Inspiring Students to Engage Globally through International Educational Partnerships in the Pandemic

Overview: This workshop will present an innovative International Educational Partnership (IEP) between educational institutions in U.S. and Japan. The IEP strengthened due to campus visits, a virtual symposium, a virtual practicum exchange, and faculty residence programs. The workshop will present the history and strategies of IEP with the impact of COVID-19.Proposal text: Background 

Teaching students to view world events with empathy is imperative for social workers to understand issues of global human rights and social justice. CSWE competencies that form the foundation for establishing an international educational partnership are 1) engaging diversity and difference in practice and 2) advancing human rights and social, economic, and environmental justice. International Education Partnerships are one way for social work educators to build transformational learning experiences for students that create a broader understanding of world events and cultures. Cross-cultural experiences in educational settings are imperative for students to become globalized with unbiased views (Commander et al., 2012). However, it can be achieved only when an academic unit and faculty are willing to go through the same path.

The presenters have collaboratively worked together for six years to create an IEP. They began with email correspondence, then faculty campus visits to develop a study-abroad course for students, held a virtual research symposium, created a virtual practicum exchange, and hosted a visiting scholar. Many IEP activities adapted due to the COVID-19 pandemic when educators were forced to move to virtual spaces through the internet (Adedoyin & Soykan, 2020). This shift to virtual platform was different than an intentionally designed online education program. The presenters explore whether our virtual symposium helped achieve the goals of sharing cultures and learning from people's experiences in another country, as suggested by Gaitanidis (2021). Presenters need to note that the virtual exchange activities were a challenging experience, however, they also increase access for minority students who often face more financial, social, and cultural obstacles to participate (Brux & Fry, 2010; Eskay, 2011).

What Participants Will Gain 

This workshop will introduce an example of an IEP with a global human rights approach. The process of creating a logic model with CSWE core competencies combined within the context of institutional strategies for internationalization both for students and faculty will also be disseminated among participants. Thus, participants will gain the knowledge and the experience of strategically developing an IEP that satisfies both students' learning opportunities through a cross-cultural learning method and the core needs of an institution's internationalization status with available resources.

Teaching Methods 

Presenters will provide a short (approximately 15 minutes) presentation of how to develop a cross-cultural collaboration within the framework of an e-learning process. Emphasis will be given to the concept of "presence" with three dimensions; social, cognitive, and teaching, thus providing opportunities to students with a unique learning experience (Garrison, Anderson & Archer, 2000). After the knowledge and skills are presented, participants will work in groups (25 minutes) to develop an IEP plan with a facilitator from different cultures (Japan and India) using a provided cross-cultural scenario. Participants will also develop a basic logic model for IEP in their own institutions. In the last 20 minutes, each group will present its results and findings from their interactions with faculty from different cultures.