outcomes
Resources
Virtual global learning resources
References
[ACE] American Council on Education Center for Internationalization and Global Engagement (2016). Connecting Classrooms: Using ONline Technology to Deliver Global Learning. Internationalization in Action, 1–30.
Jones, E., & Reiffenrath, T. (2018, August 21). Internationalisation at Home in practice. EAIE. https://www.eaie.org/blog/internationalisation-at-home-practice.html.
Virtual Exchange – Faculty. Centre for International Programs. (n.d.). https://www.uoguelph.ca/cip/virtual-exchange/virtual-exchange-faculty.
F T