Cultural Conversations – Virtually Strengthening Int’l Connections

by HOLA@HAJINKIM.COM | Dec 22, 2021 | Articles

Posted: Thursday, December 23, 2021

By: Audrey Emiko Short & Amy Leap Miller, Global Education Office (GEO), Virginia Commonwealth University

Responding to travel restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Global Education Office of Virginia Commonwealth University has developed new ways to provide meaningful intercultural experiences to students in a virtual environment. The VCU Globe Living-Learning Program has fostered increased accessibility to international partner institutes around the world through co-curricular experiences called Cultural Conversations in which participants engage in sustained and structured interactions on-line.  This virtual programming allows for greater diversity, inclusion, and equity in global education as it provides more students opportunities to engage in ways they may not have been able to due to international mobility challenges such as cost, work or family obligations.

Thanks to technological innovations of the 2000s, virtual exchanges have demonstrated that learning can be international and collaborative without the need to physically travel. The State University of New York (SUNY) has been a leader in globally engaged interactions, often called Collaborative On-line International Learning (COIL), which are cost-effective and thus can include students of any field enrolled at an institution (SUNYCOIL, 2021).  Diversity and inclusion are furthered through these opportunities as students examine cultural lenses, analyzing “their own identities, biases and prejudices, and challeng[ing] existing perspectives and stereotypes [while] develop[ing] diverse personal relationships through negotiation of meaning” (Jie & Pearlman, 2018, p. 2 and 8).  Students participating in COIL initiatives co-create knowledge and provide information to each other that can only be shared through interpersonal connections (Gokcora, 2021). Through on-line student-to-student conversations, a greater understanding of global interconnectedness can be explored as students grasp how issues in their local communities are experienced all around the globe.

These international virtual collaborations also offer professional development and international networking for faculty members. Through COIL, educators “collaborate to bring topics to the course that would have been difficult to integrate without collaboration” (Gokcora, 2021, p. 2). While still a relatively young concept on many campuses, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the growth of these initiatives, which are on track to become permanent enhancements to university curricular and co-curricular initiatives.

Cultural Conversations with Virginia Commonwealth University

With the physical distancing requirements of COVID-19 serving as a catalyst to think of new ways to create connection, VCU Globe initiated on-line intercultural and intergenerational experiences in April of 2020 with a local learning community of adults aged 50 and “better”, at the Lifelong Learning Institute in Chesterfield. Given the rapidity with which educational institutions went on-line mid-semester, linking academic credit to these interactions did not seem feasible and thus the focus centered on non-credit bearing opportunities that would allow students of different backgrounds to interact around four accessible themes of cooking, photography, storytelling and resilience.

Noting the success of this domestic partnership, international partners were contacted in summer 2020 with some accepting invitations to VCU English Language Program virtual Tea-Time events.  With five sets of experiences to build upon from spring-summer 2020, Cultural Conversations arose in fall 2020 as intentional learning experiences to further develop the knowledge base, skills and experiences needed to communicate across personal and cultural borders.

Since September 2020, the format has included weekly one-hour meetings facilitated by VCU, international partner staff or student leaders with between 8 and 25 participants per meeting. As of spring 2021, there are partnerships with institutions in Japan, Mali, Mexico, Qatar and Vietnam, with each collaboration unique to the needs and interests of the participants.  In cases in which language exchange between students can readily occur (i.e. English, Spanish and French), students share materials (often articles from local media on predetermined topics) and prepare discussion questions to learn both linguistically and culturally.  In other cases (with Japanese and Vietnamese), the learning is focused more on intercultural communication and world Englishes, along with the content of the topic chosen by students prior to each meeting.  As the partnership with Qatar involves students who are high-level English speakers, conversations are able to reach deeper levels more quickly and collaborative efforts are possible, including a joint art show on diversity and inclusion and a reading group focusing on Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple”.

Gains from Virtual Exchange

In an attempt to measure student gains, reflections and survey responses have been  used to gather feedback. Students have responded to open-ended questions, covering the areas of community and self development, cultural agility, and future applications.
Most commonly reported have been benefits in the areas of inter- and intrapersonal well-being. Social connections have led to community building through weekly topical conversation topics that have included university life, holidays, careers, food, music, visual arts, literature, nature, sports, and social justice. Friendships have developed through finding common ground and by challenging previous ways of thought. One VCU student conversing with students in Mexico highlighted the “bonds [formed] through similarities with students from other countries.” To date, more than 150 VCU and international partner students have engaged in these conversations.

In the past year with the intense isolation experienced by many due to COVID-19, students have reported emotional benefits of meeting someone who is both familiar as a peer and new as a member of a different culture. The comfort and excitement have students consistently attending sessions at normally unpopular times (8am or 12:30am) and their willingness to share parts of themselves in ways not typical of a classroom (such as through international karaoke) has been connective and uplifting. Another student engaged with Vietnam shared their growth in “confidence in communicating with other people with different cultural backgrounds.”

Reviewing responses related to cultural agility, one major theme is diversity of perspective. Students have expressed an awareness of biases that they have observed in both themselves and their conversation partners as well as the media sources which feed into their thought processes.  They have commented on the importance of understanding history and the cultural systems in which one is raised so that they can approach divergent ways of thinking with more curiosity than judgement.   Topics such as women’s rights, colorism, and religious practices have been examined from distinct cultural contexts so that students are asked to first explore why and how a person comes to think the way they do.  Our participants have learned not only about other countries but have also reflected more on their own, commenting that it has been “really interesting to hear someone’s thoughts of America’s issues from the perspective of a person living in a different country.”

Communicative fluency is another theme that stands out as students express their thoughts on cultural agility.  From stepping out of their comfort zones to being more mindful of communicating across language barriers, students have repeatedly expressed growth in this area.  Several American students have been positively humbled by the multilingual abilities of their conversation partners and have been inspired to learn more.  They have practiced prioritizing successful communication over perfection, skillfully using the visual and text features of video conferencing platforms to assist with comprehension.

Beyond student development, engagement in these virtual international exchanges amidst current travel restrictions has maintained and strengthened partnerships around the world in a manner that is cost-effective in terms of time and money.  New relationships have also been formed.  Our partnership in Vietnam began as a result of an international student who shared her experiences with her contacts in her home country.  Cultural Conversations with Mali arose after VCU students expressed interest in an exchange with native French speakers. The partnership with the English Practice Club of Bamako stands out in that access to these educational exchanges is open to the community and not directly connected to a university, thus providing more opportunities for a more diverse population.

While the impact on the future of global learning has yet to be seen, VCU students have commented on how Cultural Conversations has impacted their thoughts about study abroad and future employment goals.  They have expressed an increased desire to travel and get to know their new friends’ cultures. One student shared, “I have limited my options in the past when it comes to travelling. [T]here are many more options to consider which might enrich my cultural experience.” With respect to professional applications, students have seen how skills learned and practiced could benefit them in the future.  From applying to the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program to bias awareness in the field of forensics, students expressed that their experiences with Cultural Conversations will “carry on to (their) professional career.

Through expanding one’s perspectives, practicing communicative fluency, building skills for the future, and developing and maintaining international community and relationships, was, as one student succinctly stated,”definitely a win-win.”

Considerations for Future Engagement

Looking to the future with a continuation of the Cultural Conversations partnerships in addition to new initiatives, several considerations are helpful to keep in mind.  It is important to set realistic expectations for all and to modify programming to meet individual partner’s goals and needs, balancing social and academic intentions.  Additionally, staff availability, time zones challenges (including differences in observing daylight savings time), and accessibility to technology for both domestic and international students as well as advertising and recruitment must be considered as we look to expand connections between faculty across disciplines.

Based on student feedback, we also hope to further explore engagement activities that begin with Cultural Conversations and include more collaborative project based learning.  While we must consider different attendance models (i.e. required commitments over time or drop in participation), we hope to build in more hands-on activities so that students across cultures can apply knowledge and skills to create collaborative representations of their learning.

Finally, as we look to expand our offerings, we realize the need to modify how we evaluate program outcomes. The Association of American Colleges & Universities (2014) has designed a Global Learning VALUE Rubric that our team would like to integrate into our existing assessment tools. The goal is to offer this assessment the first and final weeks of Cultural Conversation terms to track the growth and development of students’ cultural competence to best guide areas for our program to focus on more in the future.
How can we engage students from any discipline at any point in their college career in these meaningful and accessible Cultural Conversations around the globe?  How can we maximize student learning from these types of partnerships?  The Global Education Office of VCU will continue to work towards this goal and we welcome connections with you to further explore ways to virtually strengthen international learning.

References

Association of American Colleges & Universities. (2014). Global learning VALUE rubric. https://www.aacu.org/value/rubrics/global-learning

Gokcora, D. (2021, January). Benefits of collaborative online international learning projects. Academia Letters, Article 202.

Jie, Z. & Pearlman, A. M. G. (2018). Expanding access to international education through technology enhanced collaborative online international learning (COIL) courses. International Journal of Technology in teaching and Learning, 14(1), 1-11.

SUNYCOIL. (2021). Welcome. https://coil.suny.edu/

Reviving the Art of Listening as Tool for Global Engagement

by HOLA@HAJINKIM.COM | Dec 22, 2021 | Articles

Posted:  Thursday, December 22, 2021

By: Kathryn Dwyer Navajas, University of Florida

The University of Florida is in a small college town far from the Spanish-speaking cities of south Florida. In 2012, when my department chair asked me to put together a service-learning course in Spanish, the local Spanish-speaking community was mostly affiliated with the university and not much in need of service from second language learners of Spanish or even heritage speakers, most of whom were very clear that any career in Florida would necessitate an advanced level of linguistic and cultural competence in Spanish. Pondering the options, I found an eager collaborator in Deborah Hendrix, of the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program, who assured me that we could launch an oral history project in Spanish. My learning objectives were for students to improve their Spanish, develop empathy by learning about their immigrant neighbors and families, get comfortable being uncomfortable, and embrace cultural humility through the art of asking questions that prompt reflection and develop the art of listening. Deborah added improved digital literacy, which students would realize through filming a 30-minute interview and then editing it down to 5 minutes and adding subtitles. The oral history project was part of a course focused on the pull and push factors of immigration from Spanish-speaking countries.

The classroom for this course is itself a microcosm of cultural and linguistic differences and insecurities. The students enrolled come from a variety of backgrounds: many are the children of immigrants and some of those are heritage speakers of Spanish; some are second-language learners of Spanish. Apart from the few for whom Spanish is their strongest language, all of them express insecurity about their linguistic competence in that language. Having to do something important in a language one feels insecure about is a way to develop empathy; students experience in the project the reality that many immigrants live every day. They realize that effective communication does not necessarily involve flawless grammar; that the heart can at times communicate more effectively than the head.

The course content challenges the official history they have learned in school as well as the explanation given in many immigrant families that begin and end with “we came to give you a better life,” both of which often have the effect of discouraging further inquiry. Students find themselves studying about the U.S. role in destabilizing their parents´ country of origin and suddenly they have more questions. Even students whose parents came on the Mayflower must come to terms with the legacy of U.S. policies in the countries whose language and cultures they have embraced.

Students thus undertake the oral history project from a place of vulnerability and uncertainty. In order to catch them before they retreat into the known, into what is comfortable, we connect them to the work that students before them have done so that they feel part of a much bigger project. They review the videos made in previous semesters and choose the topic for the video they will make from suggestions solicited from students at the end of the previous semester.  Even while they are working on their own interviews and then editing them, they have to gather six friends, acquaintances, or perfect strangers, select four 5-minute interviews from previous videos, present them and lead a discussion about what they are learning about the immigrant experience. Even though they don´t know everything, even though they may have never discussed these issues with those gathered, they go out into the world to create a space for immigrant voices to be heard and engaged.

Another challenge that students face is group work, which can be fraught, but the oral history project can´t be done alone, so we work to form teams of three that balance linguistic, technical, and people skills. Students must negotiate varying levels of commitment even as they make complex decisions that require cultural sensitivity and ethical discernment, such as how to edit down to 5 minutes what a narrator has told in 30 minutes while respecting that person´s voice and story. At times they have to decide how to handle a story that paints too rosy a picture or one that goes off the rails into a tirade tinged by loss. They have to decide how to prepare subtitles when the speaker is shifting between Spanish and English or when a mistake is made in one language or the other. The decisions they make as a group involve parsing issues of power, emotion, and history. Interviewing a Puerto Rican who arrived months after Hurricane María in 2017 or a Colombian who fled narcoviolence decades ago or a Cuban who walked from Panama to the southern border when the “wet foot-dry foot policy” ended requires empathy and historical knowledge that we strive to develop through curricular choices and classroom practices throughout the semester.

It is now easier than ever to launch an oral history project with global reach. Technology has greatly evolved, and videoconferencing in response to travel restrictions now makes it easier to focus more on the people and the stories they tell than on the challenges of how to record them: lighting, audio, dogs barking, camera angles, the rule of thirds, etc.  While there is some loss of the human warmth we experience in the presence of others, recording on Zoom is much easier than arranging a meeting of four people, hauling equipment, and dealing with so many variables, and it also allows for interviewing people in other countries.

Reviving the art of listening disrupts the drive to make the easy choices, to get the job done, to check off three more credits on the way to a college degree. Tuning in to the voices that contest the official history, that confound the national discourse about immigration, that crack open the family narrative means being willing to reframe what a student may think she knows. Listening to the voices within the team and making collective decisions means being willing to compromise. Listening to the narrators, whose accents and lexicons and difficulty with two languages reflects their own struggles and insecurities, gives students permission to transcend the fear of saying something wrong and to reach across cultural and linguistic differences to engage as global citizens. While our universities pride themselves on producing knowledge, the art of listening and the gift of attention lay the foundation for relationships, across borders, identities, and multiple categories of difference, relationships that, when harnessed to academic knowledge, may provide the horsepower necessary to pull us out of long-standing quandaries about immigration.

To view videos of some of the oral history projects we have done in this course: https://www.youtube.com/user/SPOHP111/search?query=spanish

To explore SPOHP resources for launching oral history projects: https://oral.history.ufl.edu/research/tutorials

Centering Student Needs and Marketing for Global Education Beyond 2021

by HOLA@HAJINKIM.COM | Jul 21, 2021 | Articles

Posted: Wednesday, July 21, 2021
By: Subgroup of 2020-2021 Education Abroad: Marketing, Outreach & Recruitment Task Force

As college students return to campus and study abroad resumes with increased vaccinations around the world, what will study abroad look like and how will we reach out to marginalized and diverse students to market study abroad? COVID-19 has had a significant impact on all of our lives but it has impacted our students of color even more economically, academically, and socially. Do our students even need to study abroad at a moment when meeting the basic needs of their family and community seems overwhelming?

As we consider reaching out to students about study abroad and marketing study abroad to them, let us consider the needs of our diverse students and work with them to reimagine their own global education and engagement.  In this work, we must be mindful of our own office’s capacity and institutional resources that can support students as they chart their own path.

Student Needs

“If students are not well, not only physically, but mentally, if they are not living in a safe space or don’t have access to nutrition, if they can’t pay their bills, those are the things I care about most as a faculty member this semester,” Soria said. “It’s about a change in perspective, having a philosophical shift of mind, to really be more ethically devoted to students and caring and compassionate to students.” (Inside Higher Ed)

The concept of Maslow before Bloom was quite helpful to us in our thinking.  Basic needs must be met first before students can study and think about their own path, including study abroad.  Even students who were planning to study abroad before the pandemic may have concluded that this is no longer an option for them.

We need to meet our students where they are, with empathy. Let us listen to our students tell the story of this moment and let them guide the conversation about what is possible for them in the post-COVID era amidst disproportionate economic impacts on BIPOC communities, growing tensions from racial reckoning, increases in anti-Asian violence, headlines of mass shootings, ongoing sagas of immigration struggles, and uncertain vaccine regulations.

Marketing to them during this time will look more like individual conversations about their goals and how to help them meet their own goals, as opposed to beautiful pictures of a group of students in a stunning location on social media.  Students may have been personally affected by the loss of a friend or relative due to the pandemic and hence desire to ask questions in a more private setting.

For example, in addressing the barriers faced by first-generation students it is important to speak with them about international travel, the fear of being away from family and friends, and the need for a passport.

Global Education & Engagement

While a traditional study abroad experience may not be possible for students who are about to graduate and students whose life situations have changed because of COVID-19, let us reframe the conversation with those students and speak about what is possible and what the options are. The key is to broaden their perspective so that they can learn about opportunities that are available but may not be familiar to them, and to remind them that they can have a meaningful international experience even if it is not called study abroad. Taking the time to explain these opportunities to them is essential, as they may not be familiar.

Some of the opportunities that exist for students to go abroad after graduation include employment opportunities abroad, graduate school abroad, international internships, grants and scholarships, and partnerships. There are numerous opportunities to teach English abroad in a foreign country, whether through an organization such as JET in Japan and the Teaching Assistant Program in France, or through an organization like English First. Students may explore graduate school abroad, attending an American university with a campus abroad or an accredited foreign institution. There are numerous grants and scholarships such as the US Student Fulbright Program and Schwarzman Scholars that support graduate education abroad. Opportunities such as the Peace Corps also help graduating students live and work abroad.

Beyond speaking about international opportunities after graduation, what are some ways that institutions can maintain global engagement with students even while few students are studying abroad? A passport initiative on campus for US citizens who have never had a passport may help students who have never been abroad to prepare for study abroad or international travel in the future.  Requiring them to learn about study abroad as they obtain their passport may help your office with visibility.

Virtual exchanges, conversations, and internships with global partners are also an innovative way of helping students and your institution to maintain global engagement during this time of limited mobility. Roundtables with international colleagues and developing events, such as workshops or symposiums on international scholarships can help spread awareness on global opportunities that are usually reserved for International Education Week.

Office Capability & Institutional Resources

Helping students think through going abroad after graduation is not something that study abroad offices regularly do; it will take time and resources at a time when all of us are dealing with so much.  Does your office have the ability to do this additional work with students? If so, study abroad team members are uniquely positioned to speak to this, either because of their own experiences abroad or their work in international education.

In speaking with students and helping to explore their paths, it is important to refer them to resources that are available on campus.  Several offices can be key in supporting students in their planning.  The Career Center will work with students applying for positions abroad; the Fellowship office will support students as they apply for national & international scholarships and grants.  Other key offices on campus could be the International Student office, the Counseling Center, the Alumni Affairs office, faculty, student organizations, and financial aid.

Ideally, some of these conversations are best to be held on an individual basis.  However, we must be cognizant of our offices’ resources and human capital.  When possible, try recording a virtual presentation or create a page on your website dedicated to additional information such as post-graduate opportunities for students to access on their own time.  Although it may seem impersonal, especially for non-traditional students, it will be more efficient than trying to schedule individual conversations with every student or it may shorten your meeting time as you can always refer them back to the online resources.

One thing is clear, we will need to redefine global education and how we market it, and despite our best intentions, we cannot do it all ourselves.  We will need to leverage our resources now more than ever.  Reach out to your professional networks.  For example, we can collaborate with outside foundations and organizations that can support our students in their global education journeys with graduate international opportunities such as Schwarzman Scholars.  As we ask students to think about things in a new light, can your institution do the same?  Can they be flexible with certain policies to allow students to study abroad before they graduate or create new ways for students who have just graduated to earn graduate credit for a summer study abroad experience?  Can you work with your providers to offer faculty workshops or fundraising strategies for students?

As you assess your students’ needs in the post-COVID era, you may be able to identify not only the challenges faced, but also new opportunities to make global education a reality for your students. We believe the key will be to always maintain an empathic approach.

Reimagining Global Education. Our Thoughts for the Future

Schedule a primer meeting with your office. Maslow before Bloom does not only apply to your students.  We encourage you to check in with your team regularly and take a pulse of where they are in their wellness journey.  How are they coping with the myriad of social, economic, and political issues happening at the same time? Like the students we work with, our team members are navigating unprecedented challenges.  What can the team realistically take on during this time as additional projects? Are there resources across campus that would be helpful during this time that would decrease your team’s workload? First start with ‘self’ and then organize on what can be done.

Empathizing with students. Show compassion for life circumstances and missed opportunities by engaging with them in meaningful conversation and working through the range of emotions. Acknowledge the difficult truth that students may not have the quintessential study abroad experience that can be a hallmark of the undergraduate experience. FOMO is real, so how might that inform future opportunities to pursue? Be mindful of the difference between espoused or publicly stated support, versus the support that is actually enacted in day to day interactions. Be courageous in naming the impacts of today on our mental health and normalize the asking for help.

Market with empathy. Hold a focus group with students you wish to target and build some strategy around what their specific needs are.  For example, developing a passport initiative, like Georgia State University, to offer free passports to underprivileged students that are interested in studying abroad later or going abroad after graduation. Events like this promote your office and programs while addressing a roadblock for students.  Consider ways of involving parents and families in clarifying what global education can do for students’ future job and career prospects. What is the cost, time, and energy required to embark on these alternative paths?  Parents will benefit from seeing this experience as an investment.

Use your programming as a pathway for global education. Lead with budgeting and finance workshops that can help with study abroad and general goal planning. Or tag along in workshops from your financial aid office to identify ways for self-fundraising you can recommend to students concerned about meeting the costs of study abroad.  Coach students through exploring other opportunities to gain hard skills, work experience, language skills, and post grad opportunities. Especially nowadays, encourage students to join language study initiatives where virtual programs can accommodate high quality practice with native language speakers all over the world.

Finding time to reflect and enact the lessons learned.  Hold debrief sessions with students to keep reframing our work. Hold round tables with past participants and prospective students to co-author a new vision of global programs. Take time to review their experiences with their program’s and office staff. If possible, create a brief report that can be used as documentation to advocate to your institution’s leadership.

Additional thoughts for the future. We leave you with other questions to consider in this conversation. What are the needs of students’ most impacted by COVID and how might you prioritize them? What is your office’s capacity to account for the imbalances of resources on campus? How can you create more purposeful and intentional marketing towards students who otherwise would not have the opportunity to engage globally due to COVID? How can you expand your professional network to include people that can better support your marketing strategies? We don’t have all the answers but offer these insights to help you create change in the places and spaces that matter to you the most.

Resources

Anderson, Greta. “Alcohol Affects College Women’s Academics More Than Men.” Inside Higher Ed. June 2, 2020.
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2020/06/02/alcohol-affects-college-womens-academics-more-men

Kimble‐Hill, A. C., Rivera‐Figueroa, A., Chan, B. C., Lawal, W. A., Gonzalez, S., Adams, M. R., Heard, G. L., Gazley, J. L., & Fiore‐Walker, B. (2020). Insights gained into marginalized students access challenges during the COVID‐19 academic response. Journal of Chemical Education, 97(9), 3391– 3395. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.0c00774

McCorristin, Roric. “Diversifying Study Abroad Participation: What historically black colleges and universities can teach predominately white institutions.” NAFSA. November 1, 2019. https://www.nafsa.org/ie-magazine/2019/11/1/diversifying-study-abroad-participation

Tai, D., Shah, A., Doubeni, C. A., Sia, I. G., & Wieland, M. L. (2021). The Disproportionate Impact of COVID-19 on Racial and Ethnic Minorities in the United States. Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, 72(4), 703–706. https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciaa815

GSU Free Passport Initiative:  https://mystudyabroad.gsu.edu/freepassport/

Ways to Advance Equity, Inclusion & Racial Justice in Global Education

by HOLA@HAJINKIM.COM | Jun 7, 2021 | Articles

Posted: Thursday, January 7, 2021
By: Andrew Gordon – CEO & Founder, Diversity Abroad

If advancing diversity, equity, inclusion and racial justice is one of your goals for 2021 here are four ways you can progress toward this goal.

As we kick off a new year for many it’s a time of reflection as well as personal and professional goal setting. Over the past seven months there has been a palpable energy at practically every level of our society to make meaningful progress with respect to diversity, equity, inclusion and racial justice. For those interested in how we turn this energy, this passion, into systemic change in the field of global education and cultural exchange now is a perfect time to consider what each of us can do to advance this work at our institutions and organizations. Whether you work in education abroad, with international students or more broadly in global learning, if advancing diversity, equity, inclusion and racial justice is one of your goals for 2021 here are four ways you can progress toward this goal:

Establish a Baseline

How do you know where you’re headed if you don’t know where you are? Many professionals are committed to ensuring all students – domestic and international – have equitable access to the benefits of global education. How, though, does this commitment translate into progress? Until we assess the current state of diversity, equity and inclusion in our organization’s operation and establish a baseline of strengths and areas for development, it will be nearly impossible to make sustainable progress toward these goals. Assessing DEI practices and policies is a foundational step to developing a systemic approach to expanding equitable access to the benefits of global education and fostering a climate of inclusion and belonging within our organizations. Using assessment tools such as Diversity Abroad’s Global Equity & Inclusion Scorecard allows professionals to map, measure and improve their office’s DEI practices and policies, and make progress toward their goals. Let 2021 be the year that you and your colleagues establish a baseline for diversity, equity and inclusion practices in your office.

Examine Your Bias

2020 was a watershed year in which organizations and individuals on a larger scale began to accept the reality of implicit bias and appreciate the impact it has on our daily decision making. In 2021, it’s critical that we move from acknowledging the existence of implicit bias to taking action to combat it in our personal and professional lives. You can gain greater insight into your biases in a few different ways – from taking personal assessments like the one offered by Project Implicit to increasing your awareness by reading and reflecting upon literature on racial equity. Additionally, consider situations where your biases may impact your work, for example in how you advise students about where and/or in what modality they participate in education abroad programs, during the hiring process for roles in our office or how you engage with international students from different parts of the world. We all have biases. The better we can identify what they are, the better positioned we’ll be to combat them.

Develop Diversity & Inclusion Competencies

The success of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts isn’t gauged by the passion of those carrying out this work. Being passionate about DEI and/or possessing a minoritized identity are important factors in this work, but not sufficient to accelerate effective diversity, equity, inclusion and racial justice strategies. Acquiring the requisite competencies is essential to develop, implement and advance sustainable DEI practices and policies in our sector. Learning and development programs such as the International Education Diversity & Inclusion Certificate ,  DEI related training programs at your place of work or within your local community, short online courses, or targeted readings offer opportunities to acquire and hone diversity and inclusion competencies. So whether it’s improving your marketing and advising skills or learning how to create a more inclusive office environment, acquiring and continuing to develop diversity and inclusive competencies will equip you with the skills, knowledge and confidence to champion and advance DEI within your organization.

Embrace Discomfort & Humility

“Get comfortable with being uncomfortable” – Luuvie Ajayi. The principles behind this quote are applicable to achieving success in advancing diversity, equity, inclusion and racial justice in and through our work in global education. Every year, I encourage attendees at the Diversity Abroad Conference to strive to learn more about topics in DEI that they might feel less comfortable with. It can feel uncomfortable or at times even embarrassing to admit not being as well versed in DEI language and terminology as your colleagues. Or, while you may be well versed with certain aspects of diversity, equity and inclusion, for example gender, sexuality or first-generation student status, you may be less comfortable engaging in topics related to race, class, religion or ability status. Discomfort is rarely a desirous feeling, however to develop into an effective DEI champion it requires embracing the inevitable discomfort that comes with realizing our own blindspots. This is essential to progress. Practicing humility is also critical in DEI work. As we continue to develop diversity and inclusion competencies and a measure of expertise, we can never forget that we must be perpetual students. Sustainable advancement only happens when we continue to learn, embrace discomfort and improve our DEI practice.

As we enter a new year we have an opportunity to capitalize upon the groundswell of energy that started last year to advance diversity, equity, inclusion and racial justice in and through our work. For success to happen, we must establish a baseline of our organization’s strengths and areas for development. Individually, it is essential that we both examine our own biases and work to acquire diversity & inclusion competencies. Finally, the more we embrace the discomfort that comes with identifying our DEI blindspots the better positioned we are to grow and to be effective in championing this critical work. Let’s all work in 2021 to ensure our field, from the programs we run to the climate of our offices, is more equitable and just.

Perspectives from Senior Level Advisors on Advancing Equity & Justice in International Education

by HOLA@HAJINKIM.COM | May 4, 2021 | Articles

Posted: Tuesday, May 4, 2021
By: Subgroup of 2020-2021 Education Abroad: Student Support & Advising Task Force

For this article, we asked senior-level practitioners, those with 10 or more years of experience within education abroad, to share insights for newer professionals on how they can build a career that advances equity and justice for all students interested in global learning. Their responses are categorized into three areas: professional development tips and opportunities, lessons in leadership from their time in the field, and their hopes for the future of global education.

Professional Development Tips & Opportunities

When asked about specific experiences or student interactions that have furthered senior administrators’ understanding of equity and justice, respondents shared many student scenarios that have stayed with them throughout their professional careers. For example, when advising students from different identities, learning their personal stories, and hearing the challenges and fears they have about living and learning abroad, Gregory Spear, Assistant Director of Global Living and Learning Programs at Georgetown University, shared, “[I] have realized that there are many points in the study abroad pipeline at which students with minoritized or marginalized identities might feel compelled to opt out without the proper support structures.” One of the strategies advisors have found to be helpful in building a robust support structure is to collaborate early and often with partner offices on campus to better understand the needs of different student groups. It is also important to approach these conversations as a dialogue, not simply as a forum for marketing and/or outreach.

We also asked respondents if there were specific professional development opportunities they would recommend for new practitioners. Lauren Ruszczyk, who works at the University of Maryland College Park as the Senior Associate Director for Education Abroad, provided this insight:

“It’s important to shift the framing of professional development so that it refers to a continuous cycle of learning, application, and reflection. When it comes to equity and justice, we must adopt an anti-racist perspective and level of accountability that ensures we are working towards changing structures and systems and not just performative measures that don’t advance real change. In particular, leaders [must] work with staff to help them contextualize their learning and professional development as it relates to advancing the stated mission of the organization, as well as the growth of the individual as a professional in our field.”

Many respondents also suggested that new professionals join diversity committees on campus to represent the international education perspective. New professionals can also pursue opportunities to serve as reviewers for study abroad scholarships like Gilman, Fund for Education Abroad, Boren, etc. to learn more about the formal structures for expanding access to opportunities abroad. Learning about and implementing inclusive program design,  as well as participating in professional exchanges with colleagues from institutions that serve different student populations were also recommended. Respondents also shared the following resources that helped shape and expand their view of international education within the larger landscape of equity, diversity, and inclusion:

• American Students Abroad Can’t be Global Citizens by Talya Zemach-Bersin
• International Service-Learning for Sustainable Development by Caroline Payne
• Undoing Racism training by the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond

Lessons in Leadership

In terms of leadership, advocacy and managing up, senior education abroad practitioners stressed the importance of utilizing data, focusing on access, and defining learning outcomes. A number of respondents cited that demonstrating the impact of education abroad on graduation and retention rates, especially for students of color, has helped to move the needle and advance the conversation. And moreover, in order to equitably offer students these global experiences, there is a real need for cross-campus collaboration to identify and increase funding sources for those students who may otherwise not be able to participate. Daniel F. Diaz, Director of Global and Off-Campus Initiatives & International Student Advisor at Guilford College, suggested looking at the link between learning outcomes and student success:

“[We need to] push for building a stronger understanding of learning outcomes and goals, and show how that translates to retention, graduation rates, and alumni advancement. Overall, [it’s important that we] keep the conversation active that global education is an essential mechanism for building equity and justice both locally, regionally, and internationally.”

A number of survey respondents shared that their institutions have been hiring new, senior DEI administrators in recent months, such as assistant vice presidents and associate provosts for DEI. However, the reality is that education abroad offices can easily be left out of the conversation, and are not always directly integrated into these initiatives. Some respondents cited this as a lost opportunity, since there is fertile ground for leveraging the intersection of DEI and intercultural frameworks. Others opted for charting their own path as an office. “[Advocating for racial justice and equity] is a pretty recent phenomena at my current institution,” one administrator shared. “Our office has been pushing out in front, because we couldn’t wait for our [senior leadership] to figure it out for us.”

Diversifying professional and student staff

Another area where respondents shared insights was around diversifying their student support staff. A common theme that emerged was the need for examining job descriptions and recruitment methods, especially since most education abroad offices remain largely made up of white staff. “Many jobs in our field require international experience, when we already know that the majority of folks participating in study abroad do not hold marginalized identities,” shared Ruszczyk at the University of Maryland. Others spoke to the reality that support staff who identify as BIPOC can often end up doing invisible work and carrying an additional burden due to the relationships they support and needs they serve.

In most cases, the staff doesn’t reflect the student population. At Elon University, under the leadership of Allegra Laing, Associate Director for Global Diversity and Inclusion, they have constructed a pipeline for students from marginalized identities to attend the Global Student Leadership Summit, the student component of the Global Inclusion conference, and then become members of the office’s student peer advising staff. However, this isn’t possible without accountability and consistent action. “It takes resources and a certain amount of commitment to make sure we are getting our job postings to all students,” shared Rhonda Waller, Executive Director of Global Education at Elon.

The intersection of global education and social responsibility

Respondents also weighed in on how practitioners can push students to consider gaining new perspectives on social responsibility as a key component of their study abroad experience. Many cited the importance of faculty and senior leadership in driving this conversation, especially in terms of curriculum, program development, and learning outcomes. Although, others shared that education abroad advisors can still embrace this philosophy despite not having full institutional support. Some examples shared were encouraging students to get involved in their host community, as well as thoughtfully developing pre-departure, on-site, and re-entry content that helps students explore these concepts. “We’ve evolved from promoting study abroad [not only] as a way to go to a specific country, but rather as a way to achieve academic and career goals. I think we have work to do to expand that narrative to promote study abroad as a way to focus on social responsibility,” suggested Dan Hart, Associate Director for Health, Safety, and Security at Arizona State University.

Hopes for the Future of Global Education

Among senior level advisors working in the field of international education, there is hope that more BIPOC and queer students will participate on global education programs and that more staff and faculty will actively participate in the work of global education offices at colleges and universities. However, simple representation is not enough, and there was an imperative expressed in the responses to work diligently and expeditiously on addressing inequities and exclusionary practices. “I hope that tourism becomes more about learning and connection than sightseeing and watching,” shared Diaz at Guilford College. “I hope that we become more curious and open about each other’s differences, rather than fearful and wary.” Many respondents cited the need for institutional resources and support to achieve more equity, access, and justice for students who hold marginalized identities, as well as internationalization efforts to happen across a broad range of campus offices and become institutional priorities. “Intercultural and multicultural educational efforts should be interspersed and integrated throughout our organizations. Institutional support should be in place to promote access for all students in global learning (at home and abroad),” suggested Marisa Atencio, Assistant Dean and Director of Global Education at Oglethorpe University.

The pros and cons of virtual programming

During the past year, virtual programming has burgeoned and made space for innovation and creativity in the delivery of global education. As for these global education opportunities, many of the responses were overwhelmingly positive. Atencio said, “I believe meeting people from around the world and having open conversations virtually will heighten confidence and increase interest in intercultural exchange. Pre-departure preparations can be improved immensely by infusing virtual collaborations and interactions that will help both the voyager and the host.” Many respondents acknowledged that the ability to offer experiences that introduce students to a global network of people and participate in intercultural dialogue and exchange presents an important opportunity for increased equity and inclusion.  “I think this [virtual engagement] is a critical way to provide learning and content with a global focus to those who aren’t interested or are unable to travel,” suggested Hart at Arizona State University.

However, several respondents also highlighted that virtual programming can be a double-edged sword. It can increase inequities and become isolating and exclusionary for students from low-income or other marginalized backgrounds. Senior level advisors spoke of the importance of designing virtual global education programs intentionally and strategically, in order to avoid the pitfalls of increased iniquities and inequalities. “To make the most of the virtual context and how vast and accessible virtual can be for students, we need to create spaces that really allow for immersion and connection through the virtual platform,” commented Holly Wheeler, Assistant Director and Advisor, Asia at NAU Education Abroad.

An increased focus on health & safety

Many practitioners agreed that colleges and universities will need to offer more robust health and safety resources to students planning to go abroad.

“The pandemic has forced everyone to review and rethink safety practices and has revealed gaps. Before the pandemic, many of us were trained and had experienced emergency scenarios involving one or two students at a time. The pandemic created a situation where we had to think about larger numbers of students at risk at the same time. It encouraged closer collaboration with the physicians and staff at our student health clinic, as well as all of those who serve on our emergency advisory committee, and it has necessitated better guidance to both students and faculty pre-departure,”said Farrah Bernardino, Director for International Initiatives at Georgia State University.

This increased attention to health and safety on global education programs also comes with an increased institutional aversion to risk at many institutions of higher education. This amplified risk aversion may include more robust and integrated systems for mitigating risk, putting more insurance measures into place, and offering innovative ways for students to access healthcare options.

“I do feel that there will be more telehealth opportunities for our students in the future, as that has shown to work well, at least in the U.S. I think that by having information with the DOS Travel Advisories, CDC and our partners, we will know what types of precautions to help our students with. It’s also shown the importance of having regular contact with students if they are abroad with a faculty leader, whether that contact is by the overseas partner/provider or from our office,” remarked Ginny Casper, Assistant Director of International Programs at Union College.

Many advisors also cited the necessity to prioritize mental and emotional health resources for students, in addition to the physical health and safety standards that already exist. According to Ben Levy, Director of International Education/SIO at Ramapo College of New Jersey, the pandemic has further highlighted the importance in “supporting the holistic well-being of students, especially those already marginalized, and best approached through relational and contextually relevant approaches.”

More inclusive curriculum design for education abroad

Respondents had much to say about curriculum for education abroad programming as it relates to racial justice. Gareth McFeely, Executive Director of Study Abroad at Boston University, implored a student-centered lens when stressing that “many of the students most deeply and sincerely committed to questions of social and racial justice are actively concerned to see the development of (ethical) programming in locations that are often ignored or marginalized, and those concerns deserve to be taken very seriously.” Several respondents spoke of the necessity to infuse a racial justice lens into all programs abroad, regardless of their locations or their focus, since ongoing histories of racism and colonialism can be discussed anywhere on the planet. Karen Williams, Education Abroad Advisor at Drake University summed this sentiment up by saying:

“I think who the faculty/staff leader(s) are, how they approach the topic, the content they choose to share, and who they meet within the local communities all have an important influence on how students learn about racial justice. I think the ‘where’ piece is less important and is dependent on the expertise of the program leader(s), but students should understand the history of relationships between places (colonialism/imperialism, globalization, etc.).  I also think students should have some understanding of the imagined importance of place(s) (i.e., that no place is better than another, even though historical stories and the media may portray that).”

There was also a call for more reciprocity in global education, for example, looking into the directionality of travel, which traditionally happens from the Global North to the Global South. “If we insist on writing the curriculum without collaborating with others truly (academic imperialism) then nothing is going to change,” commented Waller at Elon University. Others agreed. Spear at Georgetown University had this to say: “I think curriculum development that roots global learning and education abroad programming in pressing, human-centered, 21st century challenges — wherever and whatever those might be — have value, and that the ethics have more to do with how we as educators disrupt and challenge notions of positionality and power and set the stage for learning that seeks just and sustainable communities.”

Conclusion